Monday 2/2/09

Erica came over to go with us to the airport. We said goodbye and checked in, then waited for the journey to begin. Already dressed lightly for pleasant weather in Ethiopia, we flew to Chicago/O’Hare and had to deplane outside in 25 mph winds with snow on the ground!

London Airport

Plenty of time to stroll the airport to our gate where there would be a full plane to London/Heathrow as it was being combined with a previous flight that had been canceled due to a news-worthy blizzard in London. Landed in London’s Heathrow Airport (still quite snowy) after a crowded flight with 2 meals (Dan watched the movie “The Secret Life of Bees” while I watched “Nights in Rodanthe”); we heard quite a number of different languages spoken on the way. We met up with Paul Krueger right away (his flight had arrived less than an hour before ours).
Snowy England
He has led more than 30 Work & Witness construction teams. We spent some time getting aquatinted, talking, walking a little, and having brunch in Giraffe restaurant before boarding our plane to fly south over Eastern Europe and the Middle East with a quick stop-over in Damascus, Syria. As we checked in for the flight, Paul was unexpectedly upgraded to business class, then we were upgraded too; this included gourmet meals, but the real blessing was seats that reclined enough to get more sleep. PTL