London at last and things begin to get sorted out for the team

 May 29^th from London – Once at Heathrow, I had to ask at several places where to go to try to straighten things out.  I had no idea if I was going to be in the airport overnight, where between Austin, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles or London or parts in between my suitcase might be that I checked in Austin.  I finally found the American Airlines/British Air desk and it took three agents working in tandem to sort it all out.  When all was said and done, they were convinced my bag was at Heathrow, but it would be best if I didn’t retrieve it.  They also gave me a voucher for s very nice room at the Raddison Eduardian Blu Hotel nearby, a voucher for round-trip bus fare and meal vouchers for my stay.  I had to wait for about 15 minutes for the bus and it was about a 10 minute drive to the other side of the airport. Once there, I freshened up and had a Philly Cheese Steak and Chips (what the Brits call fries) that was very good.  My voucher was for 26 English pounds, at today’s rate of 1 dollar per .79 pounds, that’s about $20.54.  It was a little less than that, so no out of pocket for me, and the staff wouldn’t take a tip, I tried. I’ll look at dinner, but if it’s like the lunch menu with steak, lobster, etc at high prices, I may just snack in my room. I don’t sleep well when I eat big late!

After lunch, I texted and messaged back and forth with Pastor Kevin and various team members. 6 of them had made it to Philadelphia and sent me a picture of them having lunch there.  5 in the picture so I’m guessing Elizabeth took it…

Arron setup a WhatsApp group so we can more easily communicate with everyone at once which is way better than the emails, texts and other forms of communication that don’t always work well abroad for us. At this point, it looks like Pastor Kevin and Jon will arrive in Nairobi Thursday afternoon and if all goes well the remainder of us will get there Thursday evening around 8:30pm, a full 24 hours late.  Poor Catherine!  Our dear friend is hosting several groups besides us and travel difficulties have  bitten them too, so rescheduling transportation and events has been a big headache.

Once I had settled into my room, I took stock of what was in my carry-on.  Based on experience, I had a clean t-shirt and extra pairs of underwear and socks with me. Just no toiletries because we don’t pack liquids in our carry-on, it causes delays in security at the airports when seconds sometimes really count.  A hot shower at the 33 hour mark since I had left home felt pretty good.  Can’t wait for a shower in Nairobi tomorrow night when I’ll have all my clothes and my own amenities, particularly deodorant!

Right now it looks as if nine of us will meet up at Heathrow and be on the same British Air flight arriving in the evening.  With any luck Pastor Kevin and John will be there early in the afternoon and the Saegert family of four will have arrived tonight right on time.  They left Sunday for London to spend a few days before the trip, so the U.S. travel debacle didn’t affect them.

I’m sure I’ll be writing more tomorrow on the plane and will continue to post to the blog as I am able. Blessings!