Wow! I'm home and actually incredibly tan compared to when I left! So I last time I wrote it was the last night of the trip and... it rained! Our bonfire was spoiled but not our spirits. We had to move our going away party inside and decided not to go out anywhere, but I think that was for the best, mostly because I had the earliest flight off the island the next morning. None the less, I don't think I actually fell asleep till 3:30 AM because I was afraid I'd oversleep.
So my departure from Little Cayman began at 5:50 AM. There I was awake, barely, in my bottom bunk and the sounds of the other girls sleeping was not exactly making me happy about leaving my bed. Yet, I still had to pack my conch shell and get ready for the departure then pack up those last minute things. After ripping myself out of my sheets I stumbled around in the dark without my glasses for a good five minutes and probably woke everyone up. Eventually, I found my glasses and moved my luggage out to the outer room to pack up. It was all done! Now to find my breakfast, stumbling my way down, I made it to the kitchen and ate my last slice of mysterious "Miss Em Bread", it was some sort of loaf with various fruits in it that was always present in the breakfast selection. Miss Em by the way was our glorious cook who fed us 3 meals a day for the duration of our stay. Anyway, I eat my breakfast, wave to Tom, my professor, who is reading some article no doubt at this sleepy hour, and ascend back to my bags. I was done, all packed, all documents in place and electronics charged for my whole day of traveling, when Rob, the station manager, comes to collect my bags. So with my bags in the car I give the place one more good look around and walk down to the driveway to find... the car pulling away! No! Wait! I'm coming!
We arrived at the airfield, I restrain from using the word airport, a good hour before take off. This may seem normal, but the extent of checking in was walking into the one room command center, telling the attendant my name and getting my ticket. After that I and the scientists, who were also on the flight, enjoyed card tricks performed by Jerry; the local flame twirler, magician and oh yea, bag attendant! The plane touched down and we boarded without much pause and as we were taking off again, I said my last goodbye to Little Cayman.
My bags and I safely arrived intact to Grand Cayman (a miracle in itself really). It was 9:10 AM and I, still a zombie, walked up to the check-in area to find it closed :(. So I sat myself on a bench, a really hard bench mind you, and slept on and off with my bags till about 10:45 AM. At this point, I had already explored the airport, I wasn't hungry, I had already added my name in sharpie to the collection of travelers' names already on the ocean inspired mosaic, now what? The check in booth still was not open. I casually walked up to some one who said,"Well, they don't open for another 15 minutes, but why don;t we just check you in anyway?". That was fantastic, so after receiving my tickets I proceeded to security and passed through without much of a problem. Then to the terminal to wait, I knew the rest of my friends would be there soon anyway, so I waited, and waited and shopped for souvenirs, and waited! Where in the world was everyone? It was 20 minutes before my take off and no one had shown up yet! Well, its kind of a funny story, and all of their luggage never made it to Grand Cayman, so they were still outside of the check-in waiting for their bags so that they could check them! Yikes!
After arriving in Charlotte, our connecting flight was delayed. So I took this opportunity to eat some not so Chinese food and find my way to the correct gate. After an hour of waiting and a flight on a stinky airplane (it really did smell) I had arrived in New Jersey! Yes! Sweet nibblets, it was midnight but at least I was home! My very excited boyfriend collected me and all my heavy luggage and brought me to my mom who was waiting in the car. After what seemed like the longest car ride of my life, I had reached my destination, HOME and promptly fell into bed!
So this was the story of my return, every bit as hectic as the story of my arrival. Over all though, I feel like I have had a wonderful trip, learned so much and gained so many new friends. The nightmare of traveling is negligible compared to the experience of a lifetime. :)
