Day 19: Monday August 9th, 2004 Read Short Version

Short Version Instructions: Only read every other paragraph.

We woke up, checked out and headed towards the airport. We hit some Monday morning traffic, but arrived with plenty of time. We checked our bags, eyed the machine gun-toting military for awhile then got breakfast. We still had a little bit of time so we spent our remaining Euros on souvenirs then waited to board the plane.

Boarding was actually about 30 minutes late, but we somehow arrived in JFK on time. We watched Along Came Polly on the aisle TVs, skipped Maverick and amused ourselves in various fashions.

Upon arriving in New York, we quickly realized more people spoke English in Italy than at JFK. We walked through a comically long maze of corridors then waited in line for 20 minutes for customs. We then picked up and immediately rechecked our luggage, walked to another terminal where Bekki could finally buy more books, then got a smoothie and waited 20 minutes for our flight.

New York to SFO was fairly uneventful as well. We watched Miracle on the aisle TVs and made it into the bay area on time. We once again waited around for baggage then got taxied back to our house by Tom. After a thorough but fruitless search for Jessie's car keys, I drove Alan over the hill to his house in Santa Cruz, got a snack from Jack in the Box for Bekki and I, and made it back home. We ate our food, half zombies, and eventually went to bed after staying up for 25 straight hours.

There's nothing like getting in your own bed after a long trip.