"we are diverting to Amsterdam"

ahhhhh, international air travel. I love it. I really do. the people watching in airports that can tell you so much about a place, the figuring out how to maneuver to where you want to be in airports you've never been in, the anticipation of what movies you might get on this particular flight, leaving your luggage at the ticket counter and not having to pick it up until you reach your destination, the complimentary mini bottles of wine :) love it.

truth be told, however, I'm really not much of a fan of my plans being changed. But, TIA so I've had to get used to it. And it's actually a lot easier for me, when I know I really have absolutely nothing I can/could have done to avoid it.

So, 6.5 hours to London on Saturday night. My lovely sister had dropped me off, helped me get my luggage to the counter, and even rearranged/ditch things for later delivery when the pieces were, of course, overweight...risking coming VERY close to getting her first ticket on the car that was just moments into being in her care...crying with me as I hugged the last of my stateside people before heading off to yet another life...she rocks...but back to the 6.5 hours to London.

I read the first half of my first library loaned Kindle book - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time...great book, by the way, but more on that for another time...I ate food, drank a glass of red wine with my lasagna, and attempted to watch Moneyball but drifted to sleep - finally pulling out my red inflatable (yes, inflatable) fleece neck pillow that's amazing for just a time as this - and got maybe an hour of shut eye before it was time to eat again and get ready to land...or so we thought.

Our captain announced that our landing at Heathrow would be delayed for at least a half hour due to bad weather (mist and a bit of snow) in London. no problem. Next announcement about a half our later - "Heathrow has closed and we are diverting to Amsterdam"...hm. the next several announcements were harried messages from the head bursar on the flight who was obviously totally unsure as to what the plan was for all of us and feeling a bit pressured by that...

well, long story made short, when we got off the plane, we were instructed by a BA staff person which baggage claim to reclaim our luggage from and then which ticket counter to go to in order to find out how we would eventually reach our final destination. It turned out there were approximately 3 other jumbo jets full of people coming from such places as Bangkok and Sao Paulo, who were told the same thing. This makes for a long line. A VERY long line. But I get ahead of myself.

You will note that we were told to reclaim our luggage. In the end, this was the WORST part of the ordeal. I had a LOT of luggage. 5 years worth, to be exact. Including a bike box. I wasn't sure I was going to get it all onto one trolley, and was imagining how in the world me myself and I was going to manage 2 luggage trolleys...well, it all fit on one trolley. just barely. the bike box was perched on the outside edge, lying horizontally...well, that didn't really fit through the doorways so I had to turn it so that it rested vertically on the edge...but that in fact was impossible for me to see over, soooooo imagine me maneuvering this luggage trolley with approximately 300 pounds of luggage through the Amsterdam airport peering around each side every few seconds and proceeding VERY slowly so as not to mow anything or anyone down in the process...sheesh. Only once did I lose the bike box off the front of the trolley and luckily no one was injured in the process!

I managed to make my way very slowly to the ticket counter where I waited with all the others from my flight. We were on the first or second of the 4 or so international flights with BA that arrived unexpectedly and that meant we got to the front-ish of the line. I still waited about 4 hours in that line...and the people at the back of the line...I'm not even sure they made it to the counter before midnight....they had at least 12 hours of waiting ahead of them, and that's only to find out WHAT your new travel plan was - which may well include a lot more waiting. 2 lonely, strung out BA people at the counter trying to rebook 4 flights worth of people to their correct destinations. They deserved an award...but instead got mostly hateful looks from angry passengers...

My rebooking included BA putting me up in an airport hotel overnight and getting out on a KLM flight in the morning to Entebbe by way of Kigali. There was no skating on the canals of Amsterdam as my dad imagined, only conking out for a night of sleep in a hotel room that looked like an IKEA catalog :) The flight was smooth in the end and even better movie arrangements! It's the important things, you know? :)

I arrived at MAF guesthouse in Kampala without a hitch, but alas, there was no power. A shower by candlelight and a bed was just fine with me, and waking to do final packing and heading to the airport again to head to Kenya the next morning meant a short night.

But here I am in Kenya and the rest is history! Thankful to be here and see some of "my people"...old teammates and new, and learn a bit more about this endeavor that awaits me in S. Sudan!