Speed Bumps and Touchdown - the journey of a thousand steps

Ok, I know everyone is dying to hear the epic tale of my flight delay in Paris, but first, I made it! Right now I am sitting in an apartment in Athens at 7 o'clock in the afternoon, just kind of marveling at it all. I made it. Safe and sound. And now I'm in Greece. Because apparently this is something that Mara does.
I may be living in a funny combination of giddy joy and jetlag. Don't judge.

My first flight went smoothly. In Minneapolis I was a little worried at first that I was running late to my long haul plane, but then I realized that I had gained an hour. Thank you time change.
Boarding went smoothly, and on the plane I made a new best friend, Tim, who is a French education major going to college in Fargo Minnesota. We chatted the entire flight, but I didn't swap names until the very end of the flight. We jumped straight into destinations, etc. and chatted on and off the whole way there about travel and the flight.  The flight itself was smooth and pretty nice. Each person had a screen in the back of the seat in front of them and delta offered a bunch of movies, tv, and music for free, so I watched a couple of TED talks and a movie, the Good Dinosaur. The one thing I didn't do much was sleep, because I was trapped in the center seat of the center aisle and it was neither roomy not comfortable. I managed less than two hours of sleep on the 8 hour flight before they turned the lights back on and started handing out breakfast.
Finally, we got to France.
I would have loved to get a look at France from the air, but between my distance from the nearest window and the clouds and fog that were everywhere I pretty much only got to experience the French airport. Oh well. Not the point of this trip. Our plane arrived almost on time, but it took forever for them to taxi to the terminal and let us off. On paper I had a one hour layover in Paris. By the time I was off the plane I had less than 40 minutes to takeoff and the clock was ticking.
Spoiler alert. I didn't make it.
I cut it close. I made it to security with more than 20 minutes to spare despite having to take an actual subway to get there, but as soon as I hit security everything ground to a screetching halt. The problem didn't seem to be the process. Like in Indianapolis, the actual shoes off, bags through the xray, please step through here part of things was incredibly short. I just had to stand in line 15 minutes to get to do that.  Then, on the other side of the metal detectors the line froze up once again. Security apparently ran every passport through their database, which seems reasonable enough to me, but they clearly did not have enough staff to do it effectively.  The lady in front of me kept trying to complain to personal that she was missing her flight, but one security lady finally just told her more or less, "We can't drag you to the front. Everyone in line in front of you is late and will miss flights." That made me feel a bit better as time slipped by. After finally getting through security, I managed to be only about 20 minutes late. Unfourtunately that was still 20 minutes too late.
Missed airplane. No fun, but I expected some bumps along the way, and mom and dad had prophetically wondered if an hour was long enough to get through customs, so I was not shocked, or panicked. I just wanted to problem solve, reschedule. Unfourtunately, about a hundred other people had the same idea. It I stood in line two hours before I got to talk to someone. After standing in the customer service line for a minute or two, I discovered that the long unmoving line over there, yes the painful looking one without any indication of label in was for flight rescheduling. So I got in line behi,d at least 50 people. Then, about an hour in a man came over and asked a whole section of our line to come with him. There were more service people elsewhere, so we followed like ducklings through the airport, our past the security checkpoint to another desk. Where I waited for another hour.
Thank goodness the actual rescheduling was simple. Next flight leaves Paris at 7pm. Your luggage will be on board. You now have 7 hours to get back through security for apparently no reason whatsoever, and twiddle your thumbs. On the plus side, security will take pretty much no time whatsover again, (I guess only international flight connections pose a significant threat to anyone), and you now have 7 hours to eat, rest, and relax between flights. But not sleep, because it turns out that you are kind of paranoid about getting your stuff stolen. Also there is Wi-Fi.
My verict: Paris was a mixed bag, and air France's customer service needs work.

The 7pm flight didn't actually takeoff until about 8, but finally around midnight, Athens time I woke up from my nap to the news that the plane was over Greece. Looking out the window, the sight took my breath away. All I could see were lights. Roads that looked like golden, glowing strings of pearls, mixed with the spidery glowing spiderwebs of towns and cities. The ocean was an utterly black shape, outlined with lights running along the coasts. I don't know how much of the magic was the look, and how much was the joy inherent in arriving in Greece at long last, but it was absolutely enchanting.
Touchdown, disembarkment, and baggage pickup all went smoothly enough, and Ken, the volunteer coordinator picked me up. As we left the airport, I couldn't help trying to look everwhere at once, despite the lark and the fact that I had only slept for 3 of the law 33 hours. I was tired, but excited. So glad to be done with one adventure and at the starting line of the next. Several more hours of sleep and one full day later, I still find myself marveling.
I made. Welcome to Greece!

Take-off!

It's official. My journey has begun.  I'm typing this on the airplane on the way to Minneapolis from Indy.  As the plane was taxiing into take-off position, all I could think about was the sensation of butterflies in my stomach. I starting thinking about this trip last December which means that I have been thinking about and preparing for this trip for so long that it has seemed almost imaginary. An event that would happen someday.  As the plane pulled into e air however, it finally felt 110% real. Someday, is today.
I am just going to admit it, there is a big part of me that is intimidated by this. I am flying in an airplane on my own for the first time, in order to go halfway around the world to live for an extended period of time in a country and a culture that I have never been to. It's kind of a scary prospect. But it's also incredibly amazing, because I GET to fly halfway around the world to live for an extended period of time in a country and a culture that I have never been to, a country and a culture that I'm going to get to discover one day at a time, all in order to show God's love to people who need it.
I love a good adventure, even if it is only a trip to the grocery store.  This is a bit farther than Walmart, but that just makes it all the bigger an adventure, and best of all, I'm not really alone. No matter how messy or complicated or dramatic my journey may be, I know that God will be walking with me every step of they way. Sending me off from every stop, and waiting to meet me in a thousand faces everywhere I go.
The plane has already taken off, and I'm ready for wherever it takes me. To Minneapolis, and beyond!

Note: this was typed on the plane from Indy and posted from the Paris airport, due to other travel drama that will be comming soon!

Plane Tickets!

Ok, so if you are on this blog then you probably already know, but I am going to Athens, Greece this summer for two months to work with a missions team helping Muslim refugees.  It's a big adventure, and I've set up this blog so that I can share the ups, downs, and crazy turns that God takes me on through this journey.

Speaking of journeys, after months of being asked when I leave for Greece, I finally have my plane tickets that tell me when this journey officially starts! I'm going to be flying out of the Indianapolis airport at 3:30pm on Sunday, May 29th.  I will have about an hour's layover each in Minneapolis and Paris, and then arrive in Athens at 2pm Monday, May 30th.  Almost 24 hours of travel time! I'm kind of looking forward to it though.  It's definitely going to be an adventure, and I feel like it will be an exhilarating start.
On my return trip I stop at the same places, leaving Athens at 6:30am (ugh) Tuesday, August 9th , and getting back to Indy at 5:30pm.

I'm only 10 days away from flying halfway around the world for two months.  Wow! Every time I talk about this trip, or someone else mentions it the word "excited" gets used, and I think that that is a pretty good label.  I've been thinking about and preparing for this trip for months, and now it is almost here.  It's going to be big, but it's also going to to be amazing and difficult and strange and wonderful in so many ways that I can't even imagine yet.  Whatever happens though, I know that I'm going to grow through it, and that is the most exciting thing of all!