The End

If you know my schedule, you’ll know that I am home by now. Yep. Home, safe and sound in my own house and my own bed. It’s nice, I have to say. More space to move around, healthier food… Let’s face it; I was living the college student diet which is “whatever’s convenient, easy, and fast.” But I’m home now. It was an adventure just getting home too. Want to know? Of course you do. Otherwise you wouldn’t be reading. So, if you don’t care, stop reading. That’s right. Stop. OK. The rest of you, continue to live my story through the following words.

As many of you know, if you read back a few blogs, I messed up my sleep schedule, so leaving for Edinburgh Airport at 7:15am was really like leaving for the airport after a really long day. Originally, my plane was supposed to leave at 9:25am and get in around noon local time in Newark. From there, I was supposed to catch a 2:30pm flight to Kansas City and land at 4:37pm. But… best laid plans… and all that jazz.

The first flight was delayed and ended up taking off at 10:35ish. Well, of course that damn volcano made it so that we had to fly up and around it, adding on more time. I slept a little, but I was too worried about making my connection to really relax. Those of you who know me… well, you know stress and worry keep me awake. But normally, being that tired, I should have been able to sleep. Apparently not.

So we land in Newark just before 2. No big deal, right? 30 minutes to get my bags, go through customs, re-check my bags, and get to a whole other terminal. Fat chance. Getting the bags alone took more than 30 minutes. Well, my original flight was delayed by nearly 30 minutes. Great, right? Wrong. When I went to re-check my bags, the lady told me I would have to get on another, later flight. Eff. I still had 15 minutes. I had every confidence that I could make it to the terminal and through security in that time. She wouldn’t let me try. Eff again.

So I am now booked for a flight that is supposed to leave at 4:30pm but is already delayed to 5:44pm. I can deal with that. Puts in me back in Kansas City a little before 8. Late dinner. I can deal. I’m sitting by the gate and, as I’m writing the rough draft for this particular post, I see that the stupid plane is now delayed to 6:25. A whole 2 hours. So here I am… tired as all hell, going on very unhealthy food for the last 24 hours… oh and about 4 hours total of sleep for the last 34 hours. I know I get frustrated easily, but this just seemed ridiculous.

On the bright side, I was already in the US. I wouldn’t have to find a way back into my flat or anything back in Edinburgh and I knew I had a flight out no matter what. The question remained… “Would the flight get delayed again?” Did I mention that I did not have my cell phone? I left it at home and simply bought one in Edinburgh. Of course that cell phone did not work once I got back to the US, so I had to buy a phone card. Mom and Dad could not get a hold of me, so I had to keep lugging my backpack (which was heavy due to the lap top) over to the phone booth area. But I couldn’t see my gate or the screens at the gate from there, so I would have to come back to the gate to be sure of the departure time.

All in all, not one of my better days. Sad thing is that it was the end. Well, I have had no good experiences with Newark Airport. None. I hate the damn volcano in Iceland that has decided to really mess with my travel.

Oh, but let’s get back to the actual travel. Shall we? So 6:25 gets here and we haven’t boarded yet. Want to know what the announcement was? “There’s a problem with the plane. We’re currently fixing it and will update you in 30 minutes.” Well, by this time, the screen said we weren’t scheduled to depart until 8pm. Great. Wonderful.

Luckily, by 6:45, we’d boarded the plane and were about to pull away from the gate. It ended up that I landed in KC about 5 hours after I was originally supposed to. I was tired as hell, but I was home. Thank goodness!

For those of you wondering, my ingenious plan to stay up all night before leaving worked. No jet lag. I slept 10 hours when I got home, then 9 hours the next night. But I was rested when I woke up and I haven’t had any problems. So, I was not a happy camper during my travel time, but I was back on a decent sleep schedule as soon as I got back. WOO HOO!

That is all, readers. Thank you for your time and attention. I’ve been glad to share my adventures (fun, frustrating, and fantastic) with you, but my Scottish adventure is over. Ta!