The journey begins...

International travel fosters unexpected adventures!  When traveling internationally, you just have to take what comes and go with it… for example: you might discover your flight time has been switched and the airline neglected to inform you of the change, or perhaps the flight attendant doesn't want to let you on your flight because your boarding pass was printed before the current flight was in existence (a few hours previously), or maybe when you call your travel insurance in the middle of the night and find they can’t do anything for a canceled flight, or it just might happen that you are stopped at the gate and told you need a different boarding pass...

Our re-collected luggage in the middle of the night in Philadelphia after our canceled flight.

And just in case you’re wondering, all of the above plus more happened at some point on our trip to Zambia last week.

That’s just how international travel goes.

But sometimes there are perks-- fun adventures-- like crashing for a couple hours one night in a nice hotel and enjoying complementary breakfast, or spending a couple unexpected days with a friend in London and visiting the British Museum and the Olympic stadium.

Those things happen too.

When traveling, it’s always great to know the true Guide of the journey. Assurance, comfort, peace, and blessing can all be part of my crazy trips when the Lord is in control.

While the flights through the night were utterly uncomfortable for me, I praise God for a super smooth transition to the local time zone once I finally got to Zambia. I took a power nap Wednesday afternoon, and other than that, I've been adjusted to sleeping all nights and being awake every day :).

Our carts of luggage in Lusaka waiting to be "picked" (they don't say "pick up/drop off" here, instead they say "pick/drop" only!).

whoot. whoot.

For those who want more specifics, here is a more detailed account of my journey to Africa last week:

My journey began the morning of Thursday, 25 October when Amy and I sobbed good-bye as she left for work. I didn't know my good-byes would be so painful. After more tear-filled good-byes at home, Dad and Mom, Betsy, Logan, Naomi, and I began our journey to Pennsylvania, where we visited Joel and Judith.

Early Saturday evening, we began the two-hour drive to the Philadelphia airport, where I said my final heart-wrenching (actually literally gut-wrenching… my stomach hurt the next day from crying so hard) good-byes.

Heather and I passed through security and were on our way… well, we thought we were on our way.

On board 11:30pm: “Good evening, this is your captain. I have to inform you that our aircraft has an engine problem, but it would still be okay to fly to London… we just need to be within one hour of a land-able airport for the entire trip. Unfortunately, the airport in Greenland has bad weather tonight, so we could use it if we needed to. It will take 10 or 12 hours to repair the aircraft. We’re very sorry and are trying to call in a ground crew to help you, so just sit tight and we’ll update you more as we have more information…”

Great! Hah!

The next hours involved a payphone, scrounging for quarters, useless phone calls, miscellaneous emails using airport wifi, eight pieces of luggage between both of us, a kind British Air worker named Christopher, a hotel shuttle, and… finally around 3am, a plush bed at the Embassy Suites.

We started calling the airline at 7 the next morning, and soon had our flight from Philadelphia re-booked in time—we hoped—to escape Storm Sandy.

Heather’s amazing Dad and Grandpa picked us up from the airport and took us to Heather’s parents’ (about an hour away) for the day, and then ferried us back to the airport for our rescheduled 9pm flight.

After a most uncomfortable night in economy class, we arrived in London Monday morning. [I should add that the captain came on again Sunday evening: “You would like to know the aircraft has not been repaired. However, I’ve been watching the weather closely all day, and it’s clear in Greenland, so we can fly! Once again, we are very sorry for the delay. Have a great flight."]

Once we made our way through immigration in London, we bought transit tickets and took the tube to meet up with my friend Angelina. I had a fabulous time in London, enjoying our extra layover time.

Tuesday afternoon, we took the tube back to Heathrow for our last flight. It was semi-surprising and fun to arrive in Lusaka Wednesday morning and find all our luggage waiting to meet us. The flight from London to Lusaka was smooth and uneventful, albeit in economy comfort.

After leaving the airport, we made a few stops in Lusaka and headed down the road for Choma. About four hours later, we drove up the dirt road, parked our suitcases in the guesthouse and began our year here at Nahumba.