The morning-after detritus aside, I slogged to Gatwick for the lovely 8 hour flight to Charlotte to wait in the airport for 4.5 hours before getting on another flight to Jacksonville to get in a car for another hour to drive to Sea Island. I left T sleeping off the holiday cheer and a promise of doing the dishes while I was in the US (still waiting on some of them to get done....)

Flying into America on a holiday is strange. Thanksgiving, while a big deal in some families, is just another day to work for others. After clearing customs I immediately went to my friendly cantina for a much-needed tequila boost and some honest-to-god salsa. Spence prefers the Chili's To Go, being the extensive traveler for his job, but the line was too long.

Fact: Strange people hang out in airport bars
The hardest part about hanging out at the Charlotte airport is the realization that if my house and car were only 20 minutes away and I could drive to Sea Island in the amount of time it would take to wait, take the flight and then take the car ride.
My overfriendly waiter kept dishing up ritas on the rocks and after 4 I realized that slowing down MIGHT be a good idea. Apparently I looked that sad (not to mention decidedly scummy after flying all day).

Fact: Being single and alone on major holidays bites.
With four hours and much alcohol to kill, eavesdropping is a time-honored form of entertainment. Several of my fellow drinkers were simply traveling for work or just getting from Point A to Point B with no turkey (ugh-don't mention the word) waiting with open wings at their destination. Okay, no I had a VALID reason to drink for three hours (boredom and jetlag) but some people just sat there on a major holiday! I compensated for this by phoning every single person in my US cell phone and sending about 40 texts to T back in London, whose thigh apparently turned all shades of black and blue.

Fact: If you fly to Jacksonville on any given evening, you will be with the biggest rednecks on earth who feel the need to broadcast their 'culture' at every possible moment.
They HECKLED the stewardess. Granted, I THINK she had two working brain cells altogether but seriously. You know it's a skeleton crew that was forced to work the holiday when she couldn't operate the intercom and had to read every single safety instruction form the manual and couldn't even get the seat belt fastened out figure out the oxygen mask. The Hooters drop-out girls sitting across from me began to taunt every sentence about flotation cushions that will fall from the panel about you (these girls already have built-in flotation cushions, they were set). After praying that flight crew wasn't quite as inept, we rolled down the tarmac. Desperately wanting sleep and putting up the big "I am not in the mood to talk to my seat partner so back off and go far far away-pretend the Grand Canyon exists between us" I left my earbuds in as a sign. Does this stop a determined Daisy May off to see her cheating boyfriend? Absolutely not. This very nice, albeit slightly slow girl, was from Norfolk, VA. Had I ever heard of it? Yes :) Did she go to Old Dominion? Nope, she couldn't get in but she did go for awhile to another school in Norfolk (anyone know what that is?). I heard all about her family which read like a bad southern ballad. Somebody's uncle is in prison so the baby of the grandmother and her went to the aunt's brother's house but then HE got arrested but the mom, who is an alcoholic, drove up as well and they all went to IHOP for breakfast. The last bit I made up but there was definitely a felon, an out-of-wedlock occurrence and somebody's dad as an uncle as well. Feeling the effects of muchos tequila and not enough sleep, I felt a bit queasy (flight attendant couldn't turn the AC on in the plane; yum, sweaty rednecks, even better when the purse dog in the seat in front of me got a case of the runs.) and did lots of nodding and hmmming. Spotting Sudoku turned into a 5 minute conversation on what it is, how did those Chinese do it (she was close, bless her heart). Out of desperation and gag reflex I mentioned the boyfriend. The 28 year old (she's 20) got out of jail and joined some reserve unit and is in JAX but isn't in the unit anymore and has his own truck and cheats but is the best guy ever and she made him cookies. Did y'all follow all that? Thank God we descended before I threw up or gave the obvious life advice (they should really engage in safe sex-no need to further that particular gene pool to my way of thinking; a tad bitchy but I challenge you to withhold a comment in the face of this conversation)

I love Sea Island because they do everything to the ultimate of luxury. A very spiffy Town Car waited for me to haul my luggage (grrr) to the curb but the driver was a great conversationalist. Scared that I might fall asleep and never wake up we kept up a steady stream of political, social and moral debates. I got the skinny on the life of a Sea Island employee, who famous had been there (other than the G-8 boys), did he like the new hotel, etc. etc. The most interesting debate came in the form of immigration. His parents had legally immigrated from Mexico and he had VERY strong opinions about closing off the border and giving citizenship to illegals (Yes to the 1st, a big NO to the 2nd). A great deal of his argument came from the fact that his parents went through all of the red tape needed, the illegals were not building up communities as Americans and assimilating and incorporating their own culture but rather sticking to themselves and not giving back to the greater community at large. He was very articulate and passionate about this but proclaimed his mother felt even more strongly. These, among other arguments, are similar to ones I've heard from legal immigrants and those who are 2nd generation and lead community activism.

We turned into the gates of Paradise only to realize that neither one of us knew the exact location of D&D's new house. At this point it was 11:30PM EST and I'd been traveling over 20 hours. Content sleep by the side of the road I dredged up mental memories of our plot and we somehow, thank you Lord, found what i perceived to be the right house. Now, our beach house is technically a "duplex" with a common wall dividing the 4 bedroom units with their own backyards, pool, and garages (the only duplexes I know are ramshackle at best). No one had their phone on or couldn't get a signal-the best part of the island-so I walked into a garage and started hammering away at the door. No lights, no unlocked doors, no welcoming embrace out of the cold Georgia night. Me and my suitcase sat in the garage and just waited. FINALLY I get ahold of Spence and we figured out that I was at the wrong house! Whoops. Crisis and tears averted Spence rescued me and we went into the new Casa di Amore!

More on that later...
AoY