After some mad packing and cleaning, we headed to the Malaga airport. The only real hitch was when we left the keys in the apartment as planned only to realize that we couldn't get into the garage to get into the car or get the car into the street because we had left the garage key and garage door opener on the key ring inside the apartment. I knocked on our neighbor's door at 6 am so he could let us into the garage, let our car out of the garage and open the gate onto the street for us. Luckily, he was one of the neighbors we had invited to Thanksgiving dinner and Raquel's dad. SO EMBARRASSING!
We'd been on the road for 12 hours, mostly we've just been sitting or standing around. 3 hours at Malaga, 6 hours at Heathrow. The travel gods smiled on us on this trip (finally!), not only did we avoid any real problems, but for the long leg from Heathrow to JFK we were bumped up to business class. They had beds for seats, personal screens, better food, etc., etc., It's the only way to fly. Good good British Airways!
We landed safely in JFK. While waiting at the baggage claim we saw Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon who we on our flight, but obviously in first class. They must have spent the holidays in London. They were all smiles and she looked great. I wonder if she ducked into the bathroom to freshen up before she got off the plane. They had a bunch of people to bring their luggage for them.
After we went through customs, we saw a guy holding a Bucknell sign. It was our shuttle driver. He reached out to get my suitcase from me and I thought we was going to hug me and do a double cheek kiss. I think Spain really messed with me! Now I think everyone is going to double cheek kiss me. Our ride home was FREEZING cold. My feet were honestly numb for half of the 3 hour ride. We got home around 2 a.m. We brought in all the bags and put sheets on the beds. Collin turned on the water and promptly flooded the basement because the water guy who drained the hot water heater left the valve open. We had to use EVERY towel in the house to clean up the water in the basement and turn on the dehumidifiers full blast. That was a real bummer in the wee hours of the morning. We finally went to bed at 3 a.m.
We're back and getting settled in. Our house is dusty and musty and we found dead mice in the basement. When I moved the couch to vacuum under it, I found a bunch of mold on the carpet. Our cars were also full of mold. The house seriously needs to be purged of junk and cleaned and painted in a big way. You don't realize just how much unnecessary stuff you have until you leave it all behind for six months and then come back to it. We have lots of plans and projects for our house, luckily Collin is on sabbatical.
