Packing for India...
NEVER TRAVEL ON AN EMPTY STOMACH!
10:30am
Paula fixed a 'killer' breakfast for my last official 'meal' with the family. Pancakes. My favorite!
11am-3pm
So, what do you take to wear in southern India?
Better question...how long does it take to pack two suit cases and a backpack?????????
Paula (the lovely and wonderfully organized wife that she is) totally helped me get it ALL together. I had to pack for 97 degree weather. It's monsoon season. And not to mention the humidity! I have multiple stops and layovers...so some of my stuff will be checked in a larger bag at the gate! Of course, I have my backpack filled to the brime with Compassion materials, itenerary stuff, passport ticket info ...and snacks!
I had planned on leaving at 3pm! Well...
4:17pm
Paula, Bailey and Mariah take me over to the PTI airport in Greensboro. One hour until my flight to Atlanta! No problem. I checked one bag at the door. I start down the ramp to get X-rayed. Years ago...any and everyone could see a person off on a flight right there where the gate was to board the plane. This is post -911! No one goes down into the gate area past the X-ray machines without a ticket! So, we said our good-byes. Plenty of huggs and kisses all around! Right there in front of 75 complete strangers...with one thing in common. All leaving a city or a special person (or family) for some 'distant' destination. Whether it be Atlanta or maybe India.
I made my way down the ramp, through the X-ray machines and to a row of chairs to put back on my tennis shoes (security you know). My loved ones had blended into the sea of faces behind me.
Now reality sets in...
5:17pm
Gate 49: Delta flight 1639 from Greensboro to Atlanta has been post-poned due to storms in Atlanta.
I grab my cell phone to tell Paula the news. She and the girls are probably in the van leaving the airport by now. No anwser. Again, I dial Paula's cell...this time I am praying...Paula just pick up the phone. "Hello" I got through!
6:02pm
We have lift-off! And only 44 minutes late to Atlanta. Will I make my connection to Los Angeles in order to meet up with the others going to India?
7:30pm
Gate A-25: Another Delta flight just in time to board for LAX! Three and a half hours to California!
Note: Airplane rides are so interesting. To be surrounded by so many people; yet feel so alone. So isolated!
Only children must LOVE to fly! :)
Proverbs 3: 5 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding...'
10:30am
Paula fixed a 'killer' breakfast for my last official 'meal' with the family. Pancakes. My favorite!
11am-3pm
So, what do you take to wear in southern India?
Better question...how long does it take to pack two suit cases and a backpack?????????
Paula (the lovely and wonderfully organized wife that she is) totally helped me get it ALL together. I had to pack for 97 degree weather. It's monsoon season. And not to mention the humidity! I have multiple stops and layovers...so some of my stuff will be checked in a larger bag at the gate! Of course, I have my backpack filled to the brime with Compassion materials, itenerary stuff, passport ticket info ...and snacks!
I had planned on leaving at 3pm! Well...
4:17pm
Paula, Bailey and Mariah take me over to the PTI airport in Greensboro. One hour until my flight to Atlanta! No problem. I checked one bag at the door. I start down the ramp to get X-rayed. Years ago...any and everyone could see a person off on a flight right there where the gate was to board the plane. This is post -911! No one goes down into the gate area past the X-ray machines without a ticket! So, we said our good-byes. Plenty of huggs and kisses all around! Right there in front of 75 complete strangers...with one thing in common. All leaving a city or a special person (or family) for some 'distant' destination. Whether it be Atlanta or maybe India.
I made my way down the ramp, through the X-ray machines and to a row of chairs to put back on my tennis shoes (security you know). My loved ones had blended into the sea of faces behind me.
Now reality sets in...
5:17pm
Gate 49: Delta flight 1639 from Greensboro to Atlanta has been post-poned due to storms in Atlanta.
I grab my cell phone to tell Paula the news. She and the girls are probably in the van leaving the airport by now. No anwser. Again, I dial Paula's cell...this time I am praying...Paula just pick up the phone. "Hello" I got through!
6:02pm
We have lift-off! And only 44 minutes late to Atlanta. Will I make my connection to Los Angeles in order to meet up with the others going to India?
7:30pm
Gate A-25: Another Delta flight just in time to board for LAX! Three and a half hours to California!
Note: Airplane rides are so interesting. To be surrounded by so many people; yet feel so alone. So isolated!
Only children must LOVE to fly! :)
Proverbs 3: 5 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding...'
posted by Verne Hill...WBFJ News | 9:58 AM
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