Bon Voyage

They say the the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Well, it's true, but our journey was more like 9 thousand miles and that first single step was weighed down with nearly 20 pieces of luggage. Luggage,  and words of goodbye that were as difficult to  let go as the embraces of our families those last moments at the airport, made our last moments at home difficult, stressful, and fast.

On Thursday the 5th, we rented a white cargo van to take our luggage to the airport. Yes, I was not exaggerating about the nearly 20 pieces of luggage, which I continue to refer to as the twenty pieces of luggage, even though it was more like 17.

That same day some of Carolina's family, her mom, dad and brother Alex, made the trip from Hanford to Pittsburg to see us off at the airport. We ran some last minute errands, and had dinner at the Olive Garden, that's right, you're friendly neighborhood Olive Garden, damn their tasty breadsticks!

The rest of that day we spent in last minute packing. We bought suitcase numbers 16 and 17, adjusted some things, washed out clothes, and tried to get a couple hours of sleep before it was time to leave in the morning. Actually, instead of sleeping I went to Denny's with my best buddy Big Rob and Melissa, it was a perfect last meal of all you can eat pancakes!

We left Pittsburg at 3 am, I drove the van and Alex followed behind. We unloaded our luggage at the curb at SFO, then went around in circles until I found a parking garage with a high enough clearance for the van. We had to take the shuttle back to the airline counter.

We checked in 13 pieces of luggage, and thanks to our new employer, the $1800.00 was covered. We spent just a few minutes giving hugs and kisses, then we went through security. I think that airports are the worse places for goodbyes.

A few hours and a couple of timezones later, we landed in Atlanta. Here's an interesting fact, Atlanta is considered to be the busiest airport in the world, according to something I read on the plane. Just our luck, it was damn busy. Whether or not it's the busiest in the world, it might be one of the most inconvenient airports out there. Our gate was the last gate farthest away from the center. We had to walk down a corridor of a about a mile or so. We just followed the line of the non-functioning shuttle to find our way. The walk wouldn't have been bad if we didn't have our carry on luggage in tow.

We knew we were at our gate when we found a room full of Dutch people on their way back home. We met one girl there who had won a trip to Atlanta, it was her first time traveling away from home and she was really nervous and glad to be going home. Carolina made friends with her while a bought my last double-quarter pound at Mickey D's. I know McDonald's is everywhere, but i've eaten at McDonald's in different countries and it's just not the same.

On the plane I sat next to a Dutch man traveling with his wife and daughter. I was wearing my México jersey and he asked where I was from. He told me that there are a lot of Mexicanos in Amsterdam, that he has a lot of Mexican friends and that they all get together and party all the time. Even more reason for me to vist now!

At the airport in Amsterdam I bought a Starbucks frapaccino. It cost 8 Euros, I paid with a $20 bill, I got about 7 Euros back. We seriously need to get our act together America! We're becoming Europe's Mexico, come on!

The time came for us to go through security again before boarding our final flight for Tripoli. In the waiting room we got our first impressions of our new home. The room was almost evenly divided by white European men, or Libyan men. About 10 women total and a few kids rounded out the numbers. Y dos méxicanos, hombre y hembra.

We took off again and promised each other that we would have to return to Amsterdam as tourists sometime soon. 3 hours later we would land in Tripoli, but not before flying over Italy. Seeing the Italian countryside from the air was breathtaking. We could see the sky scrapping Alps recede to the valley's of northern Italy and the Po Valley. We watched as the aircraft brought us southward along Italy's eastern coast against the Adriatic Sea, then over it's western side, entering the Mediterranean as we passed over the eternal city, Roma.

After flying over open water we soon were able to spot a mountain far away near the horizon, Mt. Etna perhaps? Either way, this signaled our quick flyover over the island of Sicily. We left it behind as quickly as we had come upon it. Less than an hour later we first spotted the north African coast, Libya lay straight ahead.

The coast of northern African is bathed by the sea and surrounded by the desert. This was clearly visible as we approached Tripoli and flew over the city that would host us for the next two years. The desert sand was the background on which the city streets and homes and businesses lay on. Mostly flat, with small farms of green stretched to the edge of the sky, and as the plane lowered for it's landing, we could see the Libyans carry on their daily lives.

We landed.