What do pigeons, upgrades, and famous people have in common?

They were all part of our trip back to the states!  Write that joke down, its a keeper.


The first necessary step to travelling back to the states was paying a room tax in Rome.  Fun fact: it must be paid in cash, only euros accepted.  We had 10 euros and 97 euro cents.  We needed 11.  (Eurgh)


We weren't willing to get the ATM charge necessary to get the cash we needed.  After some excessive luggage and pocket searching, I took an AMERICAN quarter and went on a quest.  Down the hall, I found a kid chiyyin on the couch.  The conversation went as follows:


Me:  Are you American?
Tie-Dye Shirt Kid: Yes.
Me: Can I ask you for a weird favor?
TDS Kid: ... I mean... you can ask...
Me: Can I trade you this American quarter for five cents in Euros?
TDS Kid: Uhhh sure.


SUCCESS!  Turns out he was from Texas.  I said "Go Mavs!" and he replied "I don't follow sports."  He's a freak, but he was useful.


Here is our tax cash:

Figure 11-1: HAVE FUN COUNTING THAT.

We were packing up, and I realized that I never had a chance to bust out my collapsible hat since Greece was to be the glorious debut.  It had to be photographed.  Here you go:

Figure 11.2 - (A) What a great purse!  (B) But what is this???? (C) You're kidding.  There's a hat in there?! (D) Wow, I'm so glad.

You're welcome, world.


We had some time to kill in the airport.  Alice went to buy some CZ (coke zero) and while she was gone this thing nearly took my head off.

Figure 11.3 - Pigeon why are you in the airport?  You're a pigeon, you don't even have a boarding pass.

I also got a free upgrade.  Since I had 17 hours of flying ahead of me, I was grateful that the first 10 would be spent in LE SERIOUS STYLE.

Figure 11.4 - I couldn't even reach the seat in front of me.  (Sorry Ehlice...)

Turns out I was sitting next to some pretty high up dude in the US Navy (shout out RyCo), and I thought that was super sweet.  BUT THAT'S NOT EVEN THE MOST EXCITING PART.  I walked out of the plane and went over to the side to wait for Alice, and JOHN MCCAIN was walking right behind me.  We made eye contact.  He looked confused about why I stopped walking so suddenly.  Or maybe he was just being olds.  I tried to get a picture:

Figure 11.5 - See that tiny tiny white dot in the middle of the circle? That's him.

Clearly I photofailed.  But guess who was sitting right across from Alice on her journey to the main terminal?

Figure 11.6 - Wow, Alice.  You did such an amazing job here.  

We are now safely in the states.  Expect some trip conclusions in the coming days.