Three wild and crazy guys, Bruce, George and I gather at the airport for departure. Already there is drama. The scheduled departure is 10:50 am. But the flight is delayed 1.5 hours for mechanical reasons. This means we will miss all scheduled connections to Kiev.
Bruce has some amazing premium status with American Airlines that has come from many years of worldwide travel for business, missions and holiday. We will exploit that status shamelessly. We start by waiting out the delay in American’s Admiral’s Club. Mission life is tough.
George is “only” a Platinum AA member. Me – I’m nothing. I had forgotten I even had a frequent flyer account. I will stay close to these two and carry their bags if I have to.
Through Bruce’s premium frequent flyer status, American rebooked us, buying tickets on Lufthansa. Luggage will have to be transferred between two non-code sharing airlines through Dallas, London, Frankfurt and Kiev. Amazingly, it ends up working. We will get to Kiev on Monday rather than Sunday. Already the adventure begins.
On board, I look out my window and happen to see my bags being loaded on. Good to know.
We have a two hour layover in Dallas and Bruce gets us into the Admirals Club. Then Bruce puts me in Business Class to London. This is a treat that will spoil me for all future travel. And it might be a contrast from the camping with the kids that will come in a few days.
In Dallas, sitting on the tarmac, it’s still 20 July, but it’s already 21 July at our London and Kiev destinations. The day has been marked with the start of some really great fellowship with the wild and crazy Ukrain-destined guys.
The day has been so dominated with the practicalities of travel that I feel the need to pull back from these temporal circumstances and remember the Kingdom purposes of this trip. I look forward to seeing how this will unfold. But already we are building relationships among the three of us that will no doubt serve eternal purpose and will be foundational for more.
And if it has to be in Admiral’s Clubs and Business Class then so be it.
This gave me much laughter as I read it. Anxious to hear more. Thanks for sharing this.