Finally Home

Yesterday was a long day but at least I made it home safe and sound.  Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Kristin, who ended up stuck in Toronto for the night!  After a late night on Saturday we didn't get much sleep and had to be out of the apartment by 7:45 to head to the train station.  We caught an 8:15 train to the airport and were there by about 8:30.  My flight was supposed to leave at 10:50 and Kristin was supposed to leave at 2:00 so we decided to both to check in and meet back at this little cafe in the airport when we were done.  I got to the US Airways counter and line was HUGE!  I got in line and didn't move for a good 15 minutes when finally a US Airways rep walked up the line and asked for all preferred status members to come to a new line they just opened.  Lucky for me the flight over to Paris put me over the 25k miles mark so I skipped right to the front of the line.  When I got called up to the counter I found out why the line was so long...my flight was delayed for 2 hours so everyone had to rebook connections.  When I was checking in the woman behind the desk asked me if I would like an exit row seat.  Obviously I took her up on that offer!  Thank you preferred status!

After I checked in I went back to the cafe to meet Kristin.  She couldn't check in yet so she wasn't going to be able to go past security.  We sat and ate breakfast then I headed to my gate.  The airport security in Amsterdam was strange.  I went through customs first, which made sense but then I headed straight to the gate area without going through security.  Instead of one big line for everyone they actually make you go through security to get to the seating area right by your gate.  It was kind of annoying because they only had 2 lines for a huge plane worth of people, plus once you were in you couldn't leave.  We boarded the flight and ended up leaving a little bit after 1:00.  I got in to Philly around 3:30 and was at home on my couch by 5:00.  All in all it was pretty painless.  Kristin on the other hand had a much tougher time.  She had to fly from Amsterdam to Iceland, Iceland to Toronto then Toronto to Philly.  Unfortunately, her Iceland to Toronto flight was delayed so she missed her connection and got stuck in Toronto for the night.  She didn't get home until 3:00 today, but on the bright side she got another day off from work!

This trip as a whole was absolutely amazing.  When I was in China, by the end of the 2 weeks I was ready to come home.  This time around I was definitely not ready, I easily could have spent another week in Europe!  The tournament itself was such a great experience.  I met so many great people and we all had such a good time together.  On the ice I feel like I had a really good tournament and I'm proud of my work.  All of the hard work I put in throughout the year to get ready for this paid off and that is really rewarding.  Hopefully I have set myself up for future opportunities - if they come my way great, if not I have no regrets, I left everything on the ice.  The vacation part of the trip was also great.  Kristin and I had so much fun and got to experience so many cool things!  She has already said that if I get to go somewhere cool next year she is going to follow me again!  I'm so thankful to have been given these opportunities.  Thanks to everyone who helped me get there, I couldn't have done it without your help. Until next time...