Travelogue 6: Finally in the US!

We're back!! It was rough, but we're finally here. We've flown into China, the Middle East, and different parts of Europe on this trip, but nothing prepared us for finally landing in the good 'ol US of A. If you read the opening paragraph of our last post, here's the reason why we slept in so many different locations when we left Paris.

First of all, our itinerary was fairly simple (I thought). We were to fly from Paris to Dublin, Ireland; from Dublin to JFK (New York); finally from JFK to Pittsburgh where we were supposed to be picked up by Megan, my sister. All was going fairly well until we passed from international waters into U.S. territory. Whether it was the tail end of a hurricane or just a bad storm we're not sure, but we are now certain that we prefer smooth landings over windy, bumpy, take-a-couple-passes-at-it landings. The weather was so bad that we actually diverted to Boston to refuel because the pilot wasn't sure how many passes at the runway we could make. NOT FUN.

I wish I could say that getting on the ground in JFK was the worst part of our trip, but I'd be lying. Being on the ground in JFK (and the actual dirty airport itself) was definitely worse. Because of the bad weather all flights, hotels, buses, rental cars and even trains were filled up leaving just one place to lay our heads - the ugly, carpeted floor of Terminal 6. Were it not for my sister leaving from Pittsburgh at 1:30am to drive 7 hours to pick us up at the airport, I'm not sure we wouldn't right now be in the insanity ward at some hospital. Until that wonderful moment when we saw Meg's car drive up in the "Arrivals" lane, we were undoubtedly the most miserable we've been in years.

But now that's over!! Our time in Pittsburgh (especially in contrast to New York) was incredible. We may very much dislike New York and JFK, but we love being on U.S. soil! God took care of us during all our flights, delays, bad landings, and airport sleep-overs and for that we are more than grateful. Now we're praying for a relaxing month off from teaching and good time with our families.