Home is where our beds and TV are

Add Iceland to the short list of places I will never, ever, EVER visit again. Granted I've only been to the airport, but the frustrating processes and the lack of food choices are enough to keep me out for the rest of eternity. There's a single place that sells sustenance, in prepackaged sandwich form, and its "vegetarian" choice is heavily contaminated with mayonnaise - the world's most vile substance. Therefore, my lunch looked like this:



I always said I was a potato chip vegetarian.

The flight from Reykjavik to Seattle was longer than expected, but fairly uneventful. The unfortunate thing about IcelandAir is that they don't offer free food or beverages, even on long transatlantic stretches. Hungry folks must either bring their own or purchase things onboard. Starving due to the above conditions, I shelled out for a five euro ($10) veggie wrap. We were seated next to a woman who could have been Bobby's mom's twin. She was chatty (and thus could also be my mom's twin) and asked us all about our trip. Once she discovered Portland was our final destination and we were going by car, she told us about a young UK exchange student she'd met at the airport. This student was on our flight to Seattle, but will be starting school at Reed College on Monday. Our seatmate asked if we might be willing to give the young lady, named Frankie, a ride back to Portland with us. We agreed to meet her and decide from there. She seemed quite cool (and perfectly normal, in case you were wondering, mom), so we got ourselves a passenger. What can I say? I love to sell Portland.

Our passenger (and new friend) Frankie was grateful for the ride, and we spent the journey telling her all about the city we love. With our ETA too late to hit any beloved Portland restaurants, we stopped at a Burgerville in Centralia or Chehalis (I always mix those two up). We dropped her at her hotel in Portland, and told her to look us up if she wants to grab a beer once she gets settled. Sure enough, she's already added me on Facebook. Ah, modern technology.

We arrived home around 11:00 last night, and were greeted by a pair of lonely cats who'd been kindly watched by my former coworker Mindy in our absence. Jet lag being the beast that it is, I woke up around 4:45 this morning and have been running around putting the house in order ever since. I made myself a giant American-style breakfast featuring FIVE strips of Fakin' Bacon instead of my normal three (I missed the stuff), and my typical toast and tea.



No cheese sits atop the jam. I save that treasured tradition for when I'm in Sweden. It just wouldn't taste as good here. Now I'm alone for the first time in two weeks. Bobby's gone off to work. It's eerily quiet, so I'm thinking about meeting Lorien and Xander at the fabric store later. Our trip was indescribably fantastic, and my reviews of Way Out West are currently in progress. The first one should be posted by Monday at the absolute latest, which is also the first day of my new job. I miss our friends in Sweden already, but am comforted by the fact that we'll see each other again soon.