Safe Arrival
Well, I'm here! I have the worst case of jet lag I've ever had. My head is in a total fog - it's all I can do to stay awake! But - I'm going to fight to stay awake until tonight so I can get on this new schedule. I'm 11 hours ahead of home time - so - it's a total swap of things. I feel a little like I'm drugged or something - it's very strange.
The adventure of travel for me seems to always be in the travel itself. :) I arrived at the Richmond airport at 2pm - plenty of time before leaving at 4:50pm for Chicago. Glenda (my roomate) drove me there - and Matt (my boyfriend) met us there. As I am checking my bags, the attendent asked me if I wanted to take an earlier flight. My answer was 'no.' I hadn't seen Matt in a week - and had barely been able to talk with him over the past several days. This is my first boyfriend in 8 years (!) and I was looking forward to processing my departure with him, sharing my excitement, etc. I didn't want to miss that. However, the attendent let me know that an ice storm was due to hit Richmond at 4pm, and if I didn't take the earlier flight, I might be stuck there for a couple of days. So, I agreed to take the earlier flight - at 2:30. Which meant I had to board - right then. :( Very quick, very overwhelming good-bye's to Glenda and Matt and I was off! I cried on the plane for the lack of processing. I like things to go MY way. I'm resolved to be flexible in Bangladesh, but while in the US I expected things to go according to plan. MY plan. :) I thank God for His provision for getting me on the earlier flight - and for His gentle nudgings that let me know that HE is the One with the plans.
I got to Chicago and had to leave security in order to travel to another building by train to get to the international terminal. Then I had to wait for about an hour to go through security again in order to get to my gate. Shoes off, watch off, pat-down, etc. I unfortunately packed a pair of scissors in my carry-on - but they ok'd it everytime - AFTER searching through my bag in it's entirety. In order to get some food in Chicago, I had to leave security again - then come back through again - search my bag - again. Then Holly got there and we chatted and then flew to London. The international terminal was very interesting - very full. One thing I noticed - even though we may look different - and speak different languages - we are still very much the same. Babies still cry. People cry when loved ones leave. People get nervous about flying. And God loves us all.
The flight to London was fairly empty - we each had our own set of 3 seats to lay in - so we slept well. London required another security check - but they took my scissors away. :( Hopefully I won't have to have my bag checked so much on the way home.
London to Dhaka was delayed (my prayers were answered in the respect that we didn't miss that flight!) and the flight was good. British Air serves really good plane food!!! We arrived in Dhaka 5am local time - waited on our bags FOREVER - and guess what? My baggage plight continues - I didn't get one of my bags. So, I had to stand in another line and fill out more paperwork and I'll hopefully get my bag on the next flight from London - on Thursday. Not to worry - I have everything I NEED in my carry-on. And I got my suitcase full of my gifts for the nationals. All is well. :)
There is a strike in Dhaka right now - the finance minister was killed by grenade attack at a public meeting on Thursday. No private vehicles are allowed on the roads - or else they'll be set on fire. (We have seen a bus that was toasted!) So they had to come and get us in, are you ready for this? An AMBULANCE!!!!! Lights and sirens and everything! It was actually kind of cool.
The city is huge - 10 million people or so. And is very different than any city I've been in before. We are staying in a very nice guest house - the YMCA for women, basically. I am currently in the World Concern office and Prodip is filling us in on all we need to know. The strike has been extended for 2 more days - so we won't be able to go out just yet. But that gives us time to adjust and rest - so we hope to be out and about by Wednesday.
Stay tuned - I'll try to report back in a couple of days.
The adventure of travel for me seems to always be in the travel itself. :) I arrived at the Richmond airport at 2pm - plenty of time before leaving at 4:50pm for Chicago. Glenda (my roomate) drove me there - and Matt (my boyfriend) met us there. As I am checking my bags, the attendent asked me if I wanted to take an earlier flight. My answer was 'no.' I hadn't seen Matt in a week - and had barely been able to talk with him over the past several days. This is my first boyfriend in 8 years (!) and I was looking forward to processing my departure with him, sharing my excitement, etc. I didn't want to miss that. However, the attendent let me know that an ice storm was due to hit Richmond at 4pm, and if I didn't take the earlier flight, I might be stuck there for a couple of days. So, I agreed to take the earlier flight - at 2:30. Which meant I had to board - right then. :( Very quick, very overwhelming good-bye's to Glenda and Matt and I was off! I cried on the plane for the lack of processing. I like things to go MY way. I'm resolved to be flexible in Bangladesh, but while in the US I expected things to go according to plan. MY plan. :) I thank God for His provision for getting me on the earlier flight - and for His gentle nudgings that let me know that HE is the One with the plans.
I got to Chicago and had to leave security in order to travel to another building by train to get to the international terminal. Then I had to wait for about an hour to go through security again in order to get to my gate. Shoes off, watch off, pat-down, etc. I unfortunately packed a pair of scissors in my carry-on - but they ok'd it everytime - AFTER searching through my bag in it's entirety. In order to get some food in Chicago, I had to leave security again - then come back through again - search my bag - again. Then Holly got there and we chatted and then flew to London. The international terminal was very interesting - very full. One thing I noticed - even though we may look different - and speak different languages - we are still very much the same. Babies still cry. People cry when loved ones leave. People get nervous about flying. And God loves us all.
The flight to London was fairly empty - we each had our own set of 3 seats to lay in - so we slept well. London required another security check - but they took my scissors away. :( Hopefully I won't have to have my bag checked so much on the way home.
London to Dhaka was delayed (my prayers were answered in the respect that we didn't miss that flight!) and the flight was good. British Air serves really good plane food!!! We arrived in Dhaka 5am local time - waited on our bags FOREVER - and guess what? My baggage plight continues - I didn't get one of my bags. So, I had to stand in another line and fill out more paperwork and I'll hopefully get my bag on the next flight from London - on Thursday. Not to worry - I have everything I NEED in my carry-on. And I got my suitcase full of my gifts for the nationals. All is well. :)
There is a strike in Dhaka right now - the finance minister was killed by grenade attack at a public meeting on Thursday. No private vehicles are allowed on the roads - or else they'll be set on fire. (We have seen a bus that was toasted!) So they had to come and get us in, are you ready for this? An AMBULANCE!!!!! Lights and sirens and everything! It was actually kind of cool.
The city is huge - 10 million people or so. And is very different than any city I've been in before. We are staying in a very nice guest house - the YMCA for women, basically. I am currently in the World Concern office and Prodip is filling us in on all we need to know. The strike has been extended for 2 more days - so we won't be able to go out just yet. But that gives us time to adjust and rest - so we hope to be out and about by Wednesday.
Stay tuned - I'll try to report back in a couple of days.
posted by Leslie @ 1:43 AM
1 Comments:
At 11:56 AM,
Geek270 said…
Great story so far Leslie. Glad to see you made it safely. Praying for your other bag. God is so good. It is a real blessing that you could sleep on the flight over. Trying to sleep sitting up is no fun!
The story about you came out in the paper, but I didn't know if you had a chance to see it. Here's the e-version: http://www.newsleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050129/NEWS01/50129002&SearchID=73197743167064
Praying God blesses the people He puts in your path.
-Frank
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