Well, the fat lady has sung, and my journey is over. But the final day of the trip seemed to take for ever. I'd set the alarm clock to wake me at 6.00 to give me time to finish packing, write a quick journal of the previous day, and get on the road by 7.30. This also gave me time to sit down for coffee and chat with Denis for a while.

Soon I was on my way in another hot and humid day, clutching the souvenir coffee mug from the General Accounting Office Dennis had given me. :) It contained an even more precious gift - hot, black coffee.

As I left the city, I was thinking that DC really is a charming city - it left it's mark on me this time, for the first time really. The only thing I don't like about it is that driving is insanely complicated for someone as geographically challenged as me - streets that curve this way and that and change their names and disappear on a whim.

Since moving to San Francisco, I'd thought that I'd never move back to the East Coast - chiefly on account of the weather. But I found on this trip, during one of the hottest Julys ever, that the weather didn't bother me too much. So the question is if I did ever move back East, where would I move to, since I love Boston, grew to like and appreciate DC enormously, and fell for New York all over again?

The drive from DC to New York is fairly long - I guess something like five hours, depending on speed and traffic. But the storm clouds were starting to dim the horizon, as I pulled in, after a couple of hours, for gas.

It poured on and off for about an hour, but I was still making pretty good time. The problem came from the fact that I was beginning to feel dreadfully tired, not to mention sneezy and congested. I felt as if I was developing another cold. For the rest of the drive, I fought to stay alert, and had to stop several times for coffee. By the time I crossed the Verrazano Bridge, and was thirty miles from JFK, I was beginning to worry about being a little late. I sped far too fast through the Belt Parkway, and reached the car-rental place about an hour before my flight was due to take off. I'd made it. Once I was at the terminal, and checked in, I could finally relax, although I felt smelly, amazingly tired, and congested.

Watching them get the plane ready

At least I was flying business class. And for once, my seating luck was almost in, as they sat a gorgeously cute young man just across the aisle for me to stare at the whole trip :) You can just see him in the pic below.

Thinking about ravaging the cute boy across the aisle

I slept on and off, during the flight, finding it almost painful to keep my eyes open. I mainly only opened them to eat, and then to watch the in-flight entertainment. It was while watching the movie, and then the subsequent "Eye on the Sky" by CBS News, that I was reminded again of why travel changes you. It throws you out of your routines, and confronts you with new ideas, even if only in a small way. I'd have never seen the movie "The Other Sister" - a soppy Hollywood romance about two differently abled young people falling for each other and the girl's family's reactions. And it made me cry several times - what a big softy I can be. But at least it reminded me that I am an emotional person at times, even if recently it seems only to be when watching movies.

Then on "Eye on the Sky", they interviewed Henry Kissinger, and I realized that this is such an important figure of this century, and I know next to nothing about him. It made me want to go out and buy his memoires. Finally, they showed such a fun and exciting series of clips from a famed day in the US Tennis Open back in the eighties (I believe), dubbed "Super Saturday", where some of my favorites - Connors, Macenroe, Evert and Navratilova put on a series of great matches. Just seeing this was enough to make my day.

San Francisco! We touched down into the evening sun, and I was nearly home!

Waiting to pick up my bags at SFO

One cab-ride later, I was twirling around my apartment. I had very mixed feelings about getting home. On the one hand, it's always good to get home to the life you know and your own bed, and I had a lot to look forward to. On the other hand, it had been just an incredibly good trip for me. I'd learnt a lot about myself, seen so much beauty and culture, and, best of all, met so many wonderful people.

I really want to thank all those people who've made this trip something truly special for me. Either by suggesting places to visit, or things to see. Or, especially, by offering hospitality and friendship to a stranger!