I got up at 6 this morning and showered and finished packing. Andy came to my door around 7 to say goodbye. He was catching a shuttle to the other airport and leaving before me. I was officially the last one from the group in Istanul.
My transfer came to get me at 7:55. I sat down in the lobby a little earlier waiting and the kind man at the hotel brought me tea while I waited. I had a banana left so I ate that for my breakfast. It took about half an hour to get to the airport. We drove along the water front in the opposite direction that I hadn't explored yet. There was a really nice path along the water with multiple little work out stations along the way. We also passed a really modern suburb area with really nice apartment complexes and perfectly manicured lawns.
I made my way to the Air Canada check in at the airport and discovered that my flight was delayed an hour and 40 minutes. My flight was supposed to leave at 10:55 and now wasn't leaving until 12:35. After I had gone through security I found a little bakery and got a sesame seed pretzel toll, yogurt and some fruit. Then I made my way to Starbucks and found a seat there and used the free wifi to get some blogging done while I ate my breakfast. After I was done there I explored the airport shops and checked out all the duty free crap.
Around 11 I made my way down to my now assigned gate. Every now and then I would double check the flight info board. After a while my gate had changed so I moved over to the new one. The airport was starting to look a little chaotic with people everywhere due to delayed flights. Everyone starting lining up around 12:15 to get on the buses that took us to our plane on the Tarmac. It became apparent then that the flight was going to be even more delayed.
It wasn't until around 1:30 when everyone was boarded and we were ready to go, but then the man directly behind me decided to freak out and start yelling at the stewardesses and make a scene. It was a little nerve racking and the person in charge threatened to kick him off the plane several times if he didn't calm down. He eventually did calm down, and off we went - even more delayed now.
Shortly after take off, the pilot came on the speakers to notify us that we were going around some storms and the turbulence would be bad for a while - just great.
A really nice girl around my age was sitting next to me. She was from Bosnia but now lives in Chicago. She had been teaching English in Turkey the last 3 weeks after visiting Bosnia prior to that. I told her how I had been in Bosnia and loved it. We both ended up watching movies the whole flight and discussing them. I watched About Time (cute chick flick), Labor Day (boring and weird), Bad Words (thought it would be better), and 12 Years a Slave (good but depressing). I wasn't able to sleep at all because the crazy behind me kept kicking and moving my chair and I wasn't about to turn around and get him riled up again.
We landed in Toronto around 5:40. I had missed my connecting flight by about 2 hours. They put me on the next flight which left at 7:30. By the time I dropped off my luggage, went through customs, and everything else, I just got to the gate in time for boarding. I was stuck sitting between a smelly man who wanted to talk (I absolutely did not want to talk as I was half asleep) and a lady that smacked her lips constantly. But I didn't even care, I fell asleep almost instantly.
It was about 9:30 when we landed in Edmonton. I raced off the plane and got my luggage. My ride wasn't there yet because my parents had no way of telling which flight I was on. After a sent message, they were on their way. To kill time I sat at Tim Hortons and had a coffee and a peanut butter cookie (yay for peanut butter being a thing again!).
I had made it home and the journey was now complete. I had the time of my life on this trip and learned so much about history, the world, other cultures and people, and myself. I also made what I'm sure will be life long friendships. I often find after being away from home for a while that I'm excited to get back, but this time I didn't feel ready. I have the desire to keep travelling. I'm not sure what my future brings me, but I'm both nervous and scared, as well as excited and anxious to find out! All I know is that it won't be long before I'm back on a plane heading to somewhere new, and until then, this adventure and this blog that contains the story of this adventure, has come to an end.
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