Benjamin Spooner and Shanice Day are both on their way back to Houston.

HOUSTON — Americans caught in escalating missile attacks across parts of the Middle East say they are grateful to be heading home after scrambling to leave the region as airspace closures and canceled flights stranded travelers.

Benjamin Spooner said the moment he finally left the area brought an overwhelming sense of relief.

“The one emotion you feel is relief for sure to be out of that situation,” Spooner said.

Just days earlier, Spooner watched Iranian missiles being intercepted over Doha, Qatar, lighting up the night sky.

“They say fireworks can set people off. Well, I understand that now. Any loud bang I hear, I think it’s an explosion,” he said.

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Spooner and a colleague had been in Doha working on a project for QatarEnergy when the conflict intensified. Like many Americans in the region, they soon found themselves stranded after Iranian missile strikes led airlines to cancel flights.

“Tuesday morning we woke up and it was really bad news, and I thought, ‘OK, we can’t stay here any longer,’” Spooner said.

QatarEnergy helped arrange a driver to take the pair across the border into Saudi Arabia. The roughly 4½-hour trip carried risks.

“That drive in and of itself was quite dangerous,” Spooner said. “We were warned. It took us right past the U.S. base which had shut down something like 80 rockets and hundreds of drones.”

The base was struck just hours after their taxi passed it.

“Just kind of like dodged a missile there,” he said.

Spooner and his colleague eventually reached the airport in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, only to learn the airspace there had also been closed. They quickly arranged another four-hour drive to Riyadh, where they were able to fly to Jeddah and then to Amsterdam. As of Friday, Spooner said they were waiting for a flight back to Houston.

“It was just really an indescribable sense of gratitude when that plane took off,” he said. “I’ve never felt more humble ever in my life.”

Another Houston-area traveler, Shanice Day, said she was stranded in Dubai as the conflict escalated during what was supposed to be a birthday trip.

After several days of uncertainty and multiple canceled flights, Day and a friend decided to book an unexpected route out, flying to Australia simply to leave the region.

“Even on the plane, you have a sense of anxiety because you understand what’s going on, and you know you’re taking a risk by flying in this air right now,” she said.

The pair flew about 14 hours to Australia before taking another long flight to Los Angeles and then continuing on to Houston.

Despite making it home safely, Day said she remains concerned about other Americans still trying to leave the Middle East.

“Get those Americans out of there,” she said. “It’s one thing to see it, but it’s another thing to live that in your reality.”

Day was expected to arrive in Houston on Friday evening.

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