With little or no help from the U.S. government, Americans stranded in the Mideast used WhatsApp and social media to figure out how to get home

Alyssa Ramos’ evacuation from Kuwait took 48 hours and carried her across four continents. The U.S. government did not help with any part of it, the travel blogger said.

“They keep going on the news and saying they’re doing everything they can to get Americans out,” Ramos said after landing in Miami on Thursday. “I know for a fact they’re not.”

She said she repeatedly messaged the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait before being directed to the consular section, which told her it couldn’t help her leave the country and advised her to enroll in the U.S. smart traveler program and shelter in place.

Ramos is among the many travelers who found themselves stranded in the Middle East and beyond after Israeli-U.S. attacks on Iran almost a week ago rapidly entangled more than a dozen nearby countries. Since then, U.S. citizens have described frustrations and growing fear as they encountered closed airports, canceled flights and confusing U.S. government guidance while Poland, Australia, France and other countries moved quickly to dispatch military or chartered planes for their citizens.

As of Friday, about 27,000 Americans have returned to the U.S. since the war began Feb. 28, the State Department said. The vast majority of them made their own way out without U.S. government assistance.

Chicago resident Susan Daley, who became stranded while on a work trip in the United Arab Emirates, arrived in the U.S. on Thursday aboard the first commercial flight from Dubai to San Francisco since the conflict started.

“Having the State Department or whoever tell us, ‘You need to get out immediately,'” Daley said, “but there’s no help, so you’re on your own to get your own travel plans. That was the most stressful thing.”

President Donald Trump’s administration has pushed back against criticism that the U.S. response was too slow.

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