Prologue: London Town

Ah, it feels good to be back.

Ok, so maybe I lied. It feels the exact opposite to be back. My mind feels empty, my heart is heavy, and most importantly, my stomach misses the food it had been making love to over the past two weeks.

So if any of you out there recall, back in July, I got to spend one of the best trips of my life with a friend from college. Fast forward half a year (yes, time really does fly that quickly) and I'm back from another trip with said person. Color me surprised. When the last trip was over, I had doubt in my mind that I'd be able to see them anytime soon. But sure enough, a couple plane tickets later and I was across the Atlantic Ocean, spending the holidays in Spain.

As many of you know, the last two years I've been stuck in LA for the holidays, away from my family. Thankfully I was able to sneak away this year and spend it with you. And because of the company, Christmas felt special again. So thank you for bringing the magic back into my holidays.

Now, back to business. Where do I even start? The beginning I suppose?

So lets rewind to the night of December 18th. I was stoked. Beyond excited, sitting next to my friend in her car as we drove down to LAX after work. I had been talking a mile a minute the entire ride. Anxious throughout the whole day to get out of the office, jump in the car and speed to the plane that was going to carry me away to Europe - all my nervous energy spilling out of my mouth in jumbled sentences and mismatched phrases. I just couldn't control it.

Once I was dropped off at the curb, everything that followed was pretty easy. I had already checked in, so all I needed to do was drop off my luggage.

Check.

Next came security. Shoes off. Belt and contents of my pockets in a plastic been along with my laptop. Sneak in a little pat down for good measure.

Check.

Made it to my gate with some spare time, bought a bottle of water and a banana to tide me over until the airline meal.

Check.

Before I knew it, the plane was boarding, I handed over my ticket and passport and I was in! I quickly found my seat, cozied up, and waited for takeoff. To be honest - I think I slept through it, but awoke to a commotion in the back of the plane and the captain coming onto to intercom, informing us of a sick baby on board and that an emergency landing in AZ was going to be needed. Damn. Ok - no worries, we'd make up the time in the air once we took off again.

Nope.

Not going to happen. Now, because we had so much fuel on board to cross from LA all the way to London, we needed to dump some to reach a safe landing weight. So once we actually landed, we needed to refuel...and sit on the tarmac for almost three hours.

Lets just say I wasn't a happy camper.

Eventually we made it back into the air and I was able to relax. It was out of my control. Come hell or high water, I was going to make it to Spain - just a day later.

Luckily for me, British Airways is a phenomenal company and put me on the next available route to make it to Seville. Not only that, they put me up in a hotel for the night and gave me this adorable overnight bag that had a t-shirt, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, assorted soaps, and razor in it (single servings for any of you Fight Club fans out there). But wait, there's more. They even bought me dinner at the hotel. Booyah!

Once I was settled in, stomach full, showered, and teeth brushed, I passed out, ready to begin the next day bright an early at 4am. To cut to the chase, I was reconnected through Barcelona, to Seville. Both flights were on time and got me to Spain in the afternoon.

As I got off the plane, I was nervous. As nervous as the last time I had seen her up in San Francisco. I knew I had no reason to be, but I couldn't help it. Butterflies were in my stomach and they weren't about to dissipate. Luckily for me, it took a while for my bag to get unloaded from the plane and my nerves were able to die down a little. It actually took long enough that I thought my bag had been left in London, until a nice woman informed me that my bag was being offloaded separately because it was not from a domestic flight. I should have known better...damn you customs.

Opening the doors to the "Arrivals" section, I can't remember a time when I was as happy (although I was later informed I seemed rather melancholy - which I'll chalk up to nerves). My eyes scanned the crowd, surprised to see as many waiting, smiling faces as there were. It took me a few seconds, but I eventually found it, beaming from across the room - the face I had been waiting months to see again. Warm and inviting. And boy, was it a sight for sore eyes.

Immediately my nerves melted away and all I knew for certain was that the next fifteen days were going to be complete bliss.

------------------------

Ok, so I realize this wasn't really a major part of my trip or exactly detailed - really just a prologue. The real guts and glory will be coming up next. And don't worry, much like the last trip, I'll post pictures accordingly, but for now, I'll just post some for fun.

Enjoy.