Well, my EOC (end of contract) break was really fun and relaxing. I will post a few more details about that later, for now I just want to cover the trip back to Iraq. I have to admit, over the break I did miss some things about Baghdad, mostly the people I work directly with. I have been fortunate to have a great bunch of people with me up until now. Only a few bad apples....Foley.....maybe asshole is a better description. Either way it has been fun working with them and I am looking forward to a great second year as well.
I was ticketed to return to Houston for in-processing on the 28th of October. It was a very early flight so I got up around 04:00 and Ben drove me to the airport, which is nice and close to the house. I made the flight , no problems, and got to my seat to find I was in the very last one, up against a wall. The seat did not even recline. I also noticed when I sat down that I was completely surrounded by teens, all wearing t-shirts that said something like "Jacksonville Christian Academy".......yes I had been booked to sit with the cast of "High School Musical: Christian Academy".......fuck me runnin! Anyway I mainly kept to myself, a few of the kids said hello to me and I introduced myself as Louie Cypher, hehe! They were cool, on their way to Costa Rica or somewhere like that to build a church. A noble cause I am sure, best of luck to them all.
Houston was uneventful, being a returnee there was not a whole lot for me to do. It is possible that in the next year tyhe company is going to do away with passing through Houston all together. I am sure it is expensive and it would be nice to go directly back to Baghdad if at all possible.
The Trip this year was a little different than last. Last year we flew to Atlanta and boarded a Delta 7 direct to Dubai. This year We went straight to London, Heathrow from Houston. While waiting for our flight, the boarding crew called a few of our names. I was sure, mostly sure, I had not done anything wrong and was pleasently surprised to find that Continental had over-sold coach class and upgraded us to first class! Not a bad deal, I figured it was payback for my trip to Houston on "Christian Airlines". We boarded the plane and immediatly the stewardesses were schlepping drinks to us, food, etc. It was a really great experience, too bad I will never be able to afford it again in my life, lol! I shit you not, we were served an eight course meal for dinner and I must have drank two or three bottles of Merlot. I was fat, happy and comfortably numb at 35 thousand feet!! Here are a few pics. The guy sitting next to me was laughing at me for taking pictures of my meals, he obviously flies 1st class all the time.
A few of the sixteen freaking courses on the flight to London
