As I mentioned yesterday, we had beautiful plans for arriving in the Czech Republic after about 24 hours of travel. I think it is fair to say, that today did not work out according to our plans though.
It is about 8:30 pm as I write this from a small, but nice hotel room in Amsterdam. Noah is sleeping soundly in the queen-sized bed behind me. Across the hall, I hope that Anna, Leah and Chris are able to do the same. We will not reach the Czech Republic until tomorrow. But what about the others – we split with them after having an Airport Dinner together. They will be boarding a flight in an hour and a half to travel onward as originally planned (though much later). So how did we get here?
To understand that, we would need to roll back the clock to our first connecting flight in Detroit. We made it to the plane with no issues and were comfortably seated in our respective rows. The cabin doors closed, and it seemed that take off would be follow shortly. At that point, we were looking at an earlier-than-expected arrival in Amsterdam with plenty of time to make our final connection. However, after the safety video played, didn’t push back from the gate, then the doors were disarmed, and finally we found ourselves deplaning. Equipment failure had struck.
After another prolonged period in the airport, we boarded a different plane and headed for the Netherlands. Normally airlines re-book flights in situations like this, but only after the airplane gets closer to its destination. When we arrived at Amsterdam, part of the team was on a flight at 2:40 – leaving about 1 hour to make the connection, and another part of the team would be following later tonight. However, no one had boarding passes for the new flights, so we patiently waited through the customer service process (the self-service kiosks did not work). Due to the long lines we missed the earlier flight and found that there was no way for all of us to get to the Czech Republic today.
This is where interesting math kicks in: How to divide the group – there is no way around it. Here are some constraints:
- There are 3 minors – they must be accompanied by an adult, two if they stay in a hotel
- There are only 4 seats on the plane to get to the Czech Republic tonight
- The 4 that go to the Czech Republic must be responsible enough to take care of themselves in an apartment
In the end, I deputized Shelby as our Team ‘A’ mom and medic, along with Andrew Mickey as the communications officer and first officer. Quincy and Levi rounded out the team. I am confident of their abilities and even as I write this, they have texted me, letting me know that they are at the gate, waiting for their plane.
Although it is not immediately apparent why God directed our steps this way, I am especially thankful for our Czech friends who now are picking up two groups of Americans in Krakow. Camp begins tomorrow, and I am praying for a little less excitement leading up to it than we have had today.
Please pray for
- Re-unification of the team at camp tomorrow
- A great kickoff to the mini-camp