Distance: Flying Home!
Country: U.S.A.
Song of the Day: Silver Jet - The Tragically Hip
I woke up a really early this morning. (Only 2 hours of sleep.) I just wanted to see a bit
more of the city. Like nearby Dubai, Doha has build some really neat stuff in the last five years. (Though not the tallest building in the world.) So I wanted to get a look at that. Of course that was in the new part of the city, and I 
was stuck in the old part. I could walk down to the bay and look across the Indian Ocean at it. That was nice. (Sadly because of dust or humidity in the air, the pictures do appear a bit blurry.)Then it was back on another plane. I had a 13 hour flight to D.C. Actually I can't complain much. The flight was great. I didn't get any sleep though. That was a bummer.
Once in Dulles I got all checked through customs and immigrations. The people at customs sent me the wrong way though. I ended up out in the terminal with all my baggage (including my bike) and had to check in again. I ended up missing my connecting flight. For a guy on 2 hours of sleep and almost 20 hours of flying, that was quite frustrating. Eventually, after 30 minutes of being ingored by the airline (United) they booked me on the next flight.
Even more frustrating was the fact that I wasn't able to contact anyone to let them know I missed the flight. I had a phone, but the SIM card was for Tanzania. That wasn't going to work. Dulles does have free wi-fi throughout the airport. But that system was down. I finally had to resort to using a payphone. (Yep, those still exist.) That worked. Sometimes you have to give it to those old technologies.
I did make the next flight, so I didn't have to camp out in the airport overnight. That still meant I would make it back too late for the party my friends were going to throw for me. I even slept almost all the way. Didn't wake up until we were about to land.
Instead my parents and younger brother met me at the airport. It was great to see them. It was nice to be home.
-Dravis
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