I left Emory on December 15th and headed towards Charlotte. That night, I met up with my friend Annelise who went to the same Spanish school as me in Ecuador. We went to McAdenville (Christmastown USA) and then we went to the airport overlook at the Charlotte Airport and watched some planes take off and land. It was great to hang out with her.
I got up at 5:00 on the 16th and headed to the airport for my trip to Tucson. The plane rides were good. I like to sit beside people who I can talk to and learn things from (refer back to my entry about learning from strangers), but I was not lucky enough to sit beside another social person during my flights...so I sat there in silence.
Colton picked me up from the airport and we had an awesome 5 days. We did some hiking, his brother Lance took us jeeping, we hung out in some book stores, ate some good food, had some good talks, and it was great. Here are some pictures:
I had a very, very interesting flight back. First off, my flight was like a flight to a retirement home. Tucson is the Florida of the west. All the old people go to Tucson in the winter because it is the warmest place in the west. Anyways, on the way back I flew into Minneapolis. I ate dinner and got to my gate a few minutes early. My flight to Charlotte was delayed 40 minutes so I just sat around and people watched. And then came the big moment...the gate agent said they had overbooked and wanted to know if any volunteers had flexible travel plans. I basically sprinted to the counter because I knew if I gave up my seat there would be great incentives. Well, there was. I got:
- A one night stay in a Hilton in Minneapolis
- Free dinner and free breakfast
- A first-class ticket on the flight to Charlotte the next morning
- and, a $300 travel voucher to use on a flight in the future
I was hoping the overbooking situation would happen all along so I could earn all of this stuff. It was great! As we were flying from Minneapolis to Charlotte the next morning, we flew right over my neck of the woods! Below is a picture of the Tri-Cities Airport. I was able to see South Holston Lake and everything, but we were a little bit too far south for me to see Emory or Haysi or anything. Since I am an airplane fanatic and such, I was able to identify Tri-Cities Airport by the layout of the runways and that's how I knew where we were at.
I came home to Haysi being basically destroyed. The blizzard that tore through the area pulled down a ton of trees onto power lines and today makes exactly one week since most people around Haysi have been out of power. I have been staying at my cousin Misti's house since I returned from Arizona. Yesterday, I went to Haysi just to see things with the intention of staying a couple days but I ended up coming back. It is horrible. I'm sure it will be after the beginning of the new year that everyone has power again.
I am leaving for London in a few days. I have had the tendency to make my blog posts a little bit more, let's say, motiviating or something, but it just isn't in me today. I figured I would just update you on my trip to Arizona.
Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.
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