Friends stranded in Dubai amid war in Iran finally make it home to Minnesota

After nearly two weeks of trial and error, two Minnesota friends stranded in Dubai during the war with Iran have returned home.

In a March 6 interview, Laura vanZandt and Anna Rickert were stressed to the max.

"Our flights keep getting canceled so we don't know when we're gonna go home," said Rickert. 

Instead of what was supposed to be a fun journey to Sri Lanka with a quick weekend stopover in Dubai, they said it was "a continued shared trauma."

The two landed in the United Arab Emirates on Feb. 27, a day prior to the start of the war in Iran, with the plan of continuing to South Asia on March 1. They ended up being stuck for another week, feeling safe for the most part. They dealt with numerous canceled flights and relocated from a hotel to an Airbnb and extended their stay time after time.

"It feels like a relief," Rickert told WCCO after being asked how it feels to be back on American soil. 

"A little bit surreal," said vanZandt. "The first few days I had to keep touching things and grounding myself just to be like, 'You're at home, you're fine.'"

The UAE was one of the 14 Middle Eastern countries the U.S. State Department said Americans should've left due to "serious safety risks."

And after finally being offered a charter flight by the U.S, Rickert said, "They did not plan for this," as they were denied boarding, forcing them to take the matter into their own hands.

"They took people who were over 65 and then families with young children first, meanwhile still telling us everyone was going to get on a flight that day some way or another. And then there were about 100 of us left and they told us that we actually weren't getting on," vanZandt added. "Our worst day we were there. We knew that we were kind of on our own."

And after another day or two of disappointment, a flight to Seattle on March 13 was a success.

"It almost felt too good to be true and we still of course expected it to be canceled at some point," said vanZandt. "The morning of the flight I woke up in the middle of that night and I had heard a loud boom. There had been a drone that had been intercepted not too far from our Airbnb."

The stress and anxiety linger as they hope their travel insurance helps with some of the costs.

"If that doesn't kick in, it will be well over $5,000, $6,000," Rickert told WCCO.

"Trauma bonding, for sure," said vanZandt.

Despite not getting to visit Sri Lanka, the two hope to try again in the future.