The Trip Back To America

When traveling, especially internationally, you should always give yourself a cushion of time if you can, and carry lots of cash. My original itinerary last week was: Leave Cotonou 8pm on July 12, layover in Brussels, layover in Newark, arrive in Atlanta 5pm on July 13, drive to Lillian, Alabama with friends on July 15 for our friend’s wedding on July 16, have a great time, fly to Phoenix July 17, and start back at work July 18. That sort of happened.

Last Tuesday, I left Cotonou and arrived in the Brussels airport the next morning, where I thought I would only be staying a few hours, but instead, thanks to a bird getting caught in the engine, I was given a 24 hour layover. At first I was irritated at the change of plans, but then the adventurer within rose up, and I mentally thanked that poor bird for sacrificing his/her life as I got another stamp in my passport and set off to explore the town. This was my first time in Belgium and I didn’t know anything about Brussels, so I spent the afternoon wandering around aimlessly, impressed by ancient architecture and eating waffles. It was lovely.

Exploring Brussels

The next day was frustrating because when I got to the Newark airport I had to get a new connecting flight to Atlanta. And I discovered that my suitcase had decided it wasn’t done hanging out in Brussels. And my credit card didn’t work, because I forgot to tell my bank I was leaving the country. And I was going on 6 hours of sleep in about three days. But around 2am on July 15^th, I finally showed up at my friend’s house in Atlanta, and after a few hours of sleep, we were on our way. Instead of trying to chase down my suitcase for the next few days, I had the airline send it to Phoenix, and I grabbed a few essential items at Target and enjoyed hanging out with my friends.

About to leave for Alabama

 

So, when you travel, you should always carry extra cash, because if you don’t, you might show up in America and have no way to buy toothpaste or contact solution. Or you could just call your bank before you leave, and let them know about your travel plans. It’s up to you. And you should always give yourself cushion time, because otherwise you might miss your friend’s wedding, because you never know when a bird might fly into the engine of the plane you’re supposed to go on. Thankfully I made it to my friend's wedding with plenty of time to spare, but I was on the verge of stressing out a few times along the way.

When I showed up in Phoenix on July 17, was my suitcase there, since the airline said it would be? No, of course not. Clearly, four days was not long enough to get it from Brussels to Phoenix. (Not that I’m still irritated to the point of being sarcastic or anything). But it showed up the next day, with all of its original contents, so everything ended up ok in the end.

So, here I am, back in Arizona. My suitcase is here, my credit card works again, I’m mostly recovered from jetlag, I’m back at work, I’m mostly settled into my new house, and I even managed to cook last night. It looks like life has strangely returned to normal, which is a hard adjustment after living in semi-survival mode for the last week. There are some things I already miss about Ouidah, like my fellow volunteers and the fresh fruit, but at the same time, I am very thankful to be working in an office again with indoor plumbing and I can't get over how fast the internet is.

I’m going to publish one more post in the next few days as a wrap up to my trip, but for now, the