Day 24 was my last day in the US for the foreseeable future and that meant the second time I had done the journey home. So I knew what to expect and as planned I was up at 04:00 on Friday morning to get ready, check out and travel the short distance to the airport.
Check in was my first problem, I put my case on the scale and it was overweight by 7 pounds, I was a bit gutted as it meant I had to either empty some stuff or pay the additional 100 dollars which I was not going to do, so it was time to open and see what I could do. The first to go was the two bottles of sauce I had bought my self as a treat. A1 steak sauce I had tried and loved so I bought some and then some Jack Daniels brown sauce I thought I may like to try, but they both went in the bin and saved me some three pound in weight. I then decided to take the two pairs of jeans I had bought over there and put into a carry bag to carry onto the plane, that left me with 1 pound to save and i did that by putting one shoe in my carry bag. So I had the pain of carrying my laptop bag and a bag of clothes around with me across three airports, (Hobbs, Houston and Heathrow).
So I got to Houston on time but as my plane was not due to depart until 21:00 I had about 12 hours to wait so I thought i would be clever and see if I could switch to the earlier flight I couldnt get at the time of booking. I asked and customer services and within five minutes I had changed to the 18:00 flight and had only nine hours to wait. The time dragged and eventually it was time for boarding, although in that time I wrote my first short story for some time and was quite pleased with my efforts.
I boarded the plane at about 17:30 and was on the runaway about to go when a lady behind me said "Isnt it hot on the plane". I realised it was getting hotter. A few moments later the announcement came over the tannoy stating the air con was not working and as it was 100 plus degrees outside the plane was getting very warm and the ground crew would have to come and fix it, so we were sent back to the gate and told to wait on the plane while they fixed it. It was damn hot and we were given water to try and keep us alive. Eventually two hours later we were told it was fixed and we got underway, not far off the time my original plane was due to go.
The journey home was a killer, I watched a film about alien abduction called Alien Abduction. and then tried to sleep but it didnt work. What seemed like three days later but was in fact 10 hours later we were landing in London and in the newly opened terminal 2. A bit of a treat there. I got to my car for the journey home about an hour after landing and set off hoping I could get home without having to stop for a rest. I did manage it but I got home absolutely shattered.
The problem with this journey is that when you get home I have to try and keep awake to get my body back on UK time but even when I do and have a sleep on Saturday night. I still lose Sunday through exhaustion. So it was only by Monday that I felt almost human and of course back to work.
So in reflection my time in New Mexico has now come to an end (or so it seems) and I am due to take charge of projects in Holland and Germany once my hand over is complete so my journeying will continue but to different areas. As for New Mexico, I loved the place, loved the heat, the deserts, the wildlife (despite my spider bite) and of course the people, both those I worked with who were great and the locals who were so friendly. I do hope I will go back someday, who knows, but one thing is for sure I will miss them.
Below is a link to a video of my last Sunday in the States when I took a trip to Lubbock in Texas, just a few clips of my stop off points.
http://youtu.be/xvvAi7O9YqA
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