I made it....a day late, but I made it!

So, who ever knew that an exciting trip to Rwanda (or Cairo) would start in good ol' Chicago O'Hare airport!? Let me tell you my story. In Oklahoma City, the lady where I checked in looked at my schedule and immediately got a worried look on her face. I figured out that my flight to Chicago was going to be 2 hours late...but that was not the problem. She told me I would most definitely miss my flight form Chicago to London and she did not know what to do for me. All she could do was tell me that the next flight out of chicago to london was the next day in the afternoon. So she went ahead and gave me my tickets from OKC to Ohare and from Ohare to london, even though I would miss that flight. I assured her I could figure it out from ohare and thanked her for her help. She made sure my bags would follow whatever I do! So i got to Ohare and had fun walking around looking for the big dinosaur where the ticket rerouting desk was. The line was amazingly long. As we all waited in line I met Jeff Veal. He is a professor of physics and astronomy and South Western University in San Diego (I think…yea). He’s been teaching for 7 years and is now taking a sabbatical. He is on his way to Cairo and plans to travel around there for a month. After waiting in line for a while and watching people in front get frustrated with the help they were or weren’t getting, they decided to open up a few more desks with more agents to help us. So we got bumped to new lines where we got to the front pretty quickly. My agent(s): two young women, not much older than me. Their mood: frustrated, tired. Their comments: “oh (bad word)….why did I get this one?” (because my flight schedule was so long and confusing) and “Oh man, this schedule is so long and confusing.” Fortunately I have learned a lot about how helpful it can be to remain a patient and happy passenger. By the time Jeff was done with his agent and had walked over, both girls were in a better mood and soon helped me get a ticket to London on a flight the next day, and a voucher with a discount for a few hotel of my choice (from a list) in the area. So Jeff and I decided to stick together….we both had interesting stories to tell and love to listen to others and hanging our waiting for an airplane is always more fun with someone to talk to than alone. So we each got a room at the cheapest hotel, using the voucher we got a $39 room 20 mnts away. We talked for a while that evening and then met up in the morning to go back to the airport, got our tickets settled and then had lunch before we split ways…me to London and him to Frankfurt. We had some really good conversations about belief and God and about life and school and pretty much everything.
SO anyway, I got on my plane to London, had a great flight, and finally arrived in Europe. I got my next ticket figured out and then once again, as I have done quite often now, I walked around terminal 4 in the Heathrow airport and enjoyed a cappuccino at the Starbucks there. I then flew to Brussels and waited for my luggage…and waited…and waited. Hmmm, not come my luggage did. Apparently, despite my 4 hours in London, they had left my bags there. For those frequent travelers out there, this was on British Airways…so beware. They said they would be on the next flight out of London to Brussels…the next flight was later that day…and they would call me when they came in. The next day I called them to ask for progress. My trunk had arrived. I don’t need my trunk. My trunk is full of stuff I’m taking to Africa and leaving there. My trolly suitcase thing was still in London. It was supposed to arrive that evening at 6:30. They would let me know when it got there and send it to my house the next day….the next day. Yey. There was no one available for us to talk to about why they could not get the bag to me that evening, after I had been missing my luggage for two days because of their mistake. Not to complain…I did fine without the luggage for a few days…but its just something you expect an airline to do better than that. LOL, I learned that my dad is not a pushover…and takes every opportunity to teach his daughter how not to be one.
Anyway, I have my luggage now…got it Friday after I arrived home on Wednesday. Being home has been so great! I’ve loved it. I love talking to and hanging out with the fam! Jesse (my 7-year old brother) is a hoot and a ton of fun to play with and talk to! Its great to see my cousins Luk and Holly’s baby Gideon grow up (6-ish months now). And I really enjoy seeing my Christian brothers and sisters here in Belgium and Holland!
Over and out.