Today was mostly in Kayla's hands, with me along for the ride. There are more and more days like these days, but that's okay, and it's to be expected. Eventually, I may stop updating this journal, or at least not aiming for daily updates that way I've been doing for many years now.

I've been spending a fair bit of time on the phone with Lisa dealing with things. That's the internet phone she has, which she was able to plug into the wired router in her apartment in Munich, and means she has a US phone number and can make and receive calls there. We also got her a simple flip phone, identical to mine, and we know that it worked because she called me on it from Denver Airport on the way out. But it has never connected since she got to Munich, even when I added on a Verizon international service plan. So today we spent time trying to sort this out. We ended up with me on my personal phone to Verizon on speaker, while getting Lisa on my work phone on speaker, and putting the phones next to each other so she could talk to the tech support guy.

As Lisa expected (but we had to have support go through their entire support checklist), there was no SIM card in the phone. There is one in my identical phone, but not in hers. Apparently it will work as a phone on the Verizon network domestically without one, but this does explain why it wouldn't connect in Munich. She'll have to hunt up a place to sell her a SIM card with a prepaid plan for the rest of this trip.

Why the Verizon store didn't put a card in the phone, I don't know. I wasn't paying attention, and when the phone worked when we tested it in the store, I figured that was good enough.

She did have a planned trip to Berlin for which I had paid on my credit card, but when she showed up at the hotel, despite the room being in her name and my notes to the hotel explaining that they should charge me, they refused to let her check in. She had to go back to the apartment in Munich on the next train. If they charge me a broken-reservation fee, you can bet I'm going to protest that charge. And for the rest of this trip, we'll need to be extra careful about confirming that the rooms for which I paid -- and checked the "making the room arrangement for someone else" box on the forms when possible -- are actually being charged correctly. I know the apartment in Munich is paid for because the charges have hit my card.

As is usually the case when I get into something that drains into my chest, it takes a while to recover. My voice is coming back. I went to Walgreens today and got some Mucinex to try and encourage the mucus to break up.

My sleep schedule is still a bit disrupted. It's as though I was just getting used to BST before being yanked back to PDT. It's not too awful, given how early I start work, but I'm shutting down earlier because I haven't paid off the sleep debt yet.

I'm glad this year's Worldcon is in the same time zone as I am.

I had my monthly chiropractic appointment today. To my surprise, except for my neck (which has been hurting for a while), there were not significant adjustments today.

Unlike yesterday's long trip to Reno, the chiropractor's office is only a few minutes away from my house. I could walk there if I wanted to do so. I did not do so today because I'm still very tired. It's going to take days to recover.

After waking up at about 7 AM BST on Saturday, Cheryl and I took our time getting ready to go, including taking in the hotel breakfast, before checking out. It had started raining, but not heavily, and we had less than five minutes to wait until the next public bus came by on Bath Road that is only a couple of stops to Heathrow Central Bus Station. But traffic was backed up out of Heathrow, so it took a while to get to Heathrow Central. However, we were not in a hurry. It really helps to get there early, as it means that long queues aren't a source of panic.

( Long Trip )

Waking up five minutes before my 7 AM alarm, I did not hurry getting going this morning, getting a shower, checking messages, and repacking. Because the next (and final) leg of the trip was in the van, I didn't have to be as efficient with packing, which sped things up. Checking out of the hotel, I went my a nearby Starbucks for coffee and a breakfast sandwich and headed for home, far less tired than I would have been if I'd tried to get home last night.

I got home, tossed my bags on the bed, and turned things over to Kayla, who was presiding over a CanSMOF Board of Directors meeting less than an hour after we got home. Those of you who follow her journal may have already seen her story about that.

Before going out to collect the mail an get groceries, I took a COVID test: negative, which is a relief. I think the coughing and congestion must be allergies, which should subside now.

While I had a great time in the UK and would have been happy to stay longer, I'm also glad to be home. Also, i have four medical-related appointment coming up this week and an SFSFC Board meeting next weekend, so I did need to be home.