Crazy Travel Days (Part 2)

(…continued from Crazy Travel Days Part 1) 

After we got off the plane, I started calling the different airlines and the staff in the office to try and figure out what the next steps we needed to take were. While I was trying to figure out the logistical stuff, the participant had a medical emergency and the ambulance was called (for more details you can read her blog about it at https://lilyhambrick.theworldrace.org/post/h-o-w-i-g-o-t-t-o-t-h-a-i-l-a-n-d). Thank God that the flight attendants pulled her off the plane because it would have been way worse if it happened while we were in the air! 

The paramedic crew that showed up to the scene was super friendly and helpful, and so on the way to the hospital, they allowed me to sit in the front of the ambulance while Lily, the participant, and the team leader, Emma, were in the back. I was able to talk to the driver the whole way to the hospital, and we discussed our trip and how she had always wanted to do some sort of volunteer or missions work, but it just never happened. I encouraged her that it isn’t too late and that maybe she could go on some mission trips with her kids once they are older, or even become a missionary herself once her kids are adults. The driver was hilarious and it was such a great conversation that God allowed us to have! Once we got to the hospital, the nurses made sure everything was okay, gave Lily some IVs, and after a few hours, we went to the hotel that the office staff had helped us book and got some much needed rest. 

The next morning, I woke up and took an Uber to fill the prescription they had given Lily the night before. On the way, I noticed that my driver had a Bible on his dashboard and so we had a conversation about what he was reading and how he had newly become a Christian and all kinds of good stuff. After I got back from filling the prescription, we headed back to the Nashville airport for Round 2. We got to see the same flight attendants and managers who we had dealt with the night before, and so we talked to them for a bit. We got to the airport very early again, just in case, and so we were just hanging out there again. Around 7pm, we were at our gate and a Seattle flight that was supposed to leave at 5:30pm had still not left. Apparently, their incoming plane had a medical emergency where they had to stop in Louisville and then the staff timed out and couldn’t come to Nashville. People were very agitated and I was thankful that we were not on that flight. But, that’s when another curveball came our way. Instead of using our plane to go to San Francisco as intended, the airline chose to cancel our flight and use the plane to go to Seattle. I couldn’t believe it! After 14 hours of waiting in the Nashville airport over the course of 2 nights, we still had not made our first flight to San Francisco, let alone the 4 other ones we had to take. Needless to say, the people on our flight were very upset. Since Emma, Lily, and I weren’t going anywhere soon, we waited until everyone else had left to go rebook our flight and get our vouchers. I also had to get on the phone with the airline for our connecting flight and tell them that we would not be making the flights again. And oh yeah, our luggage went to San Francisco without us the night before so we did not have any extra clothes (I ended up wearing the same clothes for 5 days haha.) So after getting our luggage situation taken care of, getting our vouchers, and rebooking our flight, we had some time to talk to the airline employees. We could tell they were not eager to talk to us after kicking us off the flight the previous night and then canceling the flight for that night. But we were able to show them grace and peace in a moment of chaos, and we chatted for quite a while and just allowed them to vent a little bit. It was a beautiful moment that God orchestrated in which he allowed us to demonstrate some of his character to these employees who knew we were trying to leave and serve him for the next 9 months. So after all of that, back to the hotel we went. 

The third day in Nashville we went back to the airport super early and waited again, hoping the third time would be the charm. To make things worse, our flight left out of the same gate (B8) each night, so we were joking that we hoped they would change the gate number or something. We again got to talk to the airlines employees and by this time we had a pretty solid relationship with some of them. Finally, the flight went off without a hitch, and we were on our way to San Francisco. Once we got to San Francisco, we had a short layover and had to book it to the international terminal. Thankfully, after 3 days, the airline office still had our luggage, and it was a smooth check-in process. From San Francisco, we had a 14.5 hour flight to Hong Kong and then a 4 hour flight from Hong Kong to Singapore. From Singapore, we had a quick flight to Bangkok, where we had to get our luggage and check in with a different airline to get to Chiang Mai. Upon check-in, the three of us received a free invitation into the airline’s first-class lounge which was an unexpected blessing. We definitely took advantage of the comfy couches and the buffet, and then boarded the plane to discover that we had actually been placed in first-class which was awesome! After 5 days of travel, we finally arrived in Chiang Mai and went to our hostel to rejoin the rest of the squad! 

In truth, I don’t really know why God worked things out so that the 3 of us would stay in Nashville so long, but I do know that we got to have some great conversations with people along the way, and that we got to display some of his character to people who were in some tough situations. I also know that he blessed us by allowing us to catch up on our sleep with 2 extra nights in a hotel, rather than having us immediately jump onto 5 flights. And then with our last flight, getting to go into the lounge and sit in first-class was a great way to end a crazy 5 days of travel. 

So, long story short, I am now in Chiang Mai, Thailand and we just finished our first month of ministry. Moving forward, my blogs will be a little bit in the past, talking about things I have done already, rather than what I am doing currently. I hope you will continue reading my blogs, and I appreciate all of the support I have received from you all!