So let’s just begin please with the night before travel day. Our travel day was set to begin at 3 am on the 27th of August. Because it was a house we were renting, it was necessary to clean the place we were staying and not leave it in shambles (or filled with dirt). The plan was to have everything packed and downstairs by 1:45 am and then we would put the last, final, finishing touches on everything like cleaning the toilet and beating and bagging the mattresses. Our buses arrived promptly at 2:49 am and we were packed up and out of there by 3:00. Being that it was pre-crack of dawn, our bus made it to the airport in Santo Domingo in PERFECT time! A smooth 3 hour bus ride with enough room and we were all able to at least shut our eyes, possibly sleep a BIT. So we arrived at the airport, EARLY, sat outside of the ticket counter with all of our stuff, had the opportunity to weigh our bags before we got to the front (to rearrange carry-ons, etc) – turns out my bag was a little on the hefty side (7.2 lbs hefty) so I ended up carrying my shrink-wrapped Wolf Sweatshirt and Raincoat as a “subtle” third personal item/carry-on.
After arriving to the airport and getting checked in, we make our way through security and go to get a little sleep until our flight leaves – supposed to leave around 9:20 we heard an obnoxious beeping sound and look up at the flight information monitor and realize that our flight info has changed. We are not leaving Santo Domingo until 10:10. That’s cool, just takes a little time off of our layover in Orlando which may limit people’s plans to go to Wal-Mart. Annoying beeping shows up in another half an hour and looks like we wouldn’t be leaving until 11:00 which puts us in Orlando at 1 something. Also, our gate changed, but luckily we made a friend at the airport and he guided us in the right direction.
As a group we had the understanding that as long as we were back in the airport by 3:30 it didn’t matter what we did. I have elected to not leave the airport now, it would just be too stressful especially after getting through customs and stuff – doesn’t leave us a lot of time and I decided that it wouldn’t really be The World Race if I got to run around Wal-Mart and stock up on cheap food that I have been missing out on. That’s too easy! Anyway, I attempted to sleep on the airplane, I was relatively unsuccessful, but it gives me a goal to accomplish by the end of the year…conquer plane sleep! So we arrived in Orlando, we were told that whatever happens we can check in and then come back as long as we are outside the gate by 4:45 pm. Falco and I decided that forget this, we are checking in, we are going through security, we are finding our gate, we are getting lunch and we are utilizing the free internet.
So we did. We ate some Burger King and some Coldstone…and enjoyed just sitting and waiting patiently for the others to arrive. All of this is going smoothly for us and get load onto the plane. I board my first trans-Atlantic flight. I am pumped!! We take-off, we glide along smoothly, but about an hour or so into the flight our pilot comes on to say that we are making an unexpected landing in Boston to check out some stuff with one of the engines. I am PUMPED!! One, Boston is my second home, I instantly start playing “Shipping Up to Boston” by The Dropkick Murphys, I am kind of hoping we have to get off and I get to grab something from Mike’s Pastries, two Boston is like a mini-Ireland…at least they’d like you to believe that. So basically it is just practice for the real thing! Everyone else is a bit irritated…oh well get over it, we have been taught to give up expectations!
Turns out nothing is really wrong and we get ready to re-take-off and cross the Atlantic Ocean but we continue north up over Maine and Newfoundland and Labrador so I am just loving life – I am flying over the two provinces of Canada I have never been to and am aiming to get to…
So eventually I fell asleep, we land in Ireland, I’m awake I’ve eaten my breakfast. I feel like I haven’t slept in years, but no that’s just jet lag/travel-related sleep-depravity. We get through customs and stuff fine…oh all until we go to get our passport stamped and then the one officer starts giving one of us a good time about us not knowing the address of the place we are staying and how we have no proof that we are able to support ourselves monetarily. Kind of dramatic, we all get put into a room to just wait out their decision, so obviously we are praying and just asking God that the people with the information can be found.
Well we got through fine and were even offered a “enjoy your stay” just took a little request of the Lord. We met up with the people who had been in Haiti this past month and had a grand reunion in the airport and all made our way to the campsite together. God provided, he kept us safe, and I can say we are ever so grateful for that fact! By the way, we all nearly froze to death – when your country list looks like ours (DR, Haiti, Africa, SE Asia…) well let’s just say you DON’T bring warm clothes, but we are alive and well.
End of Travel Day #3!
