Haiti - Day 8

July 11 was our departure date from Haiti.  Our flight was scheduled to leave at 11:59am, and our extraction team was scheduled to arrive at 8:39am to take us safely to the airport.   Yes, they told us "8:39"...it was more like 8:45 when they arrived but still they were well armed and there in plenty of time.

The goodbye's were hard.   There were many tears, as this group of amazing people prepared to move on to their next adventure.  We added Lindsay (second from left on the second row) to our group traveling back to the states.  She was scheduled to be in Haiti several more months but her church called her home when the violence started.  She was able to get a seat on our plane, so we got to hang with her a while longer.   Kaitlyn (in orange) had one more week in Haiti, she'd been there since May 31 and decided to stick with her original date of July 17 to head home.  Melania, in the gray tanktop on the left, went back to preparing Lakay Poze for it's next team of visitors.   We headed home to our families, leaving new family behind.

The trip to the airport was a quiet one, other than the sniffling of those who were crying quietly. Olivia had a really hard time with leaving.  The roads were in very good shape and getting to the airport only took us a couple of minutes.  We made better time than usual.   Our extraction team stayed on-site until we got checked in, made it through customs and security and were actually boarding our flight.   The airport was very crowded and very hot.

Once we got on our flight we all breathed a little sigh of relief.   Have you ever watched the movie "Groundhog Day" with Bill Murray?   Well, once we were on the plane we stepped into that repetitive pattern of one thing after the other.   Our plane backed out of the gate and  was preparing for takeoff, when they announced we had to return to the gate, someone had vomited all over the bathroom and the back galley.  It was over an hour before they were finished with cleanup and once again ready to take off.

We flew into Ft. Lauderdale over an hour late, leaving us with just a little over an hour to get through customs, pick up our checked baggage, move to another terminal, recheck our bags and get to the plane.   The line at customs was unbelievably long.   With 15 of us scattered throughout the customs area, there was no way we were going to get through in time.   Thankfully we got an update that our flight had been delayed by several hours.

We finally all got through customs, picked up our checked bags, moved to the new terminal, rechecked the bags, got our boarding passes and made it through security.   The two gals heading to California branched off to go catch their flight, Lindsay went to catch her flight to Jacksonville, and the rest of us went to Chilli's to have our first taste of American food, it was heavenly!

While we were eating, we got notification (smart phones are great) that our flight had been delayed again....and again...and again.  Every little while there was a new delay.  Our original take off time was 4pm....at 10:30pm we were still waiting.   We'd changed gates 3 times and we were beginning to wonder if we were going to get home or not.  A little after 11pm we were called to start boarding our flight.   We got on, backed out of the gate and sat...for a LONG time.   Then the pilot came on and said "Folks, I know you've been sitting here all day waiting to go home...but we have to return to the gate, the plane is having some technical problems with the brakes."   Several of us burst out laughing at the sheer absurdity of it.

Once we were back inside, we sat and waited...then we saw our flight crew leaving.  All the places to buy snacks and drinks closed and there we sat.   They finally announced that they had another plane, but that they now were looking for a new flight crew.   The airline personnel brought out warm sodas and bags of snacks.   Warm soda isn't so bad when you're tired.  A few passengers started getting really rowdy with the poor airline personnel, and I sat back and watched, thinking "ooh, dinner and a show".    Tired and punchy are a bad combination, grins.

A little after 1am, we finally loaded our new plane.  It wasn't nearly as crowded at the first time.  Lots of people had already left the airport or got flights with other airlines earlier in the evening.  We backed out of the gate...and sat...for a long time.   The pilot finally announced "We've got some strong winds above us, we're just waiting for those to die down and we'll be on our way."   We all breathed a collective sigh of relief when we were finally in the air.

A little after 4am on July 12, (22 hours after we got up in Haiti), we arrived at Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC.   We were the first flight in for the morning so getting luggage was a snap.   Then we had to wait for a shuttle back to the hotel where we'd left the cars.   At 5:15am our tired troupe marched back into the hotel and paid an astronomical amount for 3 rooms so we could all get 5 hours of sleep before making the 2.5 hour drive for home.


Shortly before 3pm we arrived at our church.   We met with the Pastor briefly, then headed to our respective home.   Olivia and I were greeted with this upon arrival.

I'd never been so glad to hear the dog barking in the back yard and to see my wilted flowers in their pots.    Lindsey was at the neighbors house since Tom had picked her up the evening before from his parents, and she didn't want to be home by herself all day wondering and waiting for us to arrive.   Our 84 year old neighbor and Lindsey both rushed out to greet us with hugs and tears.   Tom came home from work while we were still standing on the neighbors porch, and all was right again in my world.


Except...it wasn't the same.  Haiti, and it's people continue to call us back...