From Austin to New York

Bob and Dora arrived at my house right on time, just before 6:15am for the ride to the airport.  We loaded our luggage and the team’s three footlockers into the back of his truck and had an easy drive, arriving at ABIA just before 7am, as planned.  Ralph was already there waiting for us.  There was no one at the British Airways desk, so I made my way to the American Airlines counter and asked whether we could check in there.  Bertha, who was my agent, was all business, but let me check in, since our first leg of our journey to New York was on AA.  She asked me how many pieces of luggage I had to check, I told her two, but that it was still down by the BA area.  She had me hurry up and get it.  As she was weighing my red footlocker, she asked me what was in it and I told her it was supplies for a vision clinic in Nairobi.  She asked “Are you a missionary?”.  When I replied “Yes”, she became visibly warmer towards me and the rest of the team waiting to check their bags.  Dora had an even bigger impact on her when Dora realized we had let the first two footlockers get by without Zip ties to hold them closed.  They became fast friends when Bertha offered to have the footlockers retrieved so she could secure them.  By the time it was over, Dora had written down the names of the two check-in agents that had been so helpful and had promised to write to American about the great service.  What a great start to the day!

We took off at 9:20am, right on schedule and our pilot feels we may be up to half an hour early in reaching JFK.  We’ll have about a 5 hour layover there and I’ll continue our story from one of the many food courts at the airport if I can get wifi reception.  Stay tuned!