Travel Overseas 2010 (Brindisi, Italy)

The kids and I are back in Brindisi after a trip that didn’t exactly turned out as planned.  I know that many people have traveling horror stories, so I am in no way trying to make mine the hardest because I know it wasn’t, but it was a challenge to me in many ways.  But as I mentioned in an earlier post, it is often the hard things that are the best things in life and teach us the most.

Our schedule was to be a 6:25pm EST flight from Philadelphia that would get us to Rome in about 8.5 hours.  Once in Rome, we had a 4.5 hour layover and then an 1.5 flight from Rome to Brindisi at 1:25pm (Italian time, which is 6 hours ahead of EST).  We got to the airport and all checked in around 4:30pm.  The kids were very excited about seeing Joe again (as was I, but earlier in the week I had been praying that I would not hold onto it too tightly in case traveling wasn’t as smooth as I had hoped).  We got to get on the flight first and get settled since I was traveling alone with 3 children 5 years and under.  They had some extra seats, so Naomi didn’t have to sit on my lap.  We had a middle aisle in economy class with four seats together, which is always a blessing!  Having a seat for Naomi and all the seats together without having to switch with others doesn’t always happen.  So the kids got settled in and we waited while everyone else got on.

Our take-off time came and went and an announcement came over the loud speaker that they were re-starting the computers because the engine was not starting up due to something not being set right.  They said this process would take 30 minutes.  I had no complaints about that because I would much rather sit and wait than have something wrong with the plane.  After 30 minutes, they tried the engine again and it still wasn’t working, so they re-started the system again.  So an hour after original take-off time we rolled down the runway ready to go.  The pilot got the plane up to almost top speed when he slammed on the breaks.  I reached out both arms to cover all the children (thankfully Elijah and Noami were in their newly purchased CARES belts…which I love by the way!) and everyone stayed in place.  It was quite a jolt and made Abby comment that she was going to always have her seat belt on tight!

The captain then came on to say something was still not right with the plane and we were headed back to a gate but had to sit and wait until they could find a gate to pull us into.  After about another 30 minutes we got back to the gate and an announcement was made that anyone who wanted to get off and take the flight tomorrow was welcome to.  At this point a couple of considerations were running through my mind:

1. Was this plane safe?  Since the pilot has pulled up on the runway, I really didn’t think they were going to take a plane up in the air that wasn’t safe.  They would either fix this one or find us another.

2. What sort of flight would we get tomorrow?  It was sounding like the flight tomorrow would be an earlier flight with a layover in Frankfurt and you would have to leave your checked bags there until tomorrow.

3. How would the kids react to this?  There are a lot of emotions involved in traveling with kids and mine were geared up to see their dad.  We had already gone through all of our good-byes that day and to go back and do that again would be confusing and more emotional.

So at that point I decided it was best to just try and wait it out.  I knew that it could mean a long wait or a long wait and then a canceled flight.  So for those who decided to stay (about half of the people) we were given the option of either staying on the plane or getting off and having until about 10pm in the airport terminal to walk around.  With 3 young children, the choice was easy for me!  I would take the 1.5 hours to let them run around in an almost empty airport.

We got off and had some time to get some energy out.  When 10pm rolled around, we were given another announcement that it was going to be another 30 minutes as maintenance worked on the airplane.  The 30 minutes passed and then we were told they were aiming for us to be back on the plane by 1am.  A new crew was brought aboard and the old crew left.  In this time, no passenger was allowed on or off the airplane though, so I only had the bag I had brought with me.  More people decided they did not want to wait this out and were leaving.  At this point, I felt like I was already this far in that to wait until 1am, I could still catch the 3pm or 5pm flight from Rome to Brindisi.

Well, as you can guess 1am rolled around and we still were not able to get on the plane.  Now we were given a 3am boarding time.  By this time Abby and Elijah had fallen asleep  on the benches so I figured I would keep waiting since they were asleep.  By around 3:30am we finally boarded back on the plane again (with the help of some other passengers carrying my sleeping children for me).  We got on the plane and at this point, I was hoping just to make the last flight out of Rome at 9:25pm.  I had asked the people at the US Airways desk to do what they could to switch that flight since the two flights were not linked up and I did not have a boarding pass.  They did their best to confirm me but told me it was still not guaranteed.  I didn’t want to be stuck in Rome overnight, so I figured the latest I wanted to be leaving Philadelphia was 5am EST.

I thought we were already to leave around 4am when they opened the door and looked like they were getting ready to re-start the computers once again.  At this point I broke down in tears.  My faith was weak and I was wondering how this was working out for my good (Romans 8:28).  I knew deep down that it was, but I wanted the good to be how I envisioned it!  So after trying to get some answers about what was going on, I decided I was getting off and taking a flight the next week.  The kids could not endure an 8 hour trip after having slept in an airport for the night. So I got some help to get me off the plane and texted Joe’s mom (who had barely slept the whole night with keeping in touch on what was going on) and said I was off the plane and getting my bags. An attendant then came back to tell me there was no way to get my bags because the plane was now definitely taking off. Lots of other US Airways workers were yelling that anybody who wanted to go had to get on RIGHT NOW! So my choice was to go home for a week without my bags or to get on the plane I had already waited almost 10 hours for. So people grabbed all my things and got the kids and I back on the plane. In the rush, I left my phone on the stroller, which they put back underneath the plane, so I wasn’t able to tell anyone what was going on. But we did take off that time. It was 11 hours (5:25am) after the originally schedule take-off, but we finally were underway.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. We arrived in Rome after an 8-hour flight. God was merciful to have my cell phone still in the stroller when we arrived as well. We then ran through the Rome airport to get to the Alitalia transfer desk and there were tickets there for us. We had a short 1.5 hour layover, then a 45 minute flight and we were in Brindisi. After getting our baggage, we exited to the main waiting area where we saw Joe’s smiling face waiting for us.

Looking back on the trip, I realize the time when I struggled the least was the 10 hours I waited in the Philadelphia airport. And the main reason I think this was the case was due to the television sets there that were covering the earthquake disaster in Haiti. As I sat there and watched the devastation others were dealing with, my problems seemed rather small in comparison. They were still frustrations, but in the grand scheme of things, they weren’t life changing. When I got on the plane, I did not take it upon myself to keep my perspective on a grand scheme and then the tears and self-pity started. Granted, I was also exhausted, but sin is still sin. Thankfully God reminded me of the index card I had packed in my bag with the three truths:

1. God is sovereign
2. God is wise.
3. God is good.

Perspective seems to be a re-occurring theme in my walk through life in terms of my happiness level. When my expectations are high for my life to be easy and carefree and then those expectations aren’t met, I often find myself in sin. But when I look at things like the Haiti situation and remember these words of Jesus:

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
Luke 13:1-5

I am reminded that no matter what I am going through, I am doing better than what I deserve. God did not promise me an easy life, but He did send His Son to die for me so that I have the promise of eternity in heaven! When you look at the big picture and all that could be going wrong in this life and the torment you could be experiencing for eternity, thankfulness, peace and joy is the only response!

Thanks so much for all who prayed for us on the trip!