I suck..

I still have so many different things I need to write about Spain and all my travels!! And it isn't like I haven't had the time or anything, cause up until about a week ago I didn't even have a job. I just start to feel overwhelmed when I think about everything that I need to update my very small blogger world on.  Maybe that's why I haven't had the desire to write...cause really who cares?! 


But I need to keep up on a journal somehow, so this will have to do for now. 


I'll slowly post things about the rest of my journey in Spain but I'm just going to give a short recap of the last month and a half of my life. 


I got back into America on the 12th of April. I cannot even begin to describe how ready I was to be home. Don't get me wrong. I love Europe and Spain...but I was definitely missing my family and friends and the good ol' USA.


My plane ride home was actually the most traumatic 24 hours of my life. I made it to the airport in London with plenty of time to make my flight. When I finally got on the plane we started moving and the sat on the runaway for about 45 minutes...to be honest I hadn't even noticed that we had just been sitting there. Then the Captain comes on and informs us that there is a technical difficulty and that best case scenario it would take an hour to fix...an hour!! Now let me explain why this stressed me out to the max (cause I'm normally pretty chill and would have dealt). My layover in Dallas was 3 hours long...I had already been sitting on the runway an hours...that gives me 2 hours in Dallas...which is manageable when needing to go through customs and such...but then I'm told that we will be waiting AT LEAST another hour.. 
So to sum up, best case scenario, my 3 hours layover has just been cut down to 1. For anyone who travels internationally and knows the process of going through customs and having to re-check in...that is not enough time. Especially in a huge airport like Dallas. 


So, of course, I'm freaking out. I know I know, they change your flights for you la de freaking da...people...I WANTED TO BE HOME! So the fixing of the plane took about an hour. The whole flight across the ocean I'm just trying to figure out how the heck I'm going to do this. This is where it gets fun.


The plane lands...of course taking forever to taxi and de-board. But once I'm off I book it to customs...and there is a long line...luckily many people saw me on the verge of tears and I was quickly pushed to the front of the line...THANK YOU STRANGERS! The customs man takes his time....I'm a freaking American Citizen...let me in! Once I'm through customs I book it across the airport to where I have to print off my connecting flights ticket...yes London decided not to provide me with the second ticket...though everyone else had there's and I asked about it. That took forever because I skipped the line and went to the electronic check-in thingy...which wouldn't print my ticket because the lovely airline people had already booked me on the next flight to SLC...just in case. So then I hop in line and finally get both tickets...the original and the back up flight. I'm going to say I had maybe 15 to 20 minutes at this point to sprint across the airport and go through security again and get to my gate...oh yeah, you have to go through security again. It's fine. At the security, the people were not so willing to let me skip through the line....though I did cut through the VIP lane...the security guy was nice. Now I get through the scanner just fine when this big black lady (not racist, just stating the facts) decides that I have to unzip my suitcase and let her check it out...my suitcase it locked. I had to dig through my backpack, unlock and unzip my fully packed suitcase and allow her to throw things away that made it through the London security just fine. She tried to be nice and asked if I wanted to check my bag so I could keep those things...NO LADY! MY FLIGHT IS LEAVING AND I STILL HAVE TO TAKE A FREAKING TRAIN TO MY GATE! STOP TALKING TO ME! I didn't yell...but I made my situation very clear to her. So as I close my suitcase and start sprinting to the train she gives me a very cheerful farewell....efff you. Yes, I know it's been over a month since this incident...but go through it and you will understand...I was not in the mood. Anyways, I make it to the train that will take me to my terminal...there are 5 of them...mine is the last one. I know right. So I finally make it to my terminal...at this point it is obviously past the time that my plane is scheduled to take off....but I'm praying out loud and running, hoping that by some chance my plane is still there. As I exit the train and start running, my backpack unzips..and everything falls out...so I'm bawling, picking everything up and running and then wouldn't you believe it....my pants fall down...literally fall off my butt. Hello Dallas. So I pull them and finally make it to the gate where my plane is suppose to be..and guess what...
IT'S STILL THERE!!! My second plane also had technical difficulties!! What are the chances....so I sprint down the runway onto the plane where the flight attendants cater to me because I'm obviously a hot damn mess. I still cannot believe to this day that I made that flight...I know it would not have been a big deal if I had just gotten on the flight a few hours later...but I was exhausted and just wanting more than anything to be back in Provo holding Soren. I'm convinced that I was to be taught some serious patience that day...LESSON HEARD AND UNDERSTOOD! thanks.


I made it to Salt Lake with no further event and Chris was there to pick me up and I went and saw my favorite children. I then got back to Provo where Jamie, Ashley, Kelli and Bryndee were all awake waiting for me. They made me a poster and covered my bed in chocolates...they really don't know how much that meant to me. Especially after the day that I had.  Jamie and Ashley even stayed up with me till the wee hours of the morning while I unpacked. I really could not have been blessed with better friends.


So ends April 12, 2012. 


But wait...there's more!


The next morning, Chelsey and I (she made it home without anything happening...) we woke up bright and early and began the wonderful drive to Santa Cruz, CA. 10 hours for those of you who don't know. The drive actually wasn't that bad at all. I had my 5 hour energy drinks and the scenery was beautiful and I was going to see the lovely Lindsay Walch at her house and go to her farewell. I do not regret how tired I was by the end of my trip at all. Seeing Lindsay one last weekend and meeting her family was such a great experience! We stayed with her a couple days, went to her farewell talk and then took off. We went south to go home so that I could stop in St. George and see my family for a couple days. Thank you Chelsey for tagging along. I would have died without her. We spent a couple days in St. George and then April 19th we were finally back in Provo for good.


That was over a month ago. A lot has happened...but then again not really. I feel like Spain was a dream...it's really hard for me to believe that I actually lived there. It just doesn't seem real. I miss it at times and I'm so very grateful that I had the opportunity to live there with Ana Maria and Oscar and to be able to experience another country and of course make new friends. A few of which I am convinced have produced life long friendships. 


~till next time
Chloe