FLY AWAY HOME!

     i'm finally coming full circle and returning to my home in iowa.....we trying at least.
yesterday we left rome around 11:30am and we were supposed to have a 10 hour flight to philadelphia followed by a layover and quick flight to minneapolis afterward.
     oh its funny when you try to plan things. about half way through our flight to philadelphia they informed us that we would need to land in pittsburgh instead because there were bad storms in philly and the airport was closed. we were understanding at this point. at 3:40p local time we landed in pitsburg and we were informed that we were not cleared for customs at thepPittsburgh airport so we would need to fly to charlotte, NC. okay---we can make this work right?
no. before we could go to charlotte we needed to refuel, but while they refuled the planed got covered in ice, and thus needed to be "de-iced." after the plane was "thawed" we expected to fly out and figure out flights to MN from charlotte.
     OH no no no. evidently an issue arose with the start valve on the plane so the maintenance team was called out to work on the plane. (oh and we are just sitting in the gate on the plane this whole time).  by the time that the issue was fixed, FAA regulations came into play. the flight time allowed for pilots and flight crews to operate had conveniently expired RIGHT about the time the plane was finally ready to fly. so we thought we would  just get a new pilot and flight crew, but rather they announced that customs WAS cleared for us now, and we were going to be stuck in pittsburgh for the night.
the next few hours went as follows:
2 hours waiting for our bags
2 hours for customs and a long line for hotel vouchers
30 minutes booking new flights with a new airline
1 hour waiting for a hotel shuttle
10 minutes debating if we should sleep at the airport, or wait longer for the shuttle
> we decided to stay at the airport because it was already near 1:00a and we would have to head back to the airport in about 3 hours anyway.
4 hours of worthless, restless, cold "sleep"....

     we got up around 5am and got ready in the airport bathroom. thankfully our 7:30a flight from p-burg was on time and went smoothly. however, that brings me to where i am currently, which is stuck in milwaukee, WI waiting to get on my last flight home to minneapolis....it too, is delayed. hopefully we will be boarding the plane soon. i just want to be with my family, and peter, and friends. i have slept roughly six hours in the last three days and i'm running only on anticipation to see all my loved ones. mamma mia!
okay. i should pack up my computer and pray that we get the plane soon so i can truly...finally... FLY AWAY HOME!