Our trip to El Salvador had ended and we're on the way home now after a pretty long day. I originally wasn't planning on having anything to write, but our airport experiences changed all that. :) This morning was really fun though. I woke up pretty early and decided to get up and go for a walk and take some more pictures of the beautiful scenery rather than try to go back to sleep. I decided that I wanted to see the trail that we had walked on the prior evening to completion. While it was fun the night before, it was even better to be able to see everything in the daylight. There's a lot of rocky terrain sticking up out of the ocean so it was cool just to watch the water pounding against the rocks and flying into the air. After completing my mini hike, I headed back up to the pool area and grabbed my Bible so I could spend a little time with Jesus before our breakfast period at 8. For breakfast, I decided not to be too adventurous and just rolled with a simple order of eggs and bacon with a glass of orange juice. After that, I grabbed a shower and got my bag completely packed before heading to find a hammock. I ended up joining Kendell and Liz in the gazebo that they had picked out and had an awesome time just watching and listening to the ocean while drifting in and out of consciousness. It was definitely a great and relaxing way to end the trip.
Much too soon, it was time to leave so we checked out of our rooms and headed towards the airport. Upon our arrival, we said goodbye to Walter, Valmori, Antonio, and Milena before heading inside to check-in. I found saying goodbye a little harder this time because I honestly don't know when I'll be back again since there was a two year lull in between trips last time. Our check-in process was slow as there were lots of people all checking in with Delta and heading to the States. Our group finally ended up breaking up into smaller groups and heading our own ways through customs. I paired up with Kendell, Madi, and Leah to head through. The customs line was really quite long but thankfully went quickly. After we made it through, we decided to truck it down to the other end of the terminal for Subway real quick since we knew food might be scarce the rest of the day. After getting our sandwiches and a quick bathroom break (where I seriously sliced open my finger turning on a sink), we headed for the terminal with our food in tow. Upon arrival, we had to throw away our beverages and get our bag checked thoroughly before we could board the plane. No big issues though and we headed towards ATL. Sadly, I didn't get an exit row seat and had the lady in front of me trying to push her chair back on me the entire time. I positioned my knees where she couldn't though and I actually got a dirty look from her husband for my efforts. The airplane reclining seats are one of my pet peeves so since I don't want to do that to people behind, I don't want those in front of me to do it either.
We landed in ATL around 8:25 pm local time which was a little late due to flying around stormy conditions. We figured it was ok though since we originally had just under a two hour layover. Wrong! Our plane was unable to pull into our terminal for another 15 to 20 minutes after landing since a departing plane was running so late leaving. So after getting off the plane, it was time to act out the airplane scenes from Home Alone and sprint for customs. My customs experience was a bit different than normal since instead of waiting in long lines, people now check in a little kiosk and then take a slip of paper printed from that to the customs agents. No big issues there and then it was time to run to the baggage claims and get our bags so that we could get those moved through customs. We were actually at the wrong one first for five minutes before figuring it out. When we figured it out, Jason and I actually started circling the baggage claim grabbing every bag that belonged to our team. Of course, mine was last. LOL. We drop them off at the bag check again and run for the TSA lines.
One TSA employee directs us to the front of the line where we were turned away by another employee and told to go to the rear of the line. At this point, we're all standing around, looking at each other, and making plans for where we'll sleep in the airport since we're absolutely certain we'll miss our plane. When we reach the front of the line, TSA chooses that moment to open another security check. While we're running to that set of doors, the couple from in front of me on the plane begins to duck under the ropes and cut in line. At this point, a member of our team who will remain anonymous starts yelling at the TSA agents "Blue striped shirt, roller bag. You going to let them cut?". The TSA people immediately send that couple to the back of the line for cutting. I'm betting that they missed their flight. We made it through the line without any problems and luckily discovered that we were already in the correct terminal so we just had to run up the escalator and to the gate to board immediately and hit the skies. We're on the plane now and I can't wait to get home and be able to sleep in my own bed tonight. It was an awesome trip and I'm really happy that I got to go and even happier that I had such a great team with me to experience it with.
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