Pre-Flight: Preparing for 6 months in the UK

My journey, I suppose, really started with my family deciding some time ago to take me to Chicago for last hurrah before I return almost 6 months from now. We also wanted to see Sophia off, my girlfriend of about 15 months. We stayed in the fabulous and high class Best Western River North hotel in Downtown Chicago. Sophia’s mother, born in Greece, showed us the way to Greektown on Halsted. We ate and ate and ate. The wine was sweet and the lamb was rich while my brothers learned something about eating out aside from pizza and quesadillas.

Sophia flew out on Saturday afternoon. My family and I hugged her goodbye. We tracked her flight, watching her cross over Canada.

The next day, after a meal with the family at the Weber Grill restaurant in Chicago, we took to O’hare. After a lengthy wait in a line without people at the Virgin check-in, it came to be my turn. Naturally, my packing yielded 65 pounds of supplies for 6 months. I had to pull out my spare bag and diversify my packing to make the luggage requirement, but all was well soon. I waited about an hour for boarding, and went to my seat, 63A. I had a window three rows from the back of the plane, and I sat next to a college professor of Art History. She frequented the restroom and brought her own food. She was quite put off once the announcement saying bringing meat into the country was a finable offense, especially since she had two grilled chicken breasts left from her carry-on. Oh well. Perhaps relying on complimentary mashed potatoes and beef-n-gravy would have been a better choice for her, not to mention the free red wine with the meal.