Travel day

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Our proposed trip itinerary was to go from Atlanta, to Dulles, to Vienna, to Pristina. We also were supposed to have a 10 hour layover in Dulles and we were going to go to the Air and Space Museum while we we were waiting. Remember the layover time for later!

Oh, what a day. We all got up really early and met at the d-house to carpool to the airport. When we got to the Atlanta airport, we found out the flight to Dulles was canceled but weren't given a reason why. Although some guy tried to be helpful and took on the big project of booking our flights for the rest of the day, we were anxious. He rerouted us from United to US Air from Atlanta to Charlotte and then to Dulles. Not everyone could fit on the Charlotte/Dulles flight though so we were going to be split on two planes. Of our flights, we finally got to check in with an hour and 15 minutes left before the plane left (oh we got bumped from a 5:45 time to a 7:00 time)! Getting 26 people though all the international security was going to be a long shot. There were two people helping our group but they weren't fast enough. We split up and took small groups through security just to make sure some of us made it through. Jeremy and I took a group of about 11 and left Morgan and Evan with the rest. Morgan ended up leaving Evan with another small group and the rest had to catch another plane. Morgan's group barely made it. Jeremy waited on them at the gate. When they got there all the overhead compartments were full so they were told they couldn't bring on their carry ons. I had the lighter bag with clothes in it and Jeremy had his computer bag and camera in his bags. Needless to say they made him check the bag with the camera in it. If we had known I would have totally checked the clothes bag. The plane ride was quite eventful. I sat by a guy that talked to me the whole time. We talked about things from our trip, to him being a medic in the Vietnam War, to him visiting his mom who had just died or was about to, and this antioxidant pill that makes you younger and live longer or something. He even got me to watch this whole special on it. That conversation took the entire hour and most of you know I'm not a morning person especially after waking up at 1:50! The pilot made a drastic vertical takeoff that was a little crazy and we hit a bit of turbulence but other than that the ride was good.

When we got to Charlotte, we booked it to our next flight. It was here Jeremy told me the camera was in the bag and that we wouldn't see it until Dulles. We had to leave Morgan at another gate because she ended up being the only one on another flight since Evan's group got rerouted again but they got to fly with us to DC. We were supposed to have an hour long layover but it turned into about 2 1/2 because of maintenance problems. We hanged gates three times and planes twice. Our baggage had to be moved too. It was here that we saw our carry on bag being thrown onto the conveyer belt. My heart sank. During our wait, I got to know most everyone's names and even got to tell our story about how we met... Then we finally got to fly to Dulles. This flight wasn't too eventful. I got to sit by Jeremy in the next to last row. It was a tiny plane. He went to sleep and woke up with his hair all over the place.

Morgan had been at Dulles for a few hours by the time we got there. I ate some lunch with some of the girls (Hannah, Lena, and Katherine). Jeremy took a group to baggage claim to get those carry on bags. Our 10 hour layover turned into about 2 1/2. Jeremy got back to the gate pretty close to the time we had to board. He hadn't eaten lunch and it was going on 4. More carry ons became checked baggage because of the plane. This flight was to Vienna and would be our longest ride of about 9 or so hours. This plane had two aisles. Every seat had a tv. They even gave us lumbar support pillows and blankets. That's just want I wanted and needed!!! We got dinner and breakfast on the plane. I'm amazed at how they can prepare food on these flights. The Austrian Air flight attendants have been my favorite. They wear all red, even red rights, with a blue scarf. I watched a movie (We Bought a Zoo) and tried to sleep. A small child squealed most of the flight though so I didn't sleep much. I didn't really feel like reading either so I just relaxed.

We made it to Vienna midmorning. We had to go through the airport trying to figure out where to go since no one spoke English. We had to go through security again. Some got patted down and others (including myself) had to dump out our water bottles because we forgot. Some of the team made it to the gate right as we were boarding. This flight I got to sit in between some of our students. I fell asleep though so I don't really remember the flight from Austria to Pristina, Kosovo. I do remember getting an apple and yummy chocolate for a snack. I also remember waking up to the flight attendant saying we were landing. Kyle, one of our students who sat beside me, fell asleep with his chair reclined and with his headphones in. The flight attendant was making sure he sat up and turned off his ipod! We definitely had some close calls and some challenges along the way but I hope that means its going to be a great trip.