The Journey Home

So after conquering most of Europe, I started getting a little homesick (and tired of walking). So I made my decision to start heading back to Madrid and fly home.

Only one problem- the ash cloud from hell (slash, Iceland) was still messing up flights everywhere. I slowly made my way back to Dublin in the middle of the night, got offered money by a fellow engineer for the bus, and had to spend the night at the airport with all the other bums.

Once the sky finally cleared later the next day, I was off to Spain again. But the situation down south was even worse. We couldn't fly straight to Madrid, so we had to circle around the mountains waiting for the volcanic ash to clear from the airspace.

Madrid round two was not as fun as the first time. I spent alot of time in and out of airports and lame hostels waiting for the next flight to Atlanta. Also, the airlines wouldn't let me simply switch my plane tickets to that day. Because of the complications from the ash cloud, the only seats they had available were in first class, and they wanted to charge me upwards of $2000 to get home.

So I decided to just wait a couple days and find a cheaper flight home. Long story short, I had to buy another round-trip ticket (and only use one leg to get back). But I finally had a way to get back to American soil. And after waiting a few days, I was in the air...goodbye Europe.

I had layovers in Chicago and Philadelphia, making it even more tiring and annoying. When I finally arrived in Atlanta, it took alot of strength not to kiss the ground as I walked outside.

A friend was supposed to pick me up from the airport after I called her (there were so many delays that I had no idea when I would even land). But she was sleeping with her phone on silent (shame on you Becky!), so I just started walking. I made it to I-85, and just started walking north up the highway.

I stopped at a Waffle House after walking an hour or so. It DEFINITELY wasn't my first choice of food I wanted to eat my first day back, but it was the only thing open at 3am. I was starting to get tired after that, so I walked off an exit, found a quiet Walgreen's parking lot in suburban Atlanta, and I layed there on the asphalt (feeling surprisingly content and safe, lol).

I found the Greyhound station the next morning and was waiting for the next bus to Greenville when I decided to give Becky another call (I didn't have my cell yet, and pay phones are expensive these days!). I finally got ahold of her, and she rushed over to pick me up from the middle of nowhere.

As I was waiting (in front of a prison, lol), I had many convicts coming up to me and asking for cigarettes and celebrating their releases from jail. The easiest (and safest) thing for me to do was pretend to be one of them, so I spent the next hour arguing about the law and congratulating fellow convicts about our recent release from incarceration.

Becky finally got me, and the next day we all drove back up to Greenville. I had my car, my cell, and my friends back. Home sweet home.