Take The Long Way Home (by Supertramp)

So, I'm back in the states ... but not before having gone through a series of unique experiences and ordeals. The journey home began by heading to Delhi to do some typical "touristy" stuff ... something I hate doing, but is an occasional necessity. I mean, how do you not visit the Taj Mahal?! I have to admit, it was absolutely beautiful and was a great experience! Granted they won't do the real thing justice, you should see the pictures from there (and perhaps you will!). It was a four hour drive to get there and nearly a five hour drive back with all the traffic! But, the night I got back from the Taj was when the craziness really began.
I've been to some very memorable airports in my life, but the one in Delhi I'll never forget! I wanted to get there two three hours early, but I wasn't able to make it until two hours early. Still more than enough time, right? Not in Delhi! It was SO crazy and busy there that it took me nearly 20 minutes just to get inside the building. Once inside, I had to go through security for my checked luggage, then I had to go and actually check my luggage and get my boarding pass. After that I had to wait in the immigration line. Of course, I ended up in the line that wasn't really a line and obviously took forever! By the time I finally got through the immigration line I had to wait in another sercurity check line. That one took nearly an hour! I finally made it through that one as my flight was boarding. By this time it was about an hour and a half into what literally ended up being the longest birthday of my life!
About eight hours later I was in Amsterdam at Schiphol Airport for a three or four hour layover. I made a friend while I was there, a fellow world traveler, so I was fortunate enough to have someone to talk to and share stories with. I'm always looking for new travel friends to assist me in my traveling creedo: "I'd much rather travel with someone else than alone, but I'd rather travel alone than not at all." Unfortunately, most of my travels in my life have been alone ... I'm working on changing that. Europe seems to be the easiest place to meet these kind of people. Regardless of where it is, the best place to meet new travel companions seems to be while traveling.
From Amsterdam I headed on another eight hour flight to Atlanta. Not a very exciting or memorable flight, but once I got to Atlanta I had a pretty cool experience ... I ran into a friend of mine there! The fact that I had a good three hours wait and happened to be departing one gate away from my friend who was departing only an hour before me was cool enough, but the details of the situation just lead me to believe this was another "God-thing". I think He's having fun with me lately, and I'm loving it! My friend and I got to hang out in the Continental President's Club and catch up about ministry, travel, family, friends, finances, and other things. The timing and everything was just too perfect :)
Having not slept much at all on either of the two previous flights, once I got on the flight home I was out cold in no time! What I didn't expect was for this last flight to nearly match the length of each of the previous two. When I woke up, we were just about to land ... in Wisconsin! Due to bad weather, the Minneapolis airport was shut down while we were in the air. We were diverted to La Crosse, WI to land and refuel. We must've been on the ground for at least an hour, maybe even two. It's kinda funny how a plane full of complete strangers who are comfortable having nothing to do with each other suddenly becomes full of random new "friends" in a situation like this. Being stranded on a foreign tarmak from where you're supposed to be has a way of bonding strangers in a unique way ... although, when you travel as much as I have, experiences like this don't seem all that unique. The funniest part was that I was in an exit row next to what I found out to be a woman who's basically afraid to fly ... not the best person to be in an exit row. She was a good sport though. She was especially grateful when we finally landed in Minneapolis after a short but rather turbulant flight from La Crosse shortly after 10pm ... a couple hours after we were supposed to be there.
I had a loving group of family and friends waiting for me at home to celebrate my birthday with me ... that is until it came to light that I wouldn't be making it there until nearly midnight. Personally, I'm impressed and flattered that they waited for me as long as they did! But my parents picked me up and drove me straight home so I could finally get a good night's sleep. I strolled into my house at about 11:30pm, finally ending my 28th birthday, 34.5 hours after it started in Delhi! So, next time you tell someone about how long your day was, think about how I celebrated April 6, 2006. It was a day literally full of it's ups and downs. I made new friends and connected with old ones. I traveled half way around the world and experienced what will most likely be the longest day, let alone the longest birthday, of my life. All in all, I'd say it was a good day though :)
I miss the far side of the world already, but it's good to be home ... especially knowing that I'm to return in a matter of days! I wonder what this next set of adventures will bring.