Blue Island Tribe: AFE Tour Blog Day 18: Heading Home

This morning our bus came at 9 a.m. to pick us up and take us to the airport. We loaded up and spent 45 minutes discussing the stories from the night before. When we arrived at the airport we realized we got there without Mike's luggage. Shit!!! Our wonderful "guide", Ai Shears, in Okinawa called the hotel and had the baggage delivered to the airport with minutes to spare.

We were borderline late for the flight and we were the last ones to board the plane about 30 minutes late. When we arrived in Tokyo we had to re-check all our baggage and go back through security. Awesome! We got seperated due to customs lines and Brandon had to deal with airline hassles. Finally John and Brandon ended up running to catch the plane and were the last two people allowed on board. Phew!

After a few drinks, a few movies, several short naps, and 12 hours later we landed safely in Chicago. Again we had to re-check all the baggage and go through security. 3 times in one day! And with all our equipment/drums/guitars, it's extra fun.

We had a 5 hour layover in Chicago so we all passed out on the floors and caught up on a little sleep. Pretty soon we were back on a plane and landing in Des Moines. We arrived, got all the baggage/equipment, said our goodbyes, and at 9:30 pm all headed home.