Day 34--Bucharest to Boston

BUCHAREST-ZURICH-BOSTON             

Bucharest to Boston

Monday July 28, 2008

Judy and I left Bucharest in a taxi at 10 am and got to airport at 10:35 despite a traffic snarl. Then we had a long wait before we were able to check our bags at 12:30 pm. We spent the time having a coffee and talking to Sushma Patel, a well-known Indian fashion designer and famous Bollywood couture clothing designer who had spent the day in the airport due to a Delta schedule snafu. I was glad we were flying Swiss. An Asian woman from S.F. had also been derailed (de-aired?) all day. She had been to a brother’s wedding in Romania. The two were on the same plane.

All of our bikes lined up and Steffie loading them atop the van for their ride back  Experience Plus's Italian HDQ

Steffie from our balcony

 We finally caught our 2:15 flight to Zurich and found ourselves in the midst of a crowd and screaming kids. I had to pass twice through customs in Zurich where they made me completely empty my backpack.

Judy is continuing to be a pill. She does not believe anything I say. If I tell her the gate number, she has to spend 10 minutes asking anyone who will listen what the gate number it is, or she has to find a departure screen “just to check.” If I say we turn right, she insists it’s left. When I told her that they would take her water away, she didn’t believe me so bought water and had to guzzle it before passing through security. One more day . . . and then freedom for both of us. We've been too joined at the hip for too long.

The flight to Boston seems endless. At least I do not have to sit next to Judy or she me. She is several seats back. I am seated in the center next to three guys from a sweep rowing team who have been to a competition in Switzerland. All three are conked out. They are all well over six feet and crammed into the tiny space each of us is allowed. The person in the seat in front of me—a fat man—reclines his seat immediately so I have him “in my lap” for the duration of the flight. The child two rows in front of me isn’t conked out but should be. She emits high pitched screams periodically. As Snoopy would say, “ AARRGGHH!”

I try to watch a movie but lose interest, so finish Judy’s book (now cannot even remember the title) and work the crossword in the airlines mag. I’d asked for low calorie meals, so when dinner was served, I got turkey and rice and a pot of purple grapes while others got pasta in cream sauce and frosted cake. My snack was a fresh pear and apple. Others got a doughy pizza pocket. I think I will ask for this low-cal option often.

Observations:

- On the shuttle train to the gate in Zurich we listened to yodeling and cowbells.

- Water at the Bucharest airport costs $6 a bottle.

My older brother, Phil,  met us at the airport and I spent the next week at Phil & Lois's house in Tiverton, RI.  Phil drove Judy to the bus terminal and she took the bus back to Logan the following morning and flew home. Yea! Lois is undergoing chemotherapy but she is feeling pretty good and strong as it is the third week of the cycle. The first week she says she feels awful, the second week she’s better, and the third week she feels best. Then the cycle begins all over again. Poor thing has two more cycles to go and should be finished in early September if all goes well.

The Tiverton house; Phil in the kitchen, his demeanor telling that he has been worried and drained by Lois's illness; Lois, Phil and Cimarron at the table playing Quiddler--our new favorite game.

Phil on a trail near their house and the two bottom pix the views from the lookout tower on that trail; top right, a thin, Lois recovering from chemotherapy exiting the Fuller Craft museum in Brockton, Ma, where we had spent the morning

On August 4, Phil took  me to the bus lines and I took a bus to Logan and flew home, via Atlanta, on Delta Airlines. Jeff picked me up at the Tulsa Airport at 3:30 pm, August 4th. I have been “on the road" just 40 days. Is that Biblical or what? Jeff's cat-bitten arm had healed! In the Biblical vein, I will just say, "Thank God!"