This post brought to you by a still-extremely-tired Brittany, so please bear with me. This is the update on our post-SteemFest travel situation since @shenanigator and I finally got our feet on the ground ... literally.

Traveling home from Amsterdam was the most difficult travel situation either of us has ever experienced.

In this post, we shared that we were trapped in the middle-of-nowhere-Iceland after WOW Air canceled our flight to San Francisco. This caused us to miss our connecting flights to Phoenix. When it was clear that we wouldn't be leaving the country until the next day, we exhausted every possible route via WOW Air customer service to seek resolution. We were consistently met with callous/unhelpful responses from the airline.

No one seemed to care that I'd be left starving for more than 48 hours. Granted, WOW Air did provide pizza and breakfast the next day, but nothing accommodated my food allergies. There were no cabs or stores within walking distance, so we couldn't get food another way. When we finally got to the airport, they gave a meal voucher, but there was no food at the airport I could eat either.

After we missed our flights to Phoenix, neither of us could afford to rebook at the last-minute prices.

At this point, panic started to set in. The cheapest flights were $730 for both of us. Going to SteemFest was already a significant investment, and for the first time ever, we were worried about being able to make it home. There were lower prices for Friday, but unfortunately, we couldn't stay in San Francisco another day, or we'd face serious consequences. Some of these included:

• I'm co-organizing and volunteering at Startup Weekend Phoenix, which started on Friday.
• Jordan's online business was suffering in his absence; every day we were gone, he was losing revenue.
• We'd have to pay for another day of dog sitting, accruing yet another cost.
• Staying another night would mean other costs in the most expensive city in the United States: Transportation to and from the airport, a hotel stay, four more meals (if we could find any for me to eat that is), and Ubers to and from allergy-friendly restaurants.
• Plus, at my level of starvation, extending our travel for slightly cheaper flights was extremely risky.

Did I mention we both caught colds in the process? Bleh.

Side note: SteemFest was the best investment we've ever made, and despite how shitty it was getting home, we would gladly go through it again if it meant experiencing more SteemFest magic.

Thanks to the Steemit community, we were able to book a flight from San Francisco to Phoenix.

I don't think there are words to express our gratitude toward the Steemians that supported and encouraged us in our hour of need. This support came from not only friends we met at SteemFest, but also people we've never even met. People actually donated hard-earned money to help us get home.

At most we hoped to earn a little money from the our post to offset the cost, so we were absolutely floored to receive SBD/STEEM donations. There we were wondering, "How can we possibly afford to get home after WOW Air caused us to miss our previously-booked flights?" And the Steemit community refused to let that happen.

Special thanks to those who commented on our post.

You sent well wishes, encouragement, advice, and positivity, which was unbelievably comforting and uplifting. What started out as a scary, stressful situation, wasn't nearly as bad because of your kind words. Truly, thank you:

• @steemswede, @acidyo, @pollux.one, @opheliafu, @skapaneas, @steveit, @majes, @arcange, @generation.easy, @liondani, @virtualgrowth, @andrarchy, @lemouth, @transhuman, @sigmajin, @riverhead, @anduweb, @michelle.gent, @firepower, @ezzy, @logic, @exyle, @ericvancewalton, @knozaki2015, @steemrollin, @cryptofunk, @kiwideb, @rea, @juanmiguelsalas, and @sneak. (Hope I mentioned everyone!!)

And to those who donated SBD/STEEM:

When we were hungry, tired, sick, and emotionally beaten down, your financial support allowed us to get home safe. We can hardly express a big enough "thank you" for bailing us out of this unfortunate, unforeseen situation. THANK YOU:

• @exyle, @logic, @michelle.gent, @the-alien, @ned, @donkeypong, @steemrollin, @sigmajin, @ericvancewalton, and @roelandp

Extra thank you to @sigmajin who tried diligently to apply his airline miles to get us tickets. Flights ultimately ended up being more than the miles would cover, but the effort was deeply appreciated.

What will we do with the leftover donations?

These donations were unexpected, but highly appreciated; however, Steemit users should never be asked to shoulder the burden for these situations. The fact that people felt compelled to come together and help get us home is a true testament to the quality of the Steemit community. We want to reiterate that any unused funds will be returned to the original donators. After tallying the final costs of the plane tickets and what we earned from the previous post, we are able to return 20% of each donation. (We'll be sending those out by the end of the weekend.)

What are our plans for collecting reimbursements/compensation from the airline?

One possibility is exploring the protections for travelers in our situation under the European Union's Division. Under this regulation, we'd either be compensated €600 each, or the airline can opt to just refund the ticket price. Therefore, we are first contacting WOW Air to request refunds and comp'd round trip tickets of our choosing for the future. (SteemFest2017, holla!) Personally, I'm having a hard time resisting a more legal approach for all the pain and suffering (i.e. starvation, sickness, and stress) caused by the cancellation, but we'll see what WOW Air does to resolve the situation.

In any case, we are exhausting all possible outlets so we can return even more of the incredibly generous donations.

What's next....

Sleeeeeeeeep. Holy shit all we want in the world is sleep. And then more sleep. With a side of sleep. But before we crash, one last thing: You guys are absolutely amazing. Despite this massive thunderstorm on our parade, SteemFest still has us fired up and totally energized for an incredible future. We're an unparalleled community who will stop at nothing to change the world. It's an incredible feeling to be part of it.