U.S.A or Bust!

Quick, let's go back home!

It's been an amazing adventure for us, but it is time to return home to our families, our friends and our reality. By now, it seems as if we've been gone for months! Living out of a suitcase gets old. Wearing the same clothes over and over gets old. Seeing the same three Americans day after day gets old (hehe...though we all get along surprisingly well).

We head to Düsseldorf and say our goodbyes to Naemi, who has been nothing short of a spectacular hostess for us during the last 10 days. We had plenty of time to check-in, go through immigration and arrive at our gate. In a couple hours, we would begin to board the Lufthansa airplane that would take us back to the U.S.A. Our seats were not all together, like they had been on the way but that was okay. One of the seats was in the emergency exit aisle and I was voted most likely to be capable of saving the lives of strangers in the event of an emergency landing. The other lone seat went to dad, who was engrossed in the book about Germany Naemi had given him. Rhonda and Robin sat in the seats next to each other, six rows behind me. As we boarded the plane, I was given the nod to step to the side so I could be strip searched. I guess I looked pretty shady in my t-shirt and sweats. The lady felt me up one side and down the other and wasn't even slightly amused when I giggled. She made me open my backpack, all 25 zippers, and unwrapped my glassware and did a thorough search of my carry on. Fine, lady... have at it, I have nothing to hide. I collected my belongings and my dignity and walked down the hall to the plane and quickly found my seat. I had so much leg room, I almost felt guilty. I considered it the first-class seat of Economy class. While others were trapped staring at the seat in front of them, I was able to stretch out and get comfortable. My individual TV was attached to the arm rest, instead of within the seat in front of me. I got a visual confirmation of Rhonda and Robin and dad, then I settled into my seat. The flight was smooth and they served us food and beverages and I watched The Hunger Games and This Means War, which I had seen both previously. Lufthansa didn't offer as many in-flight movie/TV/music options as Swiss Air. I tried to sleep, but wasn't tired. This was going to be a long nine hour flight. However, the time was going by relatively quickly and I decided to look back to see what Rhonda and Robin were up to. It was then I noticed three flight attendants attending to a passenger. Hmmm... I wondered what was wrong. I saw a blood pressure cuff and started to become concerned because they were gathered around where my sisters were seated. I got up just to check things out and it was Robin they were attending to! Rhonda saw me and said, "Robin passed out, but she's better now" and I looked over to where dad was sitting and he was looking concerned, so I made my way over to him and let him know what was going on. I went back to my seat, but kept checking to see when the flight attendants would leave so I could go check on her myself. Finally, they left and started the snacks and beverage service so I went back to find out the scoop. Robin still looked pale but was feeling a little better. I'm sure she was just dehydrated and being trapped on an airplane for nine hours probably didn't help the situation. They were giving her a lot to drink and hopefully that would help. There were two hours left until we landed in Chicago. I can't imagine being sick on an airplane and just having to sit there. Finally, we landed and they had a wheelchair waiting for Robin. She really wasn't feeling much better and was still pale. The wheelchair dude, Koco, escorted Robin with the three of us following behind into the airport. The line for immigration was extremely long and we were happy we had plenty of time before our connecting flight's departure. Koco pushed Robin to the wheelchair lane and we were able to get through Immigration quickly. Next stop, Customs and again, we were quickly escorted through the process easily. Then, through security and on to our connecting flight's gate. It was around 4 p.m. Our connecting flight was scheduled to depart at 8:30 p.m. Koco checked on the flight and came to inform us it had been delayed until 10:50 p.m. Ugh! Meanwhile, Robin was beginning to feel better and the color was coming back in her face. We said our goodbyes and thank-you's to Koco. Rhonda checked to see if there was an earlier flight to Wichita, and she found one was leaving at 6:03 p.m., however there was just one seat available. When we went to the gate, we found out there was actually a 4:30 flight to Wichita that was beginning to board. We quickly got on standby and waited. Soon, our names were called and we boarded the flight to Wichita six hours prior to our scheduled departure. We were so relieved! We never did get our Chicago pizza but by now, we were just ready to be home. Knowing our luggage would not be on the flight with us, we just hoped it was in an air-conditioned place since we had a ton of Swedish, Belgian and German chocolate in it. The flight from Chicago to Wichita was smooth but as we were landing we noticed a loud, squealing noise. That's never a good sign but we landed without incident. Then, as we sat on the runway, the pilot announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have landed safely in Wichita, however our steering equipment has gone out so we will need to be towed to the gate." Hey, whatever... at least we are here! Soon, the rescue squad towed us in and we notified United about our luggage that would be arriving much later and we'd just pick it up in the morning. We were just ready to go to sleep, since our bodies thought it was 2 a.m. Rhonda's husband picked us up and we relaxed for a bit at their house, then ate good ole Sonic cheeseburgers and fries before turning in for the night. I slept well and by 7 a.m. Central time, I was ready to begin my day. We dressed in some "clean enough" clothes and headed back to the airport, hoping our luggage had made it to Wichita. We were very happy to see those worn-out pieces of luggage and the chocolate was not melted! So, now we get to go home!

Rhonda, Ronald, Valerie, Robin