Sorry for the silence..

We were away for 10 days in the UK enjoying time with friends and family and got back a few days ago. Must admit I felt quite depressed on the way back, since it was so nice to be on vacation instead of sitting at home, well, on a different kind of vacation I suppose. *sigh*

We went to Liverpool and met my sister-in-law's new baby, i.e. my 3 month old niece Zainab, who is an unbelievable cutie-pie and who I am missing way too much to be normal. Hmm. Must be those maternal instincts on high alert. Will not put up a pic for fear of predators but ask me privately, and will be happy to share :-D

Also got a chance to actually physically connect with my sister-in-law and her husband for the first time since I've gotten married since we were all in the same place and not rushing about doing things. It's a great feeling to discover more people that you can like and love in your family!

After 4 days in Liverpool, we headed off to London to visit my older sister and also spend a day with my other sibling and brother in law who would be stopping in on their way to Rome for their honeymoon.

Sarwar and I spend a whole day exploring the sights in central London; I tried to be as cooperative as possible but my allergies were still on a roll and when he suggested we climb 22 storeys up to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral on dusty, narrow, winding stairs with no windows I said, no thanks!

I stopped at the first level of the climb at the Whispering Gallery (if you whisper into the wall, it can be heard through the wall at the other side of the Cathedral - its really cool) and he continued to the top and got amazing views of London, like this:




We met with friends and had dinner at this interesting place called Sitaaray in Drury Lane (no, there was no Muffin Man although I sang his song and looked for him for hours), with a fixed price Indian tapas-type menu and a Bollywood-inspired theme. Recommend the place for really good kebabs!

In addition, watched Pirates of the Caribbean 3 - which thankfully was not as disappointing as #2, although you had to pay very close attention if you didn't want to get lost and confused by the constantly changing alliances and rapidly moving plot of almost-treachery and quick-thinking that, I suppose, is natural in the pirate world.

And then it was back to Liverpool, and then back to Manchester in order to come back to Newark and then back to Boston.

Only the idiotic Frenchman checking us in at Manchester deserves a paragraph, nay an entire blogpost, all to himself.

We arrived at the airport about 1 hour and 15 minutes prior to flight time, which I admit is cutting it a little close, but come on.. it's not entirely reckless when its a 9:25 am flight.

They nicely sent us to the front of the check in line since our flight was coming up, but before we checked in this Frenchman decided to look at our passports and paperwork - which is fine and pretty normal. Except instead of the usual 1 minute cursory glance at paperwork that we've experienced at every other airport, he ends up taking FORTY-FIVE minutes to do it!

He scans our passports in some nifty machine, finds them machine un-readeable, shuffles around asking 4 different supervisors about what he should do, and in the meantime treats us like we're bloody terrorists because we hold Indian and Pakistani passports (which he can't seem to read despite being in clear English.. why? because he's an ass) and my Green card says I was born in the UAE.

Big fat hairy deal right? Nooo... after 30 minutes of us just standing and waiting and being treated like we carry the plague, this guy comes over and starts asking us questions:

- was I born in the UAE, why, when was the last time we were in Dubai, why, who we were visiting, why, please write down their address and phone number, do you work in the US, where, please give me your business card, write down the name and address and phone number of where you work and colleagues we can contact, where were you were staying in the UK, why, for how long -

and all of this to be written down on some random scrap of paper with a pencil he was able to fish out of the small desk he works on. Not even some legal-looking form that proves he's legally authorized to ask these questions!

45 bloody minutes! Thankfully they re-opened our flight, checked us in, sent us through the Fast Track of security (where I was *still* body searched by "random" selection) and we managed to make it to our gate where boarding had already begun.

This is just utterly ridiculous! We are law-abiding, tax-paying residents of the United States who have worked hard and used only the most legal means get where we are, and we deserve just a little bit more than an ounce of respect if we travel outside the country!

Mind you, when we got back to the U.S., as usual, our stint at the immigration desk lasted an uneventful 2 minutes and we were, as usual, let back easily into the country. What the hell is the UK's bloody problem? I've never had this much trouble getting into the U.S. even when I was actually coming back from that "hotbed of international terrorism" (please note my huge *eyeroll* here) Dubai.

It irks me that despite working so hard to get resident status, and eventually American citizenships, we will always be treated like potential threats because we were born in certain places and lived in certain countries. How come no one treats everyone who lives and was born in Oklahoma with a suspicious eye? What if that person went to school with Timothy McVeigh and is a potential city blower-upper?

And by the way, every foiled plot in the last few years has revealed home-grown terrorists - disenchanted, disaffected, angry young Americans and Brits who have lived their whole lives in these nations, who have an utter disrespect for the freedoms they have enjoyed in the very countries they wish to harm, and who have a disgusting disregard for life that is unrelated to the teachings of any religion.

What have we done to be racially profiled just because of our nationalities? We stand behind yellow lines before being asked to come forward at counters; we turn our wheels towards the curb when parking downhill; we pay 15-20% tips at restaurants because we know the waitstaff is barely making minimum wage; we pay our taxes and get our returns back in bloody January; we pay off our credit cards each month and don't let any balance gather interest. We do not shoplift, rob, kill, take advantage of or swindle anyone and we certainly are not involved in any plots to cause harm to this or any other bloody western racial profiling country! So enough of it already!

*pant pant pant*

Ok. I'm done for now. You can see this gets me riled up. I probably wasn't helping matters at Manchester Airport since my glowering expression likely aroused more suspicion and ire than my passport, but hey - no way is this MY fault. Bloody Frenchman.

Anyway, just wanted to say - I'm back.