I made it home safe and sound. Sorry I was not able to blog on Monday due to my computer charger going bad so my computer was dead. We woke up in the morning to no power on Monday in our apartment due to our electric bill not being paid. It was nice to get the power back on in the afternoon. I did some errands around Istanbul and ended the night eating dinner with my roommate and the other American teammate.
In the evening I caught up with my fiance's mom and touched base with my parents and sisters. I ended up going to bed late and since I needed to be leaving at 5 a.m. I got about an hour nap in. I was so excited to go home that it was hard for me to sleep. I made it to the airport in about 30 minutes since I left so early. Check in was smooth and went without a hitch. I had a delay coming out of Istanbul which put me into London a little later. My layover wasn't too long, so by the time I went through border control and security again I was having to run through the airport. It was crazy because I walked probably a good 15 minutes to get to the security then knew I would have to run to catch my flight. I made it on board just in time sweating and all lol. I didn't care though, because I knew it meant I was getting closer to home. The flight to London was about 4 hours and the flight to Chicago was 9 hours.
It was interesting because when we landed in London cops came on the plane and got a guy off of the plane and then when I was boarding for Chicago I sat down in a row that had three seats. There was a son and father next to me in the other 2 seats. A stewardess came and asked them to get off of the plane because they needed to check their passports. Well, a couple minutes later they brought someone on to search the 2 seats next to me and the 2 people did not return on the flight. That opened up the 2 seats next to me. Shortly after that a stewardess came to me and asked me if I played a sport to which I said "yes". She then asked what I played and where I played. We talked for awhile and then she said "do you want more leg room...we can't be having your knees get banged up now". I said that would be great if there was an available seat. She moved me up for free to economy plus and I not only had more leg room and an aisle seat but nobody was sitting right beside me. What a blessing to be able to get more leg room on my flight. Then another stewardess came and talked to me and said she had heard I am a professional athlete. We started talking and later in the flight she asked me if she could buy a drink for me and I said "no thank you but thank you anyway". Then as lunch was being served I asked for water and a different stewardess immediately put a BIG dasani water bottle in my lap and said "here you go". Typically they are to just pour some water in a cup and that is it. So here I am with a free upgrade in economy plus along with a big bottle of water to keep me hydrated. I thought I would type a little bit on my IPad on the plane because I know when I touch down in the States it will be a busy time. So yeah, a couple really cool things happened on my flight to Chicago.
When I land in Chicago I will have about a 3 hour layover and then catch a flight to Dayton, Ohio where my sisters will pick me up. I can't wait to spend a few days with my family and fiancé. It looks like I will be flying back out to Turkey on Monday night.
I will most likely not blog the next few days. I will be headed to Indiana to spend some time with my parents and grandparents tomorrow along with extended family. Caleb will be driving up the day after Christmas and will get to spend the weekend in Indiana/Ohio. I am so excited to see him!!
Merry Christmas to you all! My goal will be to write a blog before heading back across the water. May we take time to remember the TRUE REASON FOR THE SEASON which is JESUS!!
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Made it home safe and sound!! I had a little bit of a delay in Chicago but finally got to my final destination.
God bless,
Megan