British Airways' £406.31 mistake

Still in London. Got bumped off my flight to Delhi. In a nice Hilton (of course it had to be a Hilton) hotel and now almost $800.00 richer. Vineeta was informed using the great chain of email and cell phone calls. Got to love technology.

Heading East

Today I'm in London. I've got a 24 hour lay over between flights. Christie - my friend from Salzburg - let me stay in her house. It's a great ''flat'' just south of the Thames. The area Clapham is mostly residential and shops, bars, and other goodies are just a few blocks outside her door. London is cold - about 40 degrees. A real shock from the high 60 degree weather I was experiencing in Israel.

During my time alone here I'm starting to get more and more afraid of the next leg of my journey. Leaving Barak yesterday was so incredibly painful. He is my partner, my best friend, and the past two months with him have made me appreciate his presence in my life so much more.

Thankfully Vineeta and her dad will be waiting for me at the Delhi airport tomorrow morning. I will have more loving arms to embrace me for a little while and help rebuild my strength and confidence before moving on to Nepal, Vietnam and China on my own.

Shipping Out

I have four days left in Israel and I can't believe that the two and a half months that I've spent here are over. Where has the time gone?!?!? I can't say that my Chinese is much better than it was when I got here. I spent my time in Europe studying a book that was actually Cantonese and not Mandarin, so that was a minor set back. On the other hand, it will help me out when I'm in Hong Kong on my way to Beijing.
What I can say is that Barak and I are in the best possible state we could be heading into 6 months of separation. Meeting his family and living with him in Tel Aviv was the best way for us to see if we love each other and whether or not we have a future. Sure the next phase will be difficult, but we're both happy that we made the effort to figure it out instead of giving up and going our separate ways.
His family is amazing. They are so loving and caring and have made me feel like a part of their clan (or should I say tribe) since I arrived. It would be hard to think that I would never see them again. I've loved exploring Tel Aviv on my own with long walks down the city streets, runs along the boardwalk and random conversations at the beach. Dispite all the media attention, the city is relatively calm (of course this comes from a girl who has never lived in a city of less than 3 million people).

As for the home sickness, I can't say that I miss the physical part of being in the US. I don't miss American food, traffic, rude people on the metro or folks talking on their cell phones every where they go. I do miss hearing my family and friends' voices, chats at coffee houses and bookstores, people watching at the Clarendon Marketplace, cheap beer and food at Froggy Bottom, and of course, Monday Nite Trivia at Four Courts!

I'll post some final photos of Israel later this week. My new digital camera came in the mail today, so I'll be spending this afternoon playing with it to figure it out.

On Sunday afternoon, I'll head to London for the night. I was lucky enough to meet a great girl in Salzburg who is letting me crash at her place for the night. Then Monday night I fly to Delhi. My great friend from UCSD, Vineeta will meet me at the airport and we will start our Indian adventure together.