Soon it became 12:30 a.m. and we boarded the flight to Erbil, Iraq as passengers. We arrived early that morning, switched crews and prepared the plane for the next flight to Frankfurt, Germany. Michael flew the plane and my new resting place became the cockpit of the airbus. I strapped myself in the jump seat and with both eyes wide open we left for our destination. After a quick stop in Sweden we arrived in Frankfurt at 4p.m., making sure everything was precise ...

One hour later I arrived in Berlin crossing my fingers as I stood along the conveyor belt hoping my luggage made it. To my surprise they arrived all in excellent condition. I'm pushing one large, medium, and large carryon totaling a weight of 78 kilos (170 lbs). I know everyone at the airport is looking at me thinking, "there goes another greedy American with too much luggage." I arrived at the next ticketing counter only to find out Miami allowed too much lugg...

After 8 hours of flying I arrived in Dusseldorf only to have my passport checked and have to explain why I only have a one-way ticket with no return. How many times do you have to say, "No I'm not going to stay here forever and become a burden on your economy!" Racing through the many halls and stair after stair carrying the world's heaviest carryon bag and 5 min before the gate closed, I made it to my next plane. Here I am again shoved into a plane with hot an...