Yesterday (July 31st) was the longest day of my life (literally!). I got up at 4:00am (9:00pm on July 30th, Winnipeg time) and left for the airport at 4:30am. After saying goodbye to Attila and Anna, I went through security and had a muffin (chocolate, of course!) and water while waiting to board. The flight to Vienna was short and sweet (50 minutes), but it feels so long ago I can't actually remember it! I don't actually remember waiting in Vienna either, but I guess I must have because I made it home! haha :) Our plane in Vienna was late leaving - I think maybe about an hour, but I'm not sure. I had a window seat, right by the emergency exit and the bathroom. The nice part was that I had lots of leg room. The bad part was that there was constant traffic to and from the bathroom and every time the toilet flushed I jumped. Plus it was freezing cold where I was sitting - I was an icicle for the whole ride. I couldn't figure out how to get my little tv working either. Because this was a daytime flight, it was very bright and everyone was awake, so I didn't get any sleep (plus the freaky toilet flushing sound woke me up if I started to doze). Finally we were getting close to Toronto, and, after finally figuring out the tv screen, I was watching the flight map. When we got near Toronto the plan turned around and started doing a loop. I didn't really think anything of it...I thought it must have to come in at certain angle or something. But when it started doing a second loop, I began to wonder. And the estimated time for arrival on the screen kept popping up as later and later. During the third loop around Toronto the pilot announced that the Toronto airport was closed and we were going to have to fly to Ottawa to land. So of course my mind automatically jumps to the worst and I start to worry that maybe the airport was in danger - like a bomb or something - and that my family would be worrying about me. Finally we landed in Ottawa, but the plane just sat there on the runway while the pilot was waiting to find out what to do. They would not let us go to a gate and get off the plane because of customs and stuff (since the aircraft was headed for Toronto, not Ottawa), so we had to stay in the plane. Finally we found out that there had been really bad thunderstorms in Toronto, which is why we couldn't land. They decided to fly us back to Toronto after awhile of sitting there in Ottawa. So...we took off again, and landed in Toronto. The cool thing about European flights is that everyone claps whenever the plane lands - I haven't witnessed that on Air Canada flights! Once we landed we had to sit there forever again because there were no gates available. I think we were 4th or 5th in the line of planes waiting for gates. It ended up that we were on this plane for about 15 hours (instead of the 9 hours we were supposed to be on it!). I was so cold and my legs were so achy by this time! I had also missed my connecting flight to Winnipeg, which was funny because if we had been on time I would have had a 5 hour layover in Toronto. I had been looking forward to getting some dinner and relaxing a bit before having to get on the plane for Winnipeg. Finally we got a gate and came off the plane. The Toronto airport was absolute chaos and completely crowded, but they did a really great job of redirecting us to where we all needed to go. It turned out that my flight that was supposed to leave at 7pm (Toronto time) still had not left (due to not enough flight attendants, as they were all stuck on other flights), so my flight had not even left yet! So I hurried to the gate, and ended up sitting there for another half an hour, but couldn't grab food because we had no idea when we were going to be boarding. Finally we got on the plane, but sat in it for another hour and a half waiting to be refueled. Once we were flying it was really neat because the sky was pitch black, but full of clouds. Every few seconds the clouds right beside us would light up with lightning - sometimes just a glow and sometimes you could actually see the forks. It was really neat to see lightning so close! I had a minute of nervousness, wondering if the lighting would hit our plane and kill us all, but I felt pretty sure that the pilot knew what he was doing and wouldn't fly if it wasn't safe. Even though it was only a 2 hour and 15 minute flight, I seriously thought I was going to go crazy! My legs were so cold, sore and restless, and I was so dizzy and sleepy from all of the flying! But when I got off the plane, came down the stairs to see my parents waiting at the bottom, a smile broke out on my face and in my heart and I felt so glad to be home.
Unfortunately my luggage did not make it with me...I picked it up in Toronto from the flight from Vienna, and checked it in again for my new flight, but it must have gone to the wrong place in all of the chaos. So they will deliver it to my house when it is found. Not a huge deal to wait - I put the important things in my carry-on. I couldn't believe how many people were complaining at the Toronto airport about their flights and having to wait, etc. I'm pretty sure the Toronto airport did not request for God to make a huge storm so that they could mess up everybody's lives. I thought that they really handled it well - I couldn't imagine having to manage that many people and flights, and trying to figure out what to do with all of the late arrivals, departures, cancellations, missed flights, etc. I was actually really impressed. So...GO TORONTO! The guy in the Winnipeg airport who I reported my missing luggage to said that 4 years ago a plane from France crashed in the Toronto airport during a thunderstorm, so that is why they are so cautious. I say, better late than dead.
My sweet little dog, Annie, as very excited to see me (and I was THRILLED to see her!). I got lots of whimpers, kisses and incessant tail wagging. Even this morning when I woke up in bed, I was greeted by excitement and demands for attention. It was so nice to sleep in a real bed and not sweat all night because I have air conditioning. I definitely already miss Hungary and the work I was doing there, but it is nice to be home too. It's too bad one can't be in two places at once! There is already talk about doing the same camp next year for Hungarian children, and I have already said I will be there if it does happen!
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