I woke up yesterday on the East Coast, knowing I had a full day of travel ahead of me. Nicole had commented several times on how she was not looking forward to 20 hours of traveling but I thought that was a bit of hyperbole. We left at 9 am, so we could have plenty of time to get checked in. The first flight left on time and took us to Chicago, where we had an hour and a half layover. The next leg was an hour-long flight to Minneapolis. Since we were changing not just planes but airlines there, we had to collect our baggage, then re-check it on Northwest and go through security again. Our Minnesota layover was supposed to be five hours but ended up an hour longer due to delays cleaning the plane and loading the passengers, plus a need to de-ice the wings before take off. Finally we left for Seattle about 11 pm. Nearly four hours later at SeaTac, we got our luggage and grabbed a cab. When we at last dragged our stuff through the front door, we had been traveling for nineteen and a half hours. So much for hyperbole.

The trip was good though. We got to see many old friends, spend some quality family time, and above all get away from work and the internet. I think we were gone just long enough. Now it’s nice to be home and enjoying a bit of peace and quiet, though ironically we’ll be spending the night over at Ray and Christine’s place. We’ll be ringing in the New Year with our Seattle friends with food, booze, and game playing. Then Monday it’ll be back to work and that’s just fine.