An opportunity to reconsider

It was a less-than-auspicious beginning.

We spent an hour weighing, repacking, and reweighing our luggage in the main Dulles Airport terminal since baggage allowances have changed now that Delta runs Northwest/KLM. Nothing too major, but an annoyance since we had very thoughtfully packed our bags.

After clearing security, we arrived at the gate to find that the Northwest buy-out also meant the closure of their lounge, ruining our plans to make last-minute phone calls to family from the terminal. It was at that point that I also realized that I had misplaced my straw "Africa" hat, and made the trek back to security to retreive it from lost and found.

As I met a long-faced Francis back at the gate, I mused about whether or not we ought to warn fellow passengers that they might not want to get on the plane with us. Seriously, folks, don't joke about something like that before getting on a transatlantic flight. Two hours into the flight, just as we were leaving the Canadian coast, the inflight entertainment stopped and the pilot informed us that he'd had to kill one of the plane's two engines, and so we'd be turning back to the mainland. [It turns out that the engine had lost 19-1/2 of 20 liters of oil.]After a brief freak-out on my part following turbulence over Halifax, we landed safely in Bangor, Maine.


F wondering why we're in "Eastern Maine"

As you might imagine, such a series of disheartening events at the beginning of an epic move really gives a couple reason to pause and consider: "What in the heck are we doing?!?! Is God trying to tell us something?!?!" After 24 hours sitting in Bangor, we climbed back on a plane heading for Amsterdam, convinced that this comedy of errors was actually good--things could only get better, right?

Well, indeed they did.

We made it to Amsterdam just in time to grab some VSOP (our favorite aged gouda) and hop on a plane to Entebbe, Uganda. After an uneventful (though cramped) flight, we arrived in Uganda to find that all 5 of our checked bags had made the connection, and our driver Charles had received word of our arrival and was there to meet us at the airport.

How true it is that all's well that ends well! I'm quickly learning that patience and flexibility are paramount to survival/sanity in Africa, and perhaps our initial set-backs (coupled with the delay from Francis' bike accident) were a chance to test how we operate as a team when life throws a curve-ball.


I think we passed.