Second Domestic Flight Adventures

Second Domestic Flight Adventures

So this morning was an earlier morning than normal.  I was a able to get to sleep reasonably early and slept until about 4am (Indian time).  I took the extra time this morning to reflect on what I had experienced so far (coming to you later) and to prepare myself and my luggage for traveling again.  While getting ready the hotel staff came in to check the snack bar for purchases...it took 2 of them 15 minutes to verify the 5 snacks and 5 nonalcoholic drinks were still there.  They kept asking about how the service was and if i needed anything. I told them that the only thing that I needed was for them to get out of my room and out of the way so I could finish getting dressed and packed and ready for check out.  Eventually they relented and I had my room to myself again.  I thought that that was a little strange and chalked it up to a difference in culture and language and went on about my way.

Obviously, one of you out there has been praying for patience for me and the team...let me be clear here...Please Stop!...it is not helping :0)

When we got to the air port, we discovered as we were trying to enter, that two of our team members (yes, me and Henry) itineraries had the wrong flight date for today's flight...according to records we were a day late.  We exited the entrance area, headed down to the exterior ticketing window to attempt to get the situation rectified.  After 15 minutes or more of our team leader haggling with the workers, we were told that we would have to pay for new tickets.  Yeppers, $370 American each..but we were able to get on the same flight as the rest of the team.

So we are all inside again and going through X-ray for our check bags.  That goes fine and we proceed onto the check in area to drop off our recently examined bags.  There another team member, with itinerary in hand, is told that he is not in the computer.  So off he goes to the ticket window and after about 10 minutes or more of haggling, he is heading back to the check in line.  After quite some time, he is finally found on both ends of the system and he is able to join us to go through the remaining security.

Well at this point, they pull me aside with my bags, which have been packed the exact same way since we left Houston...but for some reason, they didn't like the fact that all of my spare batteries were packed in my carry on...so they tell me I can go to the check bag station and add them to my other bag...after several moments of frustration, I tell them to keep them and say good bye to about $25 worth of batteries (out potentially $395 now).

We get upstairs have a coffee together and a good laugh and as we are exiting the building to get on a bus to ride to the plane, they stop Henry and tell him that he can't go out because his bag tag for his carry on has not been stamped.  So all of the team exits except Henry, and we head to the plane while he heads back to security to get this special stamp.

Needless to say, traveling abroad poses its challenges at times.  The good news is that we are all on the same flight at the same time and this leg of traveling is coming towards a close and we can get back to the business of ministry again.

But please, if your praying for patience for us, don't.  Pray for safety, for effectiveness, for rest, etc.  Many thanks to each of you and stay tuned for more travel antics here in India.