Another title for this post may have been “DISASTROUS start,
with an Excellent ending.”
Our time in England, as previously mentioned, was
excellent. Although we were flying out
on Saturday morning, our friends in England had a family affair to attend and
left Friday night. My friend called a
cab company to come pick us up and take us to Heathrow airport the next
morning. We were quoted £95 for the
trip. We had no way to contact the
company, so just prayed they would arrive at 7 am the next morning.
We woke early Saturday morning to start our anti-malarials, then finish packing and get the kids ready. I
wasn’t feeling very good, but just attributed it to stress, lack of sleep, and
waking early. As the morning progressed,
I just started to feel worse. Very very
nauseous (a known side effect of the anti malarial).
After Marc finished loading the vehicles with our stuff
(think 12 pieces of luggage, 2 car seats, stroller and numerous carry ons), I
found out the company sent 2 cars. Not 1
van as requested. They expected £95/car. Which was outrageous. So after holding my ground and reminding them
it was their mistake, we settled on a fair price for the trip and were on our
way.
Heathrow airport is about an hour away from where we were
staying. As we drove I started to feel
worse and worse. At one point we
actually had to stop the car so I could jump out and attempt to throw up on the
side of the road. Not cool! By the time we go to the airport I was barely
able to hold on.
This is where it gets exciting. The guy who had our luggage quickly unpacked
his car and took off. So there are 12
pieces of luggage on the curbside. No
problem…we’ll just grab a porter. But of
course there was no porter within sight.
The kids are still in the other car staying warm. I am on the side of the curb with my head in
a paper bag. At this point I am wavering
between passing out and throwing up. The
cab driver was mostly patient, but he was eager to get going. Marc was still looking for a porter. And it was freezing outside.
Marc came back without a porter and the cab driver saying he
had to get going. I couldn’t lift myself
off the curb, let alone worry about all our luggage. Marc went to the security and asked them for
some assistance. THEY WERE AMAZING. They called a porter for us. As they came closer, one of the security guys
saw how sick I was looking and asked if I needed a medic. After some pause, I said YES.
So a lovely medic (Sally) rides up on her bike and offers to
assist me. Kids are buckled in their
stroller, porter has baggage, and the security have now gone to get me a
wheelchair. We get inside, where it was
so much warmer, and the medic does her check.
I can barely speak because I feel so sick. Any movement and I am sure I will pass out. Sally, my medic, can’t get a clear check on
my vitals because my blood pressure seemed so low. So she calls an ambulance to come.
Needless to say, it was starting to get very stressful. I felt horrible. We hadn’t checked in and were supposed to be
flying to Entebbe, Uganda in just a couple hours.
An almost 9 hour flight awaited us. At that
point we had to consider missing our flight and spending the night in the
hospital (and what in the world would we do with ALL that luggage??). I had an EKG done and Sally indicated I wasn’t
having a heart attack (good to know), but that my chart indicated something
that was not standard textbook.
Great! She recommends I get that
checked out. Umm….I’m moving to Africa
today.
The story takes a turn for the better at this point. Still dizzy, but I did not feel like I would
throw up. We decided to check in, and if
I needed once inside the terminal we could call the medic back. I stayed in the wheelchair as I could not stand up yet without feeling
like I would pass out. The wheelchair
turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
British Airways had us go through the Business Class check
in. It was not stressful at all as they
weighed each bag and tagged them. And
our amazing porter stayed with us through the whole ordeal! He was amazing. We needed someone to push the wheelchair as
Marc was busy pushing the kids. So BA provided
one. We went right through security (no
lines for us). Then was taken directly
to our gate for boarding. The guy
literally pushed me right up to the door of the plane. What started out as an extremely stressful
morning was starting to go smoother.
The 9 hour flight to Entebbe went well. The kids did amazing. We even got a small nap in. This next part of the trip was what I
anticipated as being the most stressful.
It was midnight when we got in line for Immigration. Kate started to melt down. That worked to our favor, as we were ushered
to the FRONT of the line. I guess at
midnight no one wants to hear a 3 year old screaming and crying.
We got our VISAs and headed to collect our luggage. Again I was feeling anxious about collecting all of
our bags and getting through Customs next.
Well the day ended amazingly as the Director of Pilgrim Africa had been
on our flight and met us at baggage claim.
He completely took care of us. We
collected all our bags. EVERY SINGLE
PIECE ARRIVED IN TACK! Then we walked
right past customs to friends waiting outside.
Not sure how we skipped Customs, but I wasn’t complaining.
So although our very long day started out terribly, we are
thankful for the grace of God as we see His provision in so many of the little
details throughout the day. Our day
ended so well and we were all thrilled to be in Uganda safe and sound.
