We arrived! 

Eleven dead dogs had met their demise on our way to the capital.  We weren’t directly involved, but we witnessed whatever remained.  Our two tiniest traveling companions showed us what they had eaten for breakfast by using their mom as a canvas.  That was un-fun. 

We stayed at the very fancy hotel for free (using a handy dandy coupon!), ate at the fancy 4 hour-long brunch for free (another coupon!) and enjoyed our upgraded room with executive lounge (3rd coupon is the charm).  We spent a total of $5 during our stay. It was delightful!  The Mister managed to take on a male admirer who would just not leave him alone.  He came back from what I had imagined was a luxurious hour and a half alone in the spa.  He dropped his towel on the chair and said, “That guy from yesterday?  Yeah, he’s back.  And he won’t stop talking to me.”  The day before, they had met in the spa and this guy told him about his business ventures taking him to a neighbouring country.  Apparently, the women there are quite beautiful and this guy likes them a lot.  He has a wife, locally, but when he’s over there for business, he’ll find a woman that he fancies, marries her for the duration of his stay (2-3 months, or even 6) and then divorces them upon departure.  “We should travel together some time!” the star struck stranger chimed.  Uhh.. The Mister’s calendar is full. 

We made it to Germany without any incident.  After a little window shopping (I have a collection of windows, you know), The Mister offered our kind services of remaining behind if so needed.  The crew was delighted!  Soon, it was confirmed that the plane would be leaving, but we would be staying in the airport hotel, with food vouchers, and extra money credited to our visa.  We nearly got bumped the next day, too, but at the last minute, we found out that there was room.  Dang it for the money, yay for getting to see family! 

I didn’t get stripped searched, even though I TRIED to sway it in that direction.  The customs guy said, “Where are you traveling from today?” and The Mister said, “The desert,” and then I said, “You might want to question us,” and the guy just LAUGHED.  Can you believe it? 

Thankfully, the universe could feel my dissappointmen and tried to make it up to me.  Both of the routes home to my inlaws were affected by accidents.  The one that we chose had an overturned semi-truck, which resulted in the traffic coming to a dead stop.  My sister and I disregarded any sense of pride that her husband had, and waved enthusiastically to all the cars crawling along in the opposite direction.  My favourite was when I waved as if I knew the people and they looked confused, “Do we know that girl?” My other favourite was when my brother in law yelled, “Get off your phone!” to someone on the other side of the highway.  And my very best favourite was when we scream-sang “You Give Love a Bad Name”.  I tend to go a little crazy when we first get back because there aren’t any ramifications for behaving like an idiot in public.  It really only takes a day for me to get it out.  Systems are back to “normal”.  And by normal, I mean, I struck up a conversation with the guy on the othe side of the gas pump yesterday morning when I heard him whistling the song that I had just heard on the radio.  And I told a McDonald’s employee that she’s now allowed to have her own chickens in her back yard.  So yeah… normal.