The trip home & pictures from Awards Night

The 6,400 mile (10,300 km) journey home went rather smoothly. The nearly full Boeing 767 that flew us from Zurich to the New York area landed just 20 minutes behind schedule leaving plenty of time to make the connecting flight to California. The only minor excitement happened as the plane from Newark to San Diego was taxiing to the runway. The captain came on the plane's public address system to tell us the emergency vehicles racing to the left side of our aircraft were, in fact, for us. He quickly added that it was nothing to worry about. As our jet's crew fired up the 737's left engine, the pilots in the plane behind saw the engine "belch" (his word) out a little flame. Our captain seemed unconcerned as he explained this happens some time and it's usually not a problem. Safety being most important, this fiery belch required an inspection by emergency crews to be sure the plane was safe to fly. As the fire trucks retreated, the captain got back on and said we were number one for departure. About a minute later, we were in the air headed west, the considerable New York and New Jersey snow on the ground fading in the distance. A little more than five hours later, we landed at San Diego's Lindbergh Field where the temperature was a pleasant 55 F (13 C) degrees at 8:00 in the evening. So, 24 hours after leaving the hotel in Basel, I was home.

BaKaFORUM's attendees come from near and far. Whether close or distant, I hope everybody's journey home went as smoothly as mine. As we all get back to our daily routine, here are some of Werner Laschinger's fine photos from the closing ceremony and reception to help keep the BaKaFORUM spirit fresh in our minds' eyes. Thank you all, particularly our hosts in Basel and the BaKaFORUM team, for an inspiring three days. Enjoy.