Random Bits of Traveling Fluff

Okay, so we all know the Pink Ladies Pledge, right?

1) To Act Cool
2) To Look Cool
3) And To Beeeeeee Cool

I failed horribly to live up to this code on our ridiculously long journey home on Monday.

Here's why:

1) We were on the airline equivalent of a milk run. Amsterdam to London Heathrow (3 hour layover); 8 hour trans-Atlantic flight to Minneapolis (2 hour layover); Minneapolis to here. So, you know how you just feel like a big ball of grease when you fly? It's because of the insanely dry air on the plane. It makes your body think you're in the Sahara, so it freaks out and says, "Moisturize, moisturize, aaaarggghhh!" And the plane is neither cold nor hot, just uncomfy. So, I was a shining, slightly gross, Medieval Bee-yotch for the entire 24 hours between when we got up and when we could finally go to bed again.

2) On the trans-Atlantic leg, we sat right in the middle of a very large, very energetic Indian family. There were 3 boys sitting across the aisle from us, all with little coke-bottle glasses. They were very excited about flying and kept asking their older brother, Raj, if he was going to sleep on the plane? If he was going to eat on the plane? What he was going to watch on the plane? Etc. The boys were cute, but there was a lot of them.

3) Also on the trans-Atlantic flight, there were movies. Dr. Virgao asked what I watched on the way out (Presumed Innocent), but what I watched on the way back was much more entertaining. At least for some. I decided to watch "A.I. Artificial Intelligence," which I love, but which always makes me sob at the very end when he gets to spend the last day with his mom and she tells him she loves him (I'm tearing up even now). So, I was crying my eyes out and then when it was over, I looked at what TD was watching: "Bridges of Madison County" (okay, here we go). That movie makes me cry even harder (when she doesn't get out of the truck!! Oh god!). I saw that TD was already tearing up and so we shared his earphones and watched the last little bit together. Both of us were sobbing by the end. On the airplane.

And after listening to the music on the credits and weeping a bit more, we looked up and saw 3 little pairs of coke-bottle glassed eyes staring at us in wonder. TD turned to me and asked, "You would have gotten out of the truck to come be with me, right??"

Other Tidbits:

- I think we had a slightly *tipsy* cab driver on the way home from the airport. Also, his cab had the brake light, check engine light, and the ABS brakes light on the whole trip. And he told us that he has 10 kids by 4 different women. I told him that he must be a busy guy...

- When we got home, the furballs just glared accusingly (where the f*ck have you been? what other cats have you been cheating with?); then they showed us to the Furballs of Protest they'd left for us. Thanks guys.

- TD's and my current situation continues to boggle the minds of the border guards. We get a lot of this: "Okay, so you two are married, she's an American citizen living in America, he's a Dutch citizen living in another country not Holland. And your married. Why??" So, we have to keep explaining these things and they just get more and more suspicious. We're legitimately starting to worry that they will start making it difficult for TD to get into the country. The border guard in Minneapolis said as much, in fact. So, we're going to need to start the Green Card process pronto and just hope that the market this year yields something better.