April 3, 2012 Tue Day 55 Los Angeles-Toronto

This morning many tears saying goodbye to Chrissy, Karena and Nathan at the house, 
and Ian at the airport.  Ian again came to the rescue and offered to drive us to the airport, take the rental van back for us and then take the train to work. Their generosity is endless.  Chrissy lent us her GPS for our trek through Aussie. After returning it and being without the GPS, we knew we would have difficulty finding the airport and would  probably end up in Perth.   We quickly took Ian up on his offer to drive us. 
Customs did not check the name of my passport, so we sailed straight through. 
I asked if anyone was anxious to go home.  Happy, but not anxious was unanimous. 
Could have stayed longer. 

The Lounge
Comfort galore.  Delicious cappuccino and breakfast.  Including alcohol. 
Little too early for us....nope, wrong again.  Immy's on her second glass of wine.
The lounge beats playing euchre on the floor.
Yeah, they just brought out lunch.  Excellent food again.  

Skyping with brother Herman.  Free Internet in the lounge also.
We went downstairs only to find out our flight was delayed 40 minutes, which turned out to be 1.5 hrs.
Now, we will have to wait amongst the 'common people'.
Nope...went back to the lounge.  Packed with people downstairs. Thank you Ian. 

I think we all read about 5 books on this trip.
Most camp sites throughout our journey had a free book exchange.
Well used by our group. 

What to tackle first when I get home! 

7th flight.  Leaving Sydney for a 13 hour flight.  We had the double seats in the back.  Pre-booked.
Lots of room, but little sleep.    

On route, they fed us supper, then after lights out for a sleep, breakfast.
Peter did not even eat his breakfast. Very, very gross.  Think we may have to fly first class from now on. 
Or fill up in the lounge!

Arriving in LA the same time we left Sydney.  Pretty neat trick.  Found the lost day plus 7 hours.
We were going to try the lounge again, but decided against it.  Only 1.5 hrs to wait for the flight. And we would have to go through customs again.  U.S. airport is sooo unorganized.
They send you from one line-up to the other, and aren't even sure if it's the correct line.
Took 2 hours from the time we got off the plane to getting through all the line-ups through customs. 

Leaving LA.  8th flight.  

Arriving Toronto on time.  11 at night. Time three hrs. forward again.  Called Henny (5 min away) to pick us up with my van.  She got stopped for speeding.  Couldn't find the ownership (in my wallet).  The policeman even helped her search with his flashlight in the glove compartment.  Amazingly, he let her go with just a warning to slow down.   

Heading straight for the shower when we got home just before 2 am, just to find out we had no water.
Marcel checked in the basement.  Flood.  Pressure tank had a leak in it. Welcome home.
After vacuuming up the water, he turned the water on, we had a quick shower, turned off the water  and we went  to bed.
I slept till 12:30 the next day, while Marcel was up early, busy in the basement replacing the tank..

A welcome home lily from my dad

Our granddaughter Erin made this sign for us.  It was in our front flower bed. There was also a card on the coffee table from her, and a beautiful yellow mum (below) from our friends Herman and Amanda on the veranda.
What a wonderful home coming.  

Thank you, thank you, to our daughter Teresa and Doug for keeping an eye on our house, and vacuuming up the water in the basement the day before we got home.  
To Debby and David for looking after our plants and mail. 
To everyone who followed our blog and left comments or sent emails.  
For all your prayers for safe travels and flights.  Love to you all. 
But especially to Ian and Chrissy for their unending help and love before and during our amazing 2 months in New Zealand and Australia.  For spending time with us on outings and making wonderful memories.   
For all the great coffees and meals.
 To Karena for the delicious cupcakes, and Nathan for giving up his bedroom.   
For the laughter and fun we had together. And most of all, for making us feel so welcome in your home. 
We pray that God will bless you, as much as you've been a blessing to us. 

Side by side or far away...friends as dear as you.... are always close to our heart! 
 Don't cry because we're gone. Smile because we were there. 
Till we meet again.
Love always
Alida, Marcel, Immy and Peter.