India '14 Update 1 : Adventure is Everywhere

I meant to get a little transition post up to explain that I'm heading to India and will be using the blog to update about our trip. Unfortunately, laundry, packing, trips to Wal-Mart, unpacking, repacking and  spending time with my husband vetoed that idea. So here I am in Washington D.C./Dulles Airport writing my first India 2014 update.

Justin, Zac and myself headed out Thursday afternoon with only a couple minor "Oh No!" moments. My scale is off about 12lbs. Not something you want to find out while standing at an airport check-in. But we shuffled things around and got everything taken care of.

The issue(s) came when we landed in Chicago. We had a pretty tight connection in Chicago and when we landed and saw 25 or so planes sitting on the runway we knew something was up. Then we parked... on the runway. As the engines wound down the pilot came over the air com and told us that we had been parked in the penalty box for awhile because of a VIP. "I bet you can guess who that is."

So we sat for about 30 mins waiting for Air Force One to clear the area so we could move again. All the while the three of us were checking the clock and preparing to sprint to the next gate. And sprint we did! As soon as the doors were open we jogged through the airport to our next gate. The connection had been delayed because of the back-up of traffic, which we were happy about for the flight out of Chicago, but not so happy about because we had an even tighter connection in D.C. where were were supposed to meet my parents for the long trips overseas.

Did you catch the words "supposed to?" We touched down in DC, turned on the phone and text my parents.

Me: We just touched down! What gate?

Dad: C7. We're sitting on the plane. Run!

Me: Still taxing. We'll come as soon as we get off.

A few seconds later...

Dad: They just shut the door.

:-( We were bummed. We literally missed our flight because of the president. With #thanksobama jokes flying we got in line at customer service. Waited about an hour to speak with a rep and then for the next 2 hours she worked on flight options to get us to Bangalore. We really appreciated her. She not only found an alternate route, she worked hard calling other airlines, checking connection times, and confirming tickets to give us 3 route options!

Once our flights had been re-booked she called the manager to see if we qualified for a hotel voucher. We sucked in our breath because we had heard if the missed connection was due to weather or air traffic they would not provide a hotel. (I was pretty sure that Air Force One would qualify as air traffic, and we would be paying for a hotel on our own or getting cozy on the air port floor.)

She was gone for a LONG time and when she came back I was fully prepared for, "Sorry, no hotel." But she said, "My manager can't verify the reason you were delayed from Chicago so she will go ahead and approve hotel, transportation, and meal vouchers."

Can you hear the angels singing? I could. :-) But only faintly because my tummy was growling. I hadn't fed it since about 1:00 PM and it was now 12:20 AM. We found a little deli still open on the way to the taxi service. The angels grew louder with ever bite. Then when we pulled into our hotel they broke into a full blow hallelujah chorus!

It was a gorgeous hotel! We only got one room, but it was nice for us to all have a bed, a shower, and a noon check out. We walked around the area for awhile and had a nice lunch, some fro-yo and are now back at the airport waiting to get our seat assignments at the gate.

Adventure is not letting missed connections get you panties in a bunch.

Adventure is being told you, your husband and another guy friend are going to share a hotel room, smiling and telling the guys you knew there would be some bro-bonding on this trip.

Adventure is going for a walk around your hotel and enjoying the surprise side trip to Reston, Virginia.

Adventure is knowing that your King knew this was going to happen and that He can work things out for good no matter what goes down.

I'm ready to get to the India Adventure part, but am enjoying the ride while we get there. :-) Check back in a few days to (hopefully) hear that we have arrived in Bangalore and have finally gotten to see our friends and begin our work!