Well, I'm back in America!
My flight was supposed to be Accra - Washington DC - Chicago - Minneapolis, finally arriving on the 20th around 2 in the afternoon. Well a few hours before I was supposed to leave the ship (was that just yesterday?) we found out the DC flight was cancelled. I got on the phone right away with my travel agent (Raptim Travel - HIGHLY recommended) and she was wonderful, pulling who knows how many strings to get me home before Christmas. The DC flight was delayed about thirteen hours, which was fine for the other to crewmembers who were only going to DC, but that messed up my connections to Minneapolis and with it being so close to Christmas, they didn't think I would be able to get home.... WELL, about twenty minutes later, I got a call back from Raptim saying they can get me home before Christmas but the only option (without buying a whole new ticket on a different airline) would be to leave earlier and go through Germany. Great. Awesome. Sign me up.
So I basically ran to the Pursers office to make sure I could get a shuttle to the airport and then ran to the ever fabulous Davies cabin to see if Shelly could drive me. Then I frantically changed clothes and hauled my stuff up... you see, this was all happening right in the middle of the big wine-and-dine event for all the dignitaries and basically the center half of the ship was shut down to general crew, as well as the gangway (the only way out....) well anyway, we finally got everything worked out and flew down the gangway between the Swiss and the American ambasadors arrivals, got me to the airport in time, and the return began.
This did make for very rushed goodbyes, and several people I never got to say goodbye too - which might have actually been easier as the few I managed to do were pretty emotional. So to all my Mercy friends and family - I love you all and send you hugs from afar! Merry Christmas.
We arrived in Frankfurt (an airport I have never been in and was very impressed with) to a snowstorm, and my flight from Frankfurt to Chicago was several hours delayed in departure, but I was supposed to have 6 hours to kill here in Chicago so wasn't worried about making that flight. Once we finally took off, it was a nearly 10 hour flight and I slept a little, but not great, and had crummy seats... but really, after enduring two and a half years in Africa, I kept telling myself I can handle 10 hours in a plane for crying out loud.
So now I'm in Chicago. I went through customs with no problems, both my bags arrived with me, and now I'm just counting down the minutes until I can hug my family in person. I have a gingerbread latte from Starbucks and some cheesy popcorn to tide me over until then. It's still kind of surreal, but then again, I actually left the ship 28 hours ago and am still not home, haven't slept or ate well, so my emotional state isn't exactly stable.
Okay, now I'm rambling. But I'm back on American soil after two and a half years on African soil. It's a bittersweet homecoming.... thankfully, mostly sweet, thanks to the latte I am sipping. :)
Love to all. Krissy
My flight was supposed to be Accra - Washington DC - Chicago - Minneapolis, finally arriving on the 20th around 2 in the afternoon. Well a few hours before I was supposed to leave the ship (was that just yesterday?) we found out the DC flight was cancelled. I got on the phone right away with my travel agent (Raptim Travel - HIGHLY recommended) and she was wonderful, pulling who knows how many strings to get me home before Christmas. The DC flight was delayed about thirteen hours, which was fine for the other to crewmembers who were only going to DC, but that messed up my connections to Minneapolis and with it being so close to Christmas, they didn't think I would be able to get home.... WELL, about twenty minutes later, I got a call back from Raptim saying they can get me home before Christmas but the only option (without buying a whole new ticket on a different airline) would be to leave earlier and go through Germany. Great. Awesome. Sign me up.
So I basically ran to the Pursers office to make sure I could get a shuttle to the airport and then ran to the ever fabulous Davies cabin to see if Shelly could drive me. Then I frantically changed clothes and hauled my stuff up... you see, this was all happening right in the middle of the big wine-and-dine event for all the dignitaries and basically the center half of the ship was shut down to general crew, as well as the gangway (the only way out....) well anyway, we finally got everything worked out and flew down the gangway between the Swiss and the American ambasadors arrivals, got me to the airport in time, and the return began.
This did make for very rushed goodbyes, and several people I never got to say goodbye too - which might have actually been easier as the few I managed to do were pretty emotional. So to all my Mercy friends and family - I love you all and send you hugs from afar! Merry Christmas.
We arrived in Frankfurt (an airport I have never been in and was very impressed with) to a snowstorm, and my flight from Frankfurt to Chicago was several hours delayed in departure, but I was supposed to have 6 hours to kill here in Chicago so wasn't worried about making that flight. Once we finally took off, it was a nearly 10 hour flight and I slept a little, but not great, and had crummy seats... but really, after enduring two and a half years in Africa, I kept telling myself I can handle 10 hours in a plane for crying out loud.
So now I'm in Chicago. I went through customs with no problems, both my bags arrived with me, and now I'm just counting down the minutes until I can hug my family in person. I have a gingerbread latte from Starbucks and some cheesy popcorn to tide me over until then. It's still kind of surreal, but then again, I actually left the ship 28 hours ago and am still not home, haven't slept or ate well, so my emotional state isn't exactly stable.
Okay, now I'm rambling. But I'm back on American soil after two and a half years on African soil. It's a bittersweet homecoming.... thankfully, mostly sweet, thanks to the latte I am sipping. :)
Love to all. Krissy
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