2/26/17,
“The Return Journey”
New York,
New York
And so my
adventure has come to its end. There and
back again, just like Bilbo did, just like Frodo and Sam did. I am back in my Hobbit-hole, and I will stay
on this island for another two weeks. I
have no desire to leave the Shire again any time soon. I have put my passport away, and I will not
need for another three months. Feasts
and ale and pipes will keep me happy in the meantime. All that remains is to recount The Return
Journey, the “back again” portion of the trip.
Then, the Oscars tonight before I get back to my normal routines.
I left off at the hotel in La Paz, and it was
11:30 AM. My flight was not for another
five hours, so, barring any unforeseen circumstances, there would be no
issues. I had some chips and lit up an
LFD for the ride. We first dropped
Roberto off at his friend’s house on the way to the airport, and it was around
noon then. From there, it was two hours
to the airport in Cabo.
About an hour
from the airport, we started running low on gas. By the time we found a gas station, the tank
was on E, and Elias thought we weren’t going to make it. I cleaned the car up a bit while they filled
the tank. Before long, we were at the
airport, and we said our goodbyes.
I
didn’t see a sign for Aeromexico check-in, and I started to get worried, but
then I saw a long line of people waiting to check in for the flight. There were also kiosks, and I used one to
check in, which was a complicated process.
In the end, my boarding passes didn’t print. I went to the agent, but he said I needed to
wait on the long line. I wanted to get
lunch and write my entry. I would not
have time if I waited on the line, and I did not want to have go through the
lengthy data entry process on the kiosk again.
I tried another kiosk, and, fortunately, it allowed me to just print the
boarding pass from that kiosk without reentering my data. Boarding passes in hand, I went back to the
arrivals area, where I knew there to be a Subway. It was where I had first met Roberto and
Scott.
This was very much a there and
back again, just like Frodo and Sam, encountering all the same places and the
way back that we saw on the way there. I
got a BBQ pork sandwich, which I paired with the rest of my chips and the big
bottle of soda water that I had gotten the day before.
After lunch, I went outside, lit up an
Aurora, and wrote my entry. Security was
a breeze, and I got a cup of coffee at Starbucks before we boarded. It was small plane, and we had to walk out to
the tarmac. My suitcase would not fit in
the overhead, so I had to take out some of my clothes and put them in a
separate plastic bag. That did the
trick.
Before long, we took off, and
that’s when things started to get scary.
After ascending about 5000 feet, we stalled. Then, the plane did about an eighth of a barrel
roll (45 degrees). This was not normal
turbulence. Something was off. Reader, I have flown hundreds of times,
never, in all of my years of flying, have I ever felt more scared on an
airplane. The plane adjusted itself
before continuing the ascent. I read more
“Lord of the Rings” during the flight, and then, the same unsteadiness returned
as we made our descent. Was this a
pilot-in-training or something? I did
not have confidence in the pilot’s ability to land. My lack of confidence was not found to be irrational. It was one of the roughest landings I have
ever experienced, but we landed in one piece.
We had to take a bus to the terminal, and I soon found myself in the
familiar arrivals area. I walked past
all the familiar sites, before going to my favorite spot. I lit up my 2015 Christmas Pipe and wrote my
reflective entry, reflecting that this was the last time I would this.
After my pipe, I got a burger and fries and
Carl’s, Jr. Wasn’t their CEO supposed to
be our next Secretary of Labor? I had
gotten a soda cup, intending to fill it with the flavored sparkling water they
had at the fountain, but it was sickly sweet.
They did not have plain seltzer, but they did have coffee, so I filled
the cup up with coffee, which paired nicely with the meal.
After dinner, I went back to my spot and lit
up a Partagas, which smoked poorly, as I continued a conversation I was having
with a friend about the Oscars. After
the cigar, I went to get my traditional Krispy Kreme donut, but their cash
register was closed, despite them having two full carts of donuts. There was no way to procure a donut. That was disappointing. In the US, they probably just would have
given me a free donut.
I then went
through security and to the newsstand where I usually get my last cigars. Knowing this would be the last time I could
get Cubans legally for quite some time, I picked out a nice selection,
including 4 Romeo y Julieta Churchills, which were seriously overpriced. The guy rang me up, but the total seemed
high, so I looked at the screen, as I handed him my card, realizing he had
charged me twice for 4 Churchills, a total of 8 Churchills. I started to protest, but he already ran the
card and couldn’t cancel it.
I looked at
the receipt and realized what had happened.
He had charged me another set of 4 Churchills instead of ringing up the
4 lesser-priced Romeo y Julieta No. 1 cigars.
It took a while to convince him of his mistake, but, eventually, he
agreed that he charged me twice for the Churchills, but the supervisor was
off-duty, and no refund could be issued.
He said I could have 4 more cigars, but I didn’t want 4 more overpriced
Churchills. However, no mention had been
made of 4 lesser-priced cigars, and I had not been charged for those. In the end, I got the extra 4 Churchills,
accepting that the 8 cigars for the price of the 4 Churchills was actually a
reasonable price.
From there, I went to
my gate, and waited until we boarded. I
was glad to be going home. I fell asleep
not long after we took enough, and the short flight only allowed me two full
REM cycles. It seemed like we landed as
soon as we took off. I breezed through
border control and was outside within 30 minutes of the time we touched
down. I got a coffee and two donuts from
Dunkin Donuts and waited for the bus back to the city. There was no traffic Sunday morning, so we
made quick time.
I lit up one of my new
Romeo y Julieta cigars and walked back down Park Avenue, just as I walked back
up Park Avenue to start the trip. I got
back to my Hobbit-hole, and, after changing into some more comfortable clothes,
proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close, along with closing out
this trip. Next stop: Del Mar for Gene’s
memorial service.
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