End of the Road

Well folks.... we are officially home. From Marseille, France to Dublin, Ireland to New York, then to LA. Came home to a nice home cooked meal from my mom, and now sitting on this bed ready to write my last blog on this " Road to Beijing".
It's been an unbelievable two years and I'm so glad that we took this journey. Made many new friends, made fabulous memories, went through good times and bad, went through excitements and disappointments, learned about many different cultures and people, saw many things that I thought I would never see, grew as a person, and learned a lot about myself.
Playing for the Philippines and wearing that flag on my uniform was such an honor for me.....just knowing what I am representing, not only a country, but my family, my blood, my heritage, my culture. I am and will always be proud to be a filipino, and knowing that I represented my heritage in doing something I love, I've never been any more proud!
Mabuhay and maraming salamat ulit sa inyong lahat!!!!!!!!!!

Pau Hanas

Well, we made it into the main draw for this tourney. And then lost our 2 matches, the next day. Better way to end the FIVB career in the main draw. We have 2 more days here in Marseille, France, and then HOME!!!!! haven't been home for about 3 months now........can't wait! Enjoying France, and spending all the time we can with all the fabulous people we have met throughout thus journey.

last tourney

Well, last tourney of my FIVB career, and we made the main draw! Not a pretty game, but in the end it was enough to win. So today we play an Italy team, the same Itay team we lost to in Russia......what do you think?...revenge?.....i think.

Marseille

So from Munich...we decided to drive to Lyon to split up the drive to Marseille.....and then on our way to Lyon, we decided to meet some of our friends in Montpelier, and stay the night there, and then drive to Marseille....then decided to just drop the smarty car in Montpelier and drive with our friends to Marseille. So yeah, we dropped the car off in Montpelier, hung out with our friends and their family, and neighbors, which was so fantastic!...included lots of food, lots of French and, lots of music and dancing :) Next day, our friends end up having to do some volleyball media stuff so we take a train to Marseille...got here at about 5 ish, practiced, went to the meeting...we are seeded #1 this tourney, we have a bye the first round, and our match is at 2 pm. Last FIVB event ever!...........i think we need to go out with a bang!

by the way.......really, really, really, really windy!

Another stop

So we are in Hamburg again, for the second time this week. We are here to watch the European Championships for Beach volleyball and cheer on our Dutchie friends, and also to get our luggage from them. Hee hee......Smartcar is VERY full with our luggage in it, not quite sure how fast we are going to go now on the highway, but it'll work. I think we will stay here for a day or 2, and maybe make our way to Munich, to meet some friends, and then make our way to Marseille. 11 hour drive baby!! whew!

Adventure continues

Okay, let me tell you about our experience in getting out of Russia....so our traveling day started at 12 pm on Saturday. We check out of our hotel and we decide to take the metro to the airport, because it costs way less than to take a taxi or shuttle. So we took 2 trains, and 2 buses...about 2 hours later we arrive at the airport, still too early to check in. So we kill about an hour by eating and chilling at a cafe. We finally check in, and we board and we are waiting to take off for about 45 minutes, there is lots of traffic on the runway and we are 6th to take off....so about 45 minutes later we take off....mind you, we have a connecting flight from Rome to Amsterdam, and our connection time is only an hour. When we land it is about 8:45 pm and our plane is suppose to leave at 9pm. We are booking it to the gate, and see a security gate that we still need to pass, of course line takes forever, and fianlly we are out, again, booking it to our gate and we come acroos the passport control, and only 2 windows are open, and of course, there are about 4-5 people in front of us in both lines, and in one of the lines, they take forever because they won't let the girl through...in the meantime, people are trying to cut in front of us trying to get in our line! So we finally we make it through, running to our gate, by this time it is already about 9:15-9-20. We get to the gate and there is nobody there, and I ask the lady at the desk, "has the flight to amsterdam already left?" and she says........"no it has been delayed" YES! we get a free meal coupon from her to eat at the restaurant, and we wait to board. We get on our flight, and when we land, there is nobody there to connect the gate from the plane to let us out. So we wait another 20 minutes to get out. By the time we get out of the plane it is 1 am! what a long travel day!!!
So to continue this adventure, the next morning we decided to rent a car, but not just any car....a smartcar....and drive to Hamburg to visit a friend who was playing there...drive is about a 4 hour drive. Got there yesterday, spent the night there, and then in the morning we drove here to where we are now, to a place called Wolfenbruttel, near Braunschweig Germany. That was just another hour and a half
drive. So now we are here getting pampered and spoiled by Diane's lovely friends!

On another note, I just want to say thank you to all who commented on my last post, it means a lot to know that we still made you all proud! Mabuhay!

Results

So, because of the results of this tournament, unfortunately we are not in the top 24 to qualify for Beijing. We are about 31-30 right now. We have one more tourney, but even if we were to win this tourney, we still would not be in the 24. So it looks like our chances are gone.....it's been quite the journey and experience.
Just want to say "maraming salamat" to everyone who was behind us from the beginning to the end, without your support and faith, this journey might not even have started. Thank you again for all your support!

Pics