Hola everyone! Keisha Ryan here writing from the comfort of
my own bed. After a long 34 hours of travel (thanks Aunalee for being our
official time keeper) to say we were excited to be back on home soil was an
understatement! We began our long journey back to our little island on Saturday
with an early wake up and departure from the hostel at 5:30am. We were all down
stairs with bags packed eagerly waiting for the bus when Kim Lake delivered the
news we were all hoping was a joke and none of us wanted to believe was true;
our Toronto to Halifax flight had been cancelled due to the impending snow
storm and we would not be getting home as we had originally planned. With
messages being sent home and many questions left unanswered we presented the
hostel staff with a signed Canadian flag they promised to display in their bar,
said our goodbyes to the staff and our United Planet rep Elissa and hopped on
the bus to make the 20 minute journey to the airport. Once we arrived we
quickly got in line to check in and learn where our travel would be taking us.
Many of us were being rerouted from Toronto to Ottawa then flying to Halifax
the next morning before having to make the drive home while others would be
heading to St.Johns before meeting us in Halifax the next day. After we figured
some things out and were reassured we would have time to make connections and
would be getting home the next day we went through security where many of us enjoyed
a quick pre flight meal of Starbucks or McDonalds and patiently waited to board.
After an hour and a half delay and 5 hours into our journey we said our final
goodbyes to beautiful Buenos Aires and were finally settled away into our seats
and ready for takeoff. The 11 hour flight ended up being pretty uneventful with
most of us napping, watching movies and generally just counting down the hours
until we were back on Canadian soil again. Once we landed we were greeted by
the cold Canadian air but we were all so happy to be back in our home country
it barely bothered us! We came to the realization that our connecting flight
was boarding just as we were disembarking and we still had to clear customs and
go through security again, looks like Ottawa was just not in the cards for us.
So off we go through customs where we all breezed through with little troubles,
looks like traveling in such large groups has its perks; claimed our luggage
and then went to figure out how we were getting home. Our fearless leaders Kim
Lake and Belinda Andrea marched themselves to the Air Canada desk where they
spent the next two hours negotiating for us to get home. While the interrupted
flight saga continued the rest of us went to Tim Hortons to enjoy some good
home country snacks. Kim and Belinda reappeared with the best news we had heard
all day, we were rebooked for a direct flight to Sydney tomorrow morning with
hotel accommodations for the night and food vouchers. We hopped into Ubers and
the shuttle service and went to our hotel to get some much needed rest. After
another early morning wake up we were again enroute to the airport and a short
2 hour flight to home. After some minor delays with the shuttle and a few
missing seats which was dealt with we were finally boarding the plane and on
our last leg home. After another fairly uneventful flight we were finally back
on Cape Breton soil! Everyone was greeted with open arms by their loved ones at
the airport (I’ll see you in a month mom and dad!) and all our luggage made it
back with us. We concluded our journey by saying our final goodbyes and all
left excited for our own beds and a home cooked meal! I’d like to take this
opportunity on behalf of all the students on this trip to say thank you to you
our readers for following us on this journey as well as SES, United Planet and
all their partners for organizing this amazing journey for us. To our families,
sponsors and supporters thank you all so much for supporting each of us and
helping us to be able to experience this. To my fellow future nurses thank you
for making so many cherished memories with me, I’m so excited to be entering
the workforce with each of you! And finally thank you to our fearless leaders
Debbie, Belinda, Kim and Angela for allowing us the opportunity to partake in
this experience, you are all loved and appreciated by us and this trip would
not have been possible without your dedication so from the bottom of our hearts
muchos gracias!
Yours truly, Keisha
Megan trying to get some relief from her sunburn waiting for our last flight
No comments:
Post a Comment