CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A North Carolina couple who got stuck in the Middle East en route to a wedding in India is safe, but the pair has yet to find a way to get back to the U.S.
Anna Hildreth and her fiancé, Charles Smith, left Charlotte Douglas International Airport Feb. 25, headed for Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Three days later, the U.S. and Israel bombed Iran, and the couple’s vacation turned into days of trying and failing to flee the Middle East.
“It just felt surreal,” said Hildreth. “Because everybody was just operating as if nothing was happening, as if we were not in the middle of a war zone.”
It started out as a fun vacation for Hildreth and Smith, full of excursions and experiences. But it turned into an evacuation.
“There’s missiles being shot,” said Hildreth. “There’s military aircraft flying overhead.”
She captured video from her desert hotel’s rooftop Saturday, showing what she thinks was a drone or missile being intercepted.
By Sunday, March 1, American Airlines told her she wouldn’t be able to leave the United Arab Emirates until at least March 13.
“At that point, like all flights had been canceled,” said Hildreth. “The airspace was shut down. And we realized, ‘Oh crap. How are we going to get out of here? Are we safe?’ Then panic kind of started to set in.”
After booking seven flights, all of which got canceled, the couple ended up piecing together three different hours-long taxi rides to cross over the border into Oman.
“Neither of us ever felt unsafe,” said Hildreth. “But it was a very unsettling feeling being in a country, knowing that we’re trapped and knowing that there’s no flights, knowing that there’s no way out.”
The two eventually made it to airport in Oman and flew to India Wednesday, where they’re now safe and enjoying wedding festivities.
“As soon as we touched down in India, we both, I think, just like had a moment of just like relaxation, like the weight off of our chest,” she said.
Hildreth and Smith feel lucky because they know several people who remain stuck in the Middle East.
The latest issue the couple is facing is they’ve yet to find a flight to get back to North Carolina. They’re running into trouble since there’s so much demand to leave.
They know some North Carolinians who have to endure 40-hour travel days just to get home.
