we thought we'd never get here...

This has seriously been the longest 24 hours of my life. There's probably a better way to accurately describe it but I'm too tired to even think about words. Let me just walk you through our adventure to Prague!

We arrived at RDU on July 22nd at 8:30am ready to roll. We started out perfect, weighing in and checking our bags in, printing our tickets and boarding passes, and organizing our passports, well with the exception of my bag being over 50 pounds, but thankfully United Airlines let it slide :) We prayed together, said our goodbyes, hugged our parents, and off we went. Our original departure from RDU was scheduled for 11:15am, but little did we know that we wouldn't make it out of there until almost 3:00pm. Our flight kept getting pushed back, thirty minutes at a time until we finally we're able to load at 1:00. That's when all the roller coaster of events began. Once we we're all on board the plane the captain came on the speaker and informed us that there was a malfunction in the plane and that we would have to deboard. So back off we went, sat around for another hour and a half, and then finally we were able to get back on. Don't get too excited though, we had to turn a quick hour and a half flight into a three hour flight to Chicago, and the worst part was we couldn't sleep on the plane or else we wouldn't be able to sleep on the next over night flight. We made the most of it though, laughing about the disgusting hot dog that Sarah ate, learning things about each other, and playing an intense game of go-fish! When we got close to Chicago we realized we were going to be pushing it to make it to our next flight. Anxiously awaiting our landing, we happened to glance out the window an watch our plane to Germany take off. We missed it by 12 minutes.

Needless to say, we we're all upset, but as Mr. Ray says "just keep smiling" so we did. We spent the next four hours sitting at customer service in Chicago waiting for United and Lufthanza to work out getting us on a new flight. Thankfully they found us all seats on a 7:00pm flight so we sprinted across the airport to the gate and boarded the plane. Don't worry, the fun wasn't over just yet. We boarded the plane absolutely starving from not having a chance to eat all day, and incredibly exhausted from the challenges the day threw at us, and just our luck we're stuck on the plane with no air conditioning for two hours. We just couldn't catch a break.

Finally we got some air flowing and the captain announced that we'd be able to take off shortly. Once we got cooled off, Gurkins and I fell asleep before the flight attendants could even bring us our meal. But never fear, the smell of food woke us right up. I don't think I'd ever been so happy to see a frozen dinner. We inhaled the food as fast as we could and as Gurkins says "we're fat happy and ready for bed". Both of us passed out and slept almost the entire nine hour flight to Germany.

Around 5:30 the next morning we we're awakened to an announcement that we would be landing in approximately thirty minutes. Naturally that meant we we're not going to make our flight to Prague so once again we ventured back to customer service and waited to be put on a new flight. Thankfully this time things went a little smoother aside from half the team getting stuck on the wrong side of the airport, being padded down by security and almost not being let back in because they didn't have their passports. Oh what a site that was, and all they were trying to find was a McDonalds. After we were all reunited we got on our final flight! Luckily, the previous nine hour flight and three hour wait in Germany made the hour flight to Prague feel like five minutes. Before we knew it we we're finally landing in the beautiful city, Phara! Kristen was so happy to finally be on land that she kissed the ground! It literally was the longest 24 hours of our lives, but all in all we made it fun. Mr. Charlie kept us laughing with his silly jokes, the fact that we had no clue what any one was saying or what any of the words on the signs were always made us laugh, and just being together made it all worth while.

Prague truly is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and I can't wait to get out and explore tomorrow!