Travel: Always an Adventure

If life is a collection of stories, then I just added about a chapter to the travel section this past weekend. It all started with my decision to fly out of Tri-Cities to Dallas for an amazing medical missions seminar (more to come on that in a later post).
I should have known to expect something when the guy at the check-in desk told me to make sure and use the restroom before I got on the plane because the plane didn't have one. So I thought to myself, "No big deal. This must just be a small jet or something." When it came time to board, I walked out on the tarmac with my bag, and my eyes beheld not a jet but a small 20 seat prop plane. I don't know about your flight experiences, but mine have always been ones of flying large jets that seem more like riding in a car with frequent ear-popping rather than barnstormers doing loopty-loops in the sky. We boarded the plane and began our journey. I was glad that I hadn't eaten right before boarding. The next thirty minutes or so were spent swaying back and forth and up and down as our little flying vessel tackled the large clouds and "friendly skies" of East Tennessee. I also had great plans of studying on the plane that were quickly discarded once I realized that my notebook would cover my lap and the lap of the guy sitting next to me and that the roar of the engines masked any of my own thoughts. Needless to say, it was an interesting hour and a half followed by a much smoother flight to Dallas.
As if that weren't enough excitement for the weekend, this morning I woke up at 8:20am in Frisco, TX (about 45 minutes from DFW airport) and my plane was due to leave at 9:36am. I had set my alarm the night before but apparently never turned it on. I woke up and looked at the time, doing a double take and hoping that my eyes were still clouded with sleep and read the wrong time. Nope. "Holly!!" I yelled. "We've got to go NOW" Bless her heart, my friend got up immediately, still in her PJs, and drove me to the airport. The whole way I was praying childishly "Dear God please delay the flight or something. Just let me catch my flight." Bending a few traffic laws and taking advantage of the lack of traffic, we made it there by 9am. I had called my dad the night before to find out the gate and terminal of my departure. In case you're not aware, Dallas has 3 terminals, and going to the wrong terminal doesn't mean an extra walk but a shuttle ride to another building. Holly dropped me off at A15 where my flight was supposed to depart. I used the self-check-in and was about to get in the security line when I glanced at the screen and saw the actual gate of my departure: C7. It was 9:06am and my flight was boarding. My heart sank. I stopped an AA agent and asked them how in the world I could make my flight. They gave me a doubtful look and told me I'd have to wait outside for a shuttle to take me to the C terminal. I ran outside, and luckily there "just happened" to be a shuttle. Since I was the only one on board, he dropped me off in front of C7. 9:11am. I just might make it. I went inside and beheld a line of people at the security check point as long as a line of UT fans waiting to get into Neyland stadium a few minutes before kick-off. I thought to myself, "I'm never going to make it." In desperation, I approached one of the security people and asked her if there was any way I could cut line. With no sympathy, she firmly told me "No." I went to the back of the line. I had to at least try. I told the people in the back of the line my situation and they encouraged me to try to ask some kind soul in the line to let me through. To make a long story shorter, let's just say there were about 20-something kind souls that let me to the front of the line. I made it through security and made it to my gate just as they were calling the last group to board.
You could call it luck, but I call it providence. Everything went wrong but everything went right at the same time. As I learned many times this weekend, our God is good all the time and He looks after us, even when we do stupid things like oversleeping, if we will only put our trust in him.
PS: After all this, somehow my wallet managed to run away from me at the gate I boarded at in Nashville or perhaps on the plane. If you see it, please let me know and pray that it comes home.
Also, fly AA. They're awesome and except for the mean lady at the security gate who was determined for me to miss my flight, they were all very friendly and helpful.