36-Hour Pit Stop in the USA and an Explosion

After a week long vacation in Dominical, Costa Rica with my family I flew home again to quickly pack and turn around back to the airport to head out to Fiji.  My flight route to Fiji included:

Pittsburgh to Detroit: 44 minutes

Detroit to LA: 4 hours

LA to Nadi, Fiji: 10 hours

Nadi, Fiji to Suva, Fiji: 22 minutes

TOTAL: 15 hours and 6 minutes

When I got to the airport in Pittsburgh I found out my plane was delayed by about half an hour… which was not good considering my layover in Detroit only lasted half an hour, but I was assured I was fine.  In Detroit I ran from the very end of terminal A to the very beginning of terminal A to make my connection, but I made it!  In LA I had to pick up my checked bag and then re-check it on a different airline… only to find out I had run faster than my bag in Detroit and it wouldn’t be arriving for another 3 hours.  So I spent the next 3 hours playing a hobo in different baggage claims until my bag came.  Luckily I made my flight to Nadi… which was to be probably THE MOST MISERABLE flight I have ever been on.  Word to the wise, don’t travel to a developing country if you know you’re going to be stuck on a 10 hour flight soon after returning home.  I knew my family was home sick with food poisoning and I had started to feel it in baggage claim, but thought it was from flying so much.  I felt like I was going to die for most of the flight, luckily I got about 4 hours of sleep.  As we were landing I couldn’t fight it any longer and up chucked into a little plastic baggie that I found in my seat pocket… so gross.  As I was filling out my customs form it asked if I had any symptoms such as: diarrhea, vomiting, or a fever… I may have lied and said no to all three… there was no way I was getting deported and flying another 10-hour flight back to the USA.  Somehow though, for the time it took for me to get through passport control and customs, I was able to pull of looking healthy enough to be allowed in to Fiji.  Although I paid for lying about 20-minutes later when I had the most traumatic case of explosive squirts!  Basically I feel bad for all babies in the world that are forced to sit in their own crap until their mothers realize that they should probably change their diaper.  I feel for ya guys!

All in all I have made it to my home for the next three months while I work here in Fiji.  After 24-hours I’m starting to feel a little bit better, which I hope is enough to let me head out for the day with the rest of the team and start working!