May 8th, 2010. Will I finally make it back to the USA?

I never wrote about my experiences on getting back to California. On May 8th I was supposed to fly back to Sacramento, California, but nothing was for sure because my friend the volcano decided to erupt again, it seemed like every time I had to fly home this would happen. When the day arrived, I saw that my flight was canceled, I could not keep postponing my trip any longer. I had until June 29th to make it back to the USA because thats when my visa expired. I was seriously losing my patience and my mom was really having a hard time dealing with the situation because this was the second time my flight has been canceled because of the volcanic ash in the sky. Since my flight was canceled and I really wanted to see Dani one last time before leaving and I knew he was still in Madrid and I knew exactly where he would be if I took the last train there that same day. My friend Silvia decided to help me out and I went and gave him the biggest surprise ever! I have it on video. Dani was so happy to see me there, he gave me a big hug and smiled. Later we met up with a friend of his Paz and hung out for a while. My mom was sending me really mean emails because she was nervous and mad that I had gone to Madrid, which I really understand, but her words really hurt me that day because I was just as angry and annoyed about the whole situation. I just needed to get out of there even if it was only for a few days. People kept telling me that maybe God didn't want me to go to the US after all, but I knew that wasn't the case. My visa was a miracle to begin with so I think this was more of a test for my mom rather than me, I was really calm about the situation, but I did start crying because of the emails she would send me. I had later talked to my brother Ivan to try and find another route home, because this was going to keep happening if I had a layover in Dublin. We looked for a ticket that left straight from Madrid and had no layovers in Europe. We found one for about double the price that I paid my other one for just 4 days after. I was getting a refund from my other ticket so after talking it over with my mom we booked the ticket for May 12, 2010 and the route this time would be: Madrid-Washington DC-San Francisco-Sacramento. Finally we all relaxed and I was able to enjoy more of my trip with Dani. The next day I had to take the earliest train back to Alicante to get my luggage and then get back on the train the same day and be back in Madrid, so that's what I did. It was totally unplanned and only a few of my friends and my dad were able to say bye to me at the train station that night. They almost didn't let me on the train because I had too much luggage, but I had called before and they told me I could take 3 pieces of luggage and now they were trying to tell me no at Renfe. I was almost going to cry and tell them that they had no idea what I had been through and to please let me get on the train. The guy was actually nice and said he would let me on this time, thank God! I seriously prayed so much that day and the rest of my time in Madrid.

Everything was working out great, I made it back to Madrid and stayed at Silvia's house and the next day I woke up early and met Dani at Paz house and we hung out and walked around Madrid all day. We went to this free photography gallery at La Caixa Forum and saw one of Dani's favorite photographers Emilio Morenatti. He had a great photo exhibit that day about these women in Pakistan who were attacked by acid by loved ones the exhibit was called "Violencia de genero en Pakistan". We later had some coffee and we also went out to dinner, to this Japanese restaurant called Janatomo, it was delicious and he wanted to pay for everything. We celebrated his success weekend in Madrid and God of course!

Then Wednesday morning I went to the airport and he met me there, I was able to check my bags and my flight was the only one that didn't get canceled that day. Dani stayed with me we said our goodbyes and I went pass security and then my plane was delayed 2 hours. When I finally arrived in Washington DC all the flights from Europe were delayed so I had already missed my connecting flight to San Francisco and on top of that I still had to go through customs and that took about another hour. We were delayed because we had to fly South towards Africa and then back up again to avoid the volcanic ash clouds. When I finally made it through customs, I got my bags and they checked it all the way through to Sacramento, I didn't know at that time that I wasn't going to be able to get on another flight to San Francisco. My bags made it to Sacramento before I did, I didn't really care though I was just happy to be in the USA!

I had to later get in line with everyone else who was traveling from Europe and it was chaos! Everyone was trying to get to where they had to go so all the flights were getting full fast. This lady who worked there came up to me and helped me out, she printed out a ticket for me, but it wasn't until the next day at 9am and I was no longer going to San Francisco, I was going to Los Angeles. I was so tired from traveling and the hour difference that I really didn't want to sleep at the airport. I was trying to get on the waiting list for any flight that was going to San Francisco or Los Angeles. I had no luck with two flights, but later the very last flight of the night, I was able to get a confirmed seat going to Los Angeles and I would arrive there at 1am. I called my mom and asked her to call Johnny a really good friend of mine, to see if he would come keep me company or pick me up and let me stay at his house for the night until the next morning when I had to get on my 12pm flight to Sacramento. My cell phone was not working, so there was no way for Johnny to get in touch with me so I was just hoping that when I got to LA and called my mom from a pay phone she would let me know if she talked to him. I was looking at the TV screens when I got off my flight and all of a sudden I see a guy touching my elbow next to me and it kind of weirded me out, I look over and it was JOHNNY! So funny! He was there about 5 minutes after I got off the plane, perfect timing! He drove me to his house and told me that a few students from Rio Vida that I also knew were visiting him from Canada so I even got to see Ryan, Tyson, Courtney and Courtney's cousin (don't remember her name). I was so grateful I got to sleep on a bed and not at the airport in DC.

The next morning Olivia and her daughter came over, I had not seen her in years and I got to meet her new born girl Maela, she is the cutest thing ever! Her and I went to get breakfast at this Mexican pasteleria and then brought it back to everyone. Johnny took me over to his family business and I met his mom and dad. They are the sweetest people and I was so incredibly blessed that day, God is so good to me. Johnny took me to LAX and I finally made it on my flight home, it was so weird to be on the freeway again and just be back, it felt so unreal.

When I finally made it to Sacramento, my family and friends were all waiting for me with balloons and flowers and my mom had a sign for me that said "Welcome Home Gisel". I was so happy to see everyone again after such a long time. My mom kept touching me because she could not believe that I was actually home.

It was a very long trip and adventure, but God totally had my back every second of my trip. He blessed me so much and 14 hours of flying and half a day later I made it home on May 13th, 2010.

So glad to be home.