6 June 2004

Got up reasonably early, so I'd have time to shower & eat some breakfast before checking out. Ran into Erin & Rachel at breakfast; turns out they had chosen the same hotel, and were actually on the same flight out as well. As soon as we had finished up and checked out, we hiked to the Russel Square Underground Station and hopped on the tube (minding the gap while we were at it) for the ride to Heathrow. It was actually a fairly long trip; close to 45 minutes, I think.

While waiting in line to check our luggage, I got picked for one of the random searches. I'm guessing I must have been "lucky" number whatever, because I'm pretty sure I didn't look much like a terrorist. It was annoying (mainly because it separated me from my group), but not that bad. They took me to a room behind the counter, went through my suitcase, and asked a few questions. They also took two of the lighters I had purchased in Glasgow. Apparently you can carry one with you on the plane (where you can't smoke, and might use it to set off a bomb hidden in your shoe), but can't have any in your luggage (where it might explode/start a fire because of some sort of static charge).

While I was "occupied," everyone else hit up the duty free shop. Which would have been nice, since there were some great deals on alcohol. But even though it was perfectly legal for me to purchase & consume it in the UK, I've still got a bit over a year left before I hit 21. We sat around for a bit waiting for our flight, and 10 very long hours later we landed at SeaTac International Airport, back in the good old US of A. Home, sweet home.