Stranded, Misdirected, and Bird-Bombed: Kerri’s Epic Travel Nightmare

I had the travel experience from hell. During my time off, I went out to the East Coast to visit friends and family. It was wonderful to spend time with some of the most important people in my life.

When I booked my flight back, I thought it would be easier (and cheaper) to fly back after the new year, but I was very wrong. I ended up having some car issues that caused me to essentially be stranded in Illinois for 24 hours.

To make it all the more challenging, I brought my two cats home to PA for the holidays, so I was lugging them around. Luckily, we were near a pet-friendly hotel, so I was able to find all of us a warm and safe place to rest for the night.

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The next day I FINALLY was able to get a tow truck to come and help me out. I was told it would take a couple of hours, so I had to wait a couple of hours to get it brought back to me.

After some miscommunication and multiple calls, I was able to get back on the road with my car. Iowa here I come!

Almost three hours into my trip back, everything was going great!

The cats were chilling, the tunes were blasting, and I was only ten minutes from home. However, I started to really take in my surroundings. The sun had just set, and nothing looked familiar. I had passed Galena some time back, so I thought I was on the right track to get back to Eastern Iowa.

Looking down at the GPS on my phone, I realized that I had put in the right address but the wrong TOWN. For some reason, my Google Maps thought I wanted to go to Farley, Iowa a city in Dubuque County.

Unfortunately, by the time I realized this it was too late, and I had to add a whole hour to my journey. I cannot believe how thoughtless and unlucky I can be!

And the ending to my day from hell was almost too perfect. I finally got back to my apartment. The promised land was in sight!

I snagged my cat carrier and one of my suitcases to start unloading my stuff into my apartment. My first priority was to get my cats in and feed them a hearty meal and get them settled in.

As I got to my apartment building's front door, the unthinkable happened.

I felt something plunk on my head...something kind of damp.

Reactively, I put my hand to that spot right above my ear and brought it back down to look at it. I heard the ungodly sound of a bird squawking and the rustling of wings as I slowly realized what had hit me.

A bird had decided to target me in a gnarly, crap attack.

A great cherry on top of an already crappy couple of days!

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