touchdown

We're sitting in a restaurant here in Heathrow. It's noon on Saturday, August 21 (4am LA time). The flight was not bad at all.

Customs was interesting. We were advised to mention we were vacationing, as “entertainers” could be required to have travel visas. They have a very broad definition of entertainers, where even amateur musicians coming to play at a festival would need an entertainer's visa. I guess we fit that bill.

Even people doing “religious” work could require some sort of visa or documentation (but that wasn't clear). So, we decided it would be best to say we were tourists, which is still true.

So there I am at UK customs, with the script played out in my mind. I tell the customs agent I am there on vacation (still true). He sees my Edinburgh travel stamp from 2008 in my passport...

“You played the Fringe? Says here you played the Fringe last time.”

“Even in my greatly fatigued state I realized 2 years ago we must have received some sort of special Fringe stamp in our passports.

“Yes, yes I did.”

“Just going to what this year, are ya now?”

“I'm gonna try and catch some shows” (still true).

“Have a nice stay.”

“Thank you.”

Whew.

My name is Rick, and thanks for reading.