When we were through security, Brad and I roamed around the airport for a little while. This terminal was much larger than our previous experience in Lima so we took the opportunity to walk through duty free and get any last minute snacks/ gifts. I had to pick up some Peruvian coffee for myself and my father. Also, I couldn’t leave Peru without picking up some Peruvian tea for my mom. I try to pick up a new tea from every country I visit for my mom. Something new to break her away from her usual flavors. Brad stopped off at our gate and found a pillar to lean our luggage against. I roamed the terminal a bit more to see what they had. Our gate was almost at the end of the gates, so there wasn’t much more to see. Mostly I was hoping to find an ice cream shop because I was craving something sweet. To my dismay, there were none. Instead, I headed back to Brad’s pillar and stood around while I watched the gate agents create a security checkpoint before the gate entry.
As we were waiting, a guy in a suit with a pencil thin tie and name tag sat next to us and started talking to us about the USA. He is a young Mormon guy from a small town in Kentucky on a mission trip to a small town in Peru. From our conversations, he declared that this was his first experience outside the US and that he was anxious to return home. Unfortunately, he didn’t mention anything positive about his experience in Peru but I think that was partially from the inexperience of travel. It’s my hope that everyone in the US travels outside of our home country, to see the wonders and beauty of the world. He was offered the gift and experience to travel abroad, something that many people would give their right arm to do, and he wasn’t impressed. If you travel… go with no expectations, only to see and experience a completely new and interesting way of life. From everyone we met on our trip, his opinion is the minority.
After talking to the fellow for a while, our group was called to board. Brad and I went through security and onto the plane. My seat was right in the entrance way so the flight attendant offered to have me sit in first class until the unloading was complete, so I didn’t have people hitting my knees the whole time. Let me tell you, IT WAS AWESOME! Man those seats are comfy. I was joking with a woman in first class that I would have to pretend to be more sophisticated in order to sit up in “these parts”. She laughed a bit before going back to her reading. As the rest of the flight was still on-boarding, the first class flight attendant asked if I would like a pre-flight beverage. I politely stated, that I had a coach ticket so I wasn’t entitled to it. She seemed confused and continued offering the beverages to the other passengers. The flight attendant who seated me came by real quick and asked if I wanted a drink. I said that I had a coach ticket but appreciated the inclusive offer. She had the best response “I know, I seated you here. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get a beverage as well. How about a mimosa?” Now… I can’t turn down that offer. “Sure! Thank you”. When boarding completed, I jumped back into my regularly assigned seat on the plane, and thanked her for her hospitality. I never caught her name, but she was extremely sweet. Sometimes it’s the little things people do that make all the difference in the world. Thank you to that flight attendant!
After take-off I put my snow jacket over my head and fell right asleep. I only awoke to Brad waking me up for the breakfast option in the morning. I chose instead to go back to sleep. When we arrived in Dallas, we quickly offloaded the plane and found our way down to pick up our luggage and immigration. I was surprised to see that my waterproof bag with my amazon dirty clothes made it out first; unscathed! It seemed that my big bag was the last to get unloaded from the airplane, but soon it was all together and we marched through immigration. While we were waiting in line, the gentleman who sat next to me on the airplane was met with other agents and walked straight through security. He was a diplomat living in Peru, and visiting Texas for the week. He apparently gets diplomatic perks! Sweet! After we checked our luggage back in for the next flight, Brad and I went through Texas TSA security again. We had noticed that we were both running late for our new flights, and were hoping that the line moved quickly. Thankfully, I have TSA pre-check and they had given Brad pre-check as well. Through security, we went up to the people movers where I only had a few minutes left before we started boarding. Brad and I agreed that we were just going to say “goodbye” on the people mover before heading to our separate terminals.
When the doors to the people mover closed behind me, I scampered down the escalator to my gate with only a minute to spare before boarding. Within a few short minutes, I was on the new plane and all settled in for NC. On the plane I had a great conversation with a manufacturer living in Texas, but working in NC. We shared travel experience, cooking advice, and talked about our dogs. Time seemed to fly by. Before I knew it, we were landing in Charlotte. I disembarked quickly and ran down to grab my luggage. When everything finally appeared, I got ahold of my co-worker who picked me up in my car so I could drop him back off at work and I could get my car back :).
Now that I was back in North Carolina, I had to do one thing. JUST ONE. I had to get some Mexican food. I had been craving Mexican food since I left on vacation. Being from California originally, Mexican food is the one staple of my diet that is an ever fixed mark of “home”. Mexican food in Charlotte, is nothing like you get in CA but it will do. I settled on one of my favorite hipster spots in a neighborhood called NODA a.k.a “North Davidson St” where I got my usual burrito bowl and devoured it completely. This made a great base for my malaria meds. When I got home, I let my two dogs out of their kennels and took them for a long and loving walk. They both pouted at my return, but eventually forgave me.
One final thing I had to do… go on a hike in NC. On December 13th, I woke up early after a refreshing rest and took my dog, Marla on a 4 mile hike in the NC mountains. Marla loved being outside, in nature. Toby, my 6 year old dog was happy that Marla came home tired, and I was happy that this makes 3 continents I’ve hiked on my vacation. Welcome home!
