Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig!

I arrived on schedule last night to two very happy parents, my brother and a freezer with several containers of peppermint ice-cream- I'm a happy girl. Of course I would be happier if Nina would show up right now but I can be patient. Sort of. If I have to. 


My flights were pretty uneventful on the way over here; minus some serious turbulence from Naples to Munich. It didn't bother me much though as I was (for some reason) thinking about just how much cilantro I could buy for $5 once in California. I know- random right? I guess I was still in shock that for the first time leaving Naples I didn't have to load a bus to travel 5 yards. (Did any of you know they did this?) 


The Munich to LAX flight, all 11 hours 22 minutes of it, proved to be not that difficult to stay awake. Granted, it may have been the fellow passenger a few rows back snoring so bad I still heard it over the engines but that was okay...I got to catch up on movies. I did get a few cat naps in because when I thought we hit more turbulence it turns out we were actually on the ground. Oops. Totally allowed though since my flight didn't leave Naples until nearly noon my grand plan of being on CA time didn't exactly play out since the bulk of my travel hours happened during day time in CA. (And starting my day Thursday evening in CA sure didn't help matters...)


Once in "enemy territory," through customs, and in my next terminal, I wasn't quite sure what to do. 


The lack of coffee bars, pizza, or panini places threw me off. 


Stores filled with USC, UCLA, Lakers, & Dodgers merchandise made my skin crawl.


People were dressed in sweatshirts and flip-flops wore backpacks. And, they spoke English. 


(Queue the culture shock.) 


I survived. How? I tracked down a Starbucks for my first (and way over due) peppermint mocha. I was thrilled to see it came in the skinny version, however they didn't have anymore of that mix but nothing was going to stand between me and that peppermint. The guy at the counter assured me that it's better with all the calories anyway. I didn't care. I'm not going to have a decent cup of coffee my entire stay here and I wanted that mocha. Bad. As in, just make it already and pass it over the counter. Grazie! 


With coffee in hand I found my gate. On the way though, the signs for Baja Fresh, CPK, and other various chains still overwhelmed. So I did what I any person would do- called home with the flight status and to confirm the fog was cooperating. Now I had to wait. Wait. Wait. 


When then waiting was over it was time to board. The plane was barely half full so we all spread out. That's a good thing because if someone had been next to me I would have driven them crazy. The less than hour flight was anything but restful. As my emotions went from pure panic, to anxiousness, to pure joy I saw my favorite coast line pass below my window. For a while I was playing guess that city but they sort of all look the same at night. 


Then I heard the engine noise change; we began our descent. Scanning anxiously the city below I gathered we were near Salinas and as the plane turned I knew we were over the bay. Still frantically looking for my landmarks- MHS, Del Monte Mall, the wharf I didn't see them. 


Then I spotted it.


Just off my side of the plane stood a round tree with blue and green lights. Knowing exactly where to look I saw my next tree of white lights on the Marriott roof. *Sigh* Sports Center. Check. NPS. Check. Taxing to the terminal I couldn't get off that flight soon enough but when I did there were my parents.Who apparently had been waiting there long enough to get the stories of other people also waiting in the terminal? I <3 the Monterey airport...my luggage made there before I could walk, that's right, walk to the terminal. 


Once home we caught up (since I was rather awake) over peppermint ice cream and homemade lemoncello from my landlady sent home for my parents. Sitting on the kitchen counter with my family (minus one) made my forever long day totally worth it.