Home at Last!

We are finally back in our home in Kentucky. It was, once again, a long and tiring airplane ride. We did slightly better at sleep this time as our plane was not quite full and we were able to move to other seats so we each had some room. On our car ride home we stopped for the milk and other groceries everyone needs when returning from vacation. We also grabbed a McDonald’s meal where no one asked if we wanted ice in our drink and we could have all the catsup we wanted – just a couple of little things we missed while in Brazil!

As previously posted in my blog, we really enjoyed our stay in Brazil. However, the process of exiting Brazil is starting to cloud those enjoyable memories. We allowed an extremely conservative amount of time to leave Jundiaí by asking for our driver to pick us up at the hotel at 4:00 p.m. even though our plane wasn’t scheduled for take off until 10:20 p.m. Jundiaí is only about an hour from the airport but São Paulo traffic being unpredictable, it took almost two hours to get to the airport. Marcos was as friendly and helpful as ever and we were glad we were in his hands in that traffic.

One unusual side note – all along the divided multi-lane highways in and around São Paulo (these highways compare to our interstates) – there are vendors on the shoulders and in the median selling everything from water and chips to cell phone chargers and bicycle tires. Some of these vendors have elaborate set-ups with little cook stoves, umbrellas, and tents. If traffic is slow enough or stopped, a vendor will walk amongst the cars selling his wares. Can you imagine that on I-65?

At the airport, Continental Airlines shares ticketing counters with Swiss Air so we had to wait almost an hour for Swiss Air to ticket their passengers before we could check in. Check in with Continental went well as all of the gate agents speak multiple languages. As we checked through our luggage, the agent told us the customs officers were on strike (work slow down) and it could take as long as three hours to clear customs. She recommended we get in line NOW. We did. The line snaked around and through the terminal and we did stand in line for well over two hours, approaching that three hour time we were given. As we approached the immigration agents, along with approximately 3 to 4 thousand other passengers also leaving Brazil that evening, we noticed there were only three agents working. The man in front of us, who we got to know while waiting, started to move up to the open booth. The immigration agent said, no, he was on break. He took a drink of his coffee and then allowed the man to approach. And all of this just because he could. After that, we had to go through the metal detectors and then on to the gate with just 20 minutes to spare. However, the plane had to wait for take-off while 25 additional passengers cleared customs.

Our arrival in Houston went well. We cleared customs, claimed our bags, and then rechecked our bags on to Louisville. This seemed unusual but I suppose it was to allow the drug and explosive sniffing dogs and their handlers to see which passenger claims the bags with the contraband.

So that is all for our trip to Brazil. We are glad we went to Brazil but we are glad to be home.

So long until we take another trip.