Saturday

After part of the airport burned down earlier in the week, we weren't sure if our flights would go through or if we would even be able to leave from that airport. It was pretty hectic as soon as we got there, there were tons of people and very little organization. After checking our baggage and getting our passports checked, we then went back out in to the open area that we were in before getting checked..then through a security scan in the corner, then outside, across the street to a giant white tent  on the Tarmac which was our "terminal." The porta johns were on the side of the tent where the planes were staged and there was only one security guy out there for 3 planes. It made me so nervous knowing that if someone wanted to just slip through, it would have been beyond easy.
We finally got on the plane and I was in the window seat with two people in a row beside me. The situation was already off to an awkward start when I noticed that me man sitting beside me was texting someone about the girl on the other side of him and myself, but it got worse as the flight went on. He had at least 8 drinks in less than 4 hours, and after the 4th he decided to interrupt my movie to tell me about his life story and to ask me 5 times what I know about his country, India. I took the first opportunity after 15 mins of his nonstop talking and stinky breath to restart my movie and I thought that was the end of it.
There were 3 Chinese women sitting in front of me, and the one on the end got up and got something out of her bag in the overhead compartment. When she shoved it back in, the man beside me got up and looked in the compartment, then started pitching a fit about how she had squished his cowboy hat. A flight attendant came over and tried to calm him down, but he continued to be rude to both women for almost 10 mins straight. The Chinese woman didn't understand English and looked like she was about to cry, and the flight attendant didn't have much else she could say. So with out thinking about the fact that I would have to sit next to him for the following 2 hours to Dubai, I told him it was his fault for putting it up there where people would be shoving their luggage and if he didn't want it to be squished he should've held it on his lap. He got all huffy and ended up sitting down soon after. AND THEN he starts trying to vent to me and express his racist views about "the Chinese" so as you can imagine, this didn't go over very well either. I never get in arguments, and very rarely even raise my voice, but he got shut up pretty fast. Then went to sleep. Thank GOD.
When we got to Dubai, we had a long layover, then a suuuuper long flight back to the U.S.
We landed here around 9:30, and most of the group is on the way back to NC right now. The Pages and I ended up on a later flight, so we won't be home until 9:30PM... But we're getting close!(: