The Long Flight Home

Thursday, August 5 , 2010

We got one last taxi ride to the airport and managed to check all 4 of our heavy suitcases without a problem. Luckily, British Airways, honored the baggage requirements of Iberia Airlines, which allowed us 2 bags each. If we had bought our tickets in March instead of February, we would have been limited to one each. The bags were checked through to Madrid, so we would have to pick them up and re-check them once we arrived there.


As we waited for our flight to board, we started to add up some of the statistics from our trip, such as how many hours we spent and miles traveled on airplanes and buses, total number of taxis, and days without showering. We’ll post these numbers on the blog for everyone to see later. We lucked out and got seats in the emergency exit row for the first flight to Johannesburg, which was only two hours.


When we reached Jo-burg, we were happy to not have to deal with any luggage besides our carry-ons, but we did have some drama getting a comfortable seating assignment. The plane going to Madrid had a 2-4-2 configuration, meaning 4 seats in the center section between the aisles. We were assigned the 2 seats in the center of this section, the worst seats on the plane in our opinions. Dena worked with the gate agent to get the seats changed, and we ended up with the aisle seat and one next to it in the center section. Although it wasn’t the window/aisle seats we had originally been assigned months ago, this was slightly more comfortable because we wouldn’t have to bother anyone else when getting in and out of our seats. The flight ended up being delayed around an hour and a half, but we had plenty of time to spare with our layover in Madrid.

Friday, August 6, 2010

We made it into Madrid just after sunrise and a small breakfast snack on the plane. We went through passport control and were delighted to find all 4 of our suitcases on the baggage claim belt. We re-checked them all the way to Los Angeles, but we would still need to pick them up and re-drop them at customs in Chicago. We also managed to get much better seats for our last two flights. The Madrid-Chicago flight was another 2-4-2 configuration, and this time we got the 2 seats on the window, by ourselves. The final flight was a 3-3 plane with one aisle down the middle. Again, we got the 2 seats against the window, with a third passenger on our aisle seat. This was only a 4-hour flight, so we didn’t need to bother him much to get out of our seats.


In Madrid, we had some lunch and were happy to order a Sprite, something we haven’t seen since leaving America. Next we walked to our gate, where there was a long line just to get through the end of the terminal—More than 4 flights worth of people waiting in one line. We eventually got onto our plane and had an uneventful flight into Chicago.


In Chicago, we went through passport control again—a much longer line this time. We found our baggage, all 4 in one piece again, and re-dropped them with American Airlines. After taking the train to the domestic terminal, we found a Chili’s restaurant to have some lunch. This was the third or fourth time we had eaten lunch today, due to the time change from Madrid to Chicago (7 hours).


The 4-hour flight to Los Angeles seemed like the longest leg of the journey. We were very anxious to get home at this point, and it felt like a never-ending flight. American Airlines was offering passengers a free voucher to give up their seats for a later flight. We looked at each other and simultaneously said,

“Hell No!”

We arrived in Los Angeles only 10 minutes later than expected and found Dena’s parents waiting for us at baggage claim. We waited a few minutes and got our luggage—all four of them again, yay!! We packed up the bags in the car and headed back to Dena’s parents’ house. From there, we split up the suitcases and got into our own cars to drive to our own homes. It felt strange not only to drive a car, but also to sit on the left side of the car and drive on the right side of the road. There wasn’t much traffic on the freeways at 9:00 PM, so we didn’t endanger anybody too much.


By 10:00 PM, we had made it back to our own apartments, our own bathrooms and showers, and, most importantly, our own beds. It was hard to believe we had finally made it back home, and throughout the night, we both had to remind ourselves where we were. It’s amazing how quickly we settled into the comforts of home, but still felt a little out of place. Four weeks is a long time to be away from home, but we still feel like we could have used more time in Africa. I guess we’ll just have to try to go back someday...