I am in the UK! Hooray! I guess.
Got to the Houston airport at 9:00am Texas time on Friday. Got through security, got onto a plane, and got to Washington between 2 and 3 pm Washington time. Continental flights kind of suck. It was an old plane, it was cramped and it was dull. But it served its purpose.
Got to our next gate and waited until 6pm to board our flight to London. I went to the desk and explained our escapade with the tickets and the seats and asked if Megan and I could be seated next to each other. The lady said she would "see what they could do".
They started calling large swathes of people to the desk, 10 or so at a time. The monitors flashed different lists of names in three lists: Those with confirmed seats, those with unconfirmed seats, and those on standby. I didn't see our names at all. We waited until everyone started boarding, and as we scanned our boarding passes, our seats were changed. We could sit next to each other after all!
Oh the plane, we were seated right at the front of economy plus. Plus: Even more leg room. Just two seats, nobody sitting next to us. Cons: Have to use that terrible fold-under entertainment monitor and tray table. My monitor wouldn't stay up, and the entertainment was so awful (like.. 5 or 6 movies and 3 TV shows) that I didn't care anyway.
We sat, talked, tried to sleep and failed, watch a guy dance around for like 20 minutes because we don't think he knew where the bathroom was, and then we were in London.
Immigration went fine, Megan is allowed in for 6 months. The lines, even for UK passports, were hideous at Terminal 1, but we got through quick enough. While she was going through immigration, I went to the baggage area to try to reclaim our lost bags.
The lady at that counter said they were over in Terminal 4, but that they had to be shipped to us. I didn't argue, I just filled in the paperwork, and she said they would be delivered to us, hopefully that evening.
So I phoned my mum and asked her to come pick us up, now that we were through customs and done with our baggage queries. We went outside to the passenger drop-off area to await pickup. It was funny hearing so many British accents again, I heard more than normal at the airport, but actually standing outside in London was different. So many "Awwight, mate?"s was different after a few months of "howdy"s.
So, we got picked up and I think we both snoozed a bit on the way back to the house. My original plan was to go back home then immediately out again to the hospital, but it turned out I was just too tired. We ate, snoozed, snoozed some more, woke up at 8pm, unpacked a little, and here we are. While we were snoozing, our bags were delivered, so now we just need to unpack a little more.
My thoughts so far are mixed. I am glad to finally be back, and glad I can finally get some medical attention. I am happy to be home and see my mum again, but at the same time I already miss the USA. It was nice having a whole house.. well, almost a house, rather than just one room. I also feel sorry for Megan, being basically caught up in all this. She quit her job, she left her home, her car, her freedom, all for me. It just doesn't seem worth it.
Still, only time will tell what'll happen. I'll update tomorrow after sitting in A&E for several hours to let people know what's going on.
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