Gse Day-30

Day 30 (Wed 24 May) + A day of departures. Challenge #1 is getting everything into bags the airline will accept. Then we begin with an early breakfast and see Valerie off to Normandy by train. Then a debriefing session with some of our hosts who have put in so much work to make the exchange such a success – Coordinator Jacqueline Sala, Dist Gov Jean Paul Robichon and Past Dist Gov Christian Pineau.

We say goodbye to Natalia as she heads for Barcelona and then on to Ukraine to see family before her return. On to the airport, where we get a surprise send off by French team leader Sulviane and team member Aurelien.

We get through Heathrow and make our connection, but only because we’re able to jog most of the distance from one terminal to the other. We arrive in Chicago and are able to make our connection because weather has delayed our flight. We lose Junior here, as he’s figured out a way to get to Midland and shave a day off his return to Cuyanosa. It turns out our delay is several hours I finally get back to Albuquerque after midnight (4 hours later than expected) with Henrietta, successfully returning only 1 of my 4 team members.

Back in New Mexico, with a hand carried remembrance of Rhône-Alpes on our own porch.