It turns out I left town just in time. If I had waited a day later, I would have missed my flight due to the closure of the 5 and the 15. It was difficult to leave this time around, in the midst of so much uncertainty regarding the fires.
Traveling as always was an adventure. Including my carry-on luggage, I had about 45 kg of weight to carry. I made it to London and traveled to central
London to meet a friend.
It was so frustrating to see all of these men walking past me, as I was trying to get my suitcase up the stairs of the underground.
In the end, it was always women who offered to help…usually when I made it to the last step!!
I had a great time with my friend…and then early the next morning it was back to the airport…with all of my luggage. I got checked-in and they were able to send all of my luggage through to
Tyumen.
Not a word was said about having to pay for the added weight (there is a 20 kg limit).
I had hidden my books in my backpack to save some of the cost…but was still over by about 10 kg which translates to having to pay $100.
So it was a huge blessing that nothing was said!
I was flying from London to Kaliningrad to
Tyumen.
When I got to
Kaliningrad, I asked where the transfer desk was to check-in to my flight to
Tyumen.
They said, “What flight?”
I found out they had cancelled my flight.
I talked with a few people and they suggested I buy a ticket to another city about 7 hours away from
Tyumen, and get a refund one I get back.
The only problem is, it just doesn’t work that way.
I would never have seen a refund.
So we worked it out where they exchanged my ticket and within an hour I was on the flight to
Omsk.
Once again they didn’t say anything about the extra weight!
Within two hours of arriving in
Omsk, I was on a train back to
Tyumen…and arrived safely that afternoon!
Amazing.
It was pretty hard coming into a place that knew so little about the fires. In
San Diego, we were all overwhelmed by it all.
At church, I asked for prayer for the situation with the fires, and not one person even knew about it!
There are some people who have heard about it and asked.
But they have no idea.
I feel like a frog who got thrown out of the pot back into the pond.
I try to tell all the other frogs about what it was like in the pot…but they just don’t get it!
It’s getting easier though!
Filed under: Uncategorized on November 2nd, 2007
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