And now, I'm home. And I'm so freaking exhausted. I'm majorly jetlagged and still on England time. Today is better than yesterday, but I'm still wiped.

Tuesday was the longest Tuesday of my life! I was up at 7am, and home by 3pm, but there was a ten hour flight in there somewhere!!!

We had to be awake and have our luggage downstairs by 7am Tuesday morning. Joe called at 6am, and we chatted for a bit. Somehow, we got cut off at one point, so I hung up, waiting for him to call back. When he didn't, I worried, but went ahead and just got dressed and stuffed my pajamas in my backpack. Finally, he called me back, and said that he thought I'd fallen asleep on the phone and had spent a long time shouting my name into the phone trying to wake me up, not realizing we'd been cut off. My poor guy was so worried about me! He didn't want me to miss the plane!

But no, I was awake and fine, for the most part. I still felt weird from having stayed up until 2:30 in the morning, laughing and drinking with Laura. I had two big ciders before bed, and had only slept a few hours. I felt kind of sick. Lily later described my thought process perfectly, which was, "Oh god, I'm hungover. No, wait! I'm still drunk!"

My poor stomach didn't allow me to eat much in my present state, and I thought I was going to die once the bus started moving on the way to the airport. I slept on the bus, though, and felt a little better in the airport. Laura and I checked in together, and were seated across the aisle from each other. Lily was right next to me! Kat and Alex were nowhere to be seen on the plane, and that was a-okay with me!

Before we boarded, we weren't allowed to wait at the gate, so we waited in the center of the airport instead. Then we stood in a long line once we were allowed to wait near the gate, and I just chatted with some of the older ladies while Lily and Laura chatted farther down the line. I love those sweet older ladies! They're so funny! I got their email addresses so that I could send them my page of pictures once it's up and running. I hope they like them!

The plane ride was long, but not awful. I spent a good part of it sleeping. I spent a lot of it eating, too. I love that Virgin Atlantic feeds you so much! I also played games and watched movies. In fact, Laura and I watched The Shawshank Redemption at the same time, because I'd told her it's my all time favorite movie, and she was curious to see it. We both cried. It always makes me cry! I love that movie!! Laura seemed to like it, too, but I don't think she loves it like I do, which is, of course, totally okay.

There was a cute girl who was either 11 or 12 sitting in front of us named Kylie. She talked to us about stuffed animals and other things, especially in the beginning of the flight. She talked to us a lot once we were waiting for baggage, too.

By that time, I was so annoyed with the travelling process that I just wanted to be home. I was exhausted! Finally, we were able to grab our bags, get through the rest of the claims department and move on towards the exit. I hugged Lily good-bye before I left. She is really cool. Then Laura and I walked out together. She shook Joe's hand, and then moved behind me. I kissed Joe, and as I did so, I heard Laura shout good-bye to me as she ran off to her friends who were waiting for her. At first I felt bad that I didn't get a chance to hug her good-bye, but then Joe said, "Well, you'll see her soon, though, right?"

"Right!" I said, feeling much better.

The journey home seemed long, and even though I tried to stay up until 10 or midnight, I totally crashed at 7pm, and had a very weird night's sleep. I was up again from about 2-5am, then slept again, and had weird back pain throughout my weird sleep.

I went to therapy in the morning, which was cool, but sort of hazey too, since I was so freaking out of it. Then I chatted with Mom a long while on the phone, which made being home feel a bit more like home. It was strange... I felt homesick right before I left, but once I got here, I felt homesick for London. I really missed it a lot! I guess it was because, in a lot of ways, it's a more interesting place than plain ol' East Bay, California. I've never been too thrilled with living here, really. In fact, coming home from London made me miss both London and Los Angeles! I found myself thinking I would have been happier to come home to L.A. than San Francisco... Well, I suppose I'll be there soon enough.

Today, I feel more used to being home, and I'm feeling quite happy to be here. I'm also happy I don't have to worry about going to work any time soon, since I quit the clothes store job. So for now, I'm just relaxing. I have a lot of laundry to do, and I might as well do some other chores too. But also, I'm just keeping to myself (need some quiet time after all that activity!) and trying to get my energy back up to normal. It's amazing how much a vacation can exhaust you!

I'm so happy I went and had all those great experiences. London is a cool city, and I'd love to visit it again someday. Hopefully sooner than later! I had a fantastic time, and it's a little sad to see it end, but really, it is wonderful to be home. I love being back in Joe's arms, catching up on missed hugs and kisses while I was away. I love feeling my kitties' purrs and soft fur as they climb all over me. It all sort of feels like a dream, like it couldn't have happened. But it did, and I'm really glad for that. I even made a new friend in the process. How great is that? I'm so grateful I got to go! I love London! What a wonderful trip!!!