30 hours of travel

barcelona airport At 3:30pm Wednesday I hopped in the car with my housemate Rachel, bound for RDU airport, fresh, excited and eager to kick off the trip. Arriving at the terminal, the automatic check-in did not have my information. A minor hiccup having something to do with United and US Air not communicating. So I boarded the plane and we were then informed that due to bad weather in Philadelphia, my connection to London, we had to wait to take off. I was supposed to take off at 6pm, and we didn't leave the ground until 7pm. The flight went ok although we went out of the way to avoid more weather. As we landed around 8:00pm , all of us stared out the window at a line of about 30 or more planes lined up to take off. The captain then informed us that because of a wind change all the planes were trying to get to the other side of the airport to take off, and it was a total disaster of a traffic jam. We sat on the plane, moving inches at a time, for over 2 hours until we finally reached the gate. By the time I got off the plane around 10pm my connecting flight to London had long left the gate(and was probably still sitting on the runway in the traffic jam). Because the delay was due to weather, I was informed that they would not provide lodging. I opted for a flight through Barcelona that night, which put me into into Barcelona at 2pm (local time). My flight was set to leave on British Airways to London at 6:30pm, but guess what? Delayed. So I hung out in the Barcelona Airport all day, not having enough time to go into town and enjoy a coffee at a cafe and I didn't leave until after 8pm. At this point I was getting worried that I wouldn't be able to catch any trains to L'abri since I would be getting in late. And I was also beginning to wonder if my checked bag would ever catch up with me. I got into Heathrow around 10pm, caught the last bus to the train station at Woking where I caught to last train that put me into Liss at 1pm. Rebecca and a l'abri mate Fiona met me at the train and we then walked the 2 miles to the Manor House in the dark. I was so glad to just finally "be" somewhere, and not waiting at an airport. (I'll let Rebecca fill in our time at English L'abri). After sleeping a few hours I woke on Friday to a beautiful day! I made some calls to US Air about my bag and they directed me to British Airways, whose number would not work. I was beginning to get worried about my bag, because we were leaving for Ireland today (saturday). So we left L'abri and headed to Gatwick airport to sort it out. I talked to a bunch of people, nobody seemed to know anything. I was about to leave and try again on Saturday (today), but the angel at the help desk, Mary, asked me, "Are you sure you've been helped enough?" I told her I didn't know what else to do but asked her for a different number for British Airways. She connected me to their office in the Airport where I got a new number to call, and I happened to ask her to check my lost baggage report. She said, "I've got your bag". I shouted and told her I'd be right there! So after much worry I had my bag and headed into London to meet a friend I know through the L'abri, Laura. I am at her place now with Rebecca and we're making plans to get to the airport and head off to Ireland! We're supposed to stay with a random Presbyterian youth leader I emailed after not finding anywhere to stay in Dublin due to the U2 concert this weekend. So stay tuned for that adventure and tales of driving on the wrong side of the road.