Hong Kong 2010 (Flight Home)

Hey Everyone!!!

I am writing this blog from home. I am trying to stay awake right now to get my body re-adjusted to this time zone. It's a struggle. I would like to sleep right now, but I know that it would be more beneficial for me to stay awake and go to bed early. So, I will do that!

Yesterday was our trip home. The trip home is always the longest day of your life. When I went to the airport, it was August 1st in Hong Kong and July 31st in Tennessee. When I got back to Tennessee, it was the night of August 1st and the morning of August 2nd in Hong Kong (doesn't that blow your mind?!?). Basically I pulled an all-nighter of travel. Let me tell you about my adventure with the planes.

First, Lacey and I went to the airport. All of our team was at CBIBC giving the wrap-up of our VBS week with a presentation. We got to the airport (with plenty of time to get checked in and go through security) and we came to a VERY long line. But, it was all right. We should be able to get through the line and security before the gate closed at 9:55am. We finally got to the counter at 9:15. It was cutting it short, but we could still make it. We got up there and the guy said, "There's a problem. You didn't reserve your seats." We both looked at each other like, "What is this guy talking about?" We did not have to reserve seats for this flight, the ticket was already paid for, and we were confirmed to be on there. As a matter of fact, they were supposed to assign us seats when we got to the counter. So the man told us to stand to the side and he would get to us in 10 minutes. Twenty minutes went by, and he didn't even look at us. I went to ask him a question, and he refused to talk to me. It was the same with the others. There was nothing we could do but wait. I looked at my watch and it was 5-10 minutes until our gate closed and we still didn't get through security or immigration. Then it was 9:55. We knew there was no way we could get on the flight. Lacey was talking to her dad about other options and I was thinking of who I could contact. I couldn't contact any of my team members and I didn't have anyone's phone number for the missions office at BBC. I ended up calling two ministers from BBC (who are Godly and forgiving men...sorry if I called you guys late, but I appreciate your help!) Right when Lacey was on the phone with one of them and was texted information about who to contact, a miracle happened. At 10:05am, we were called up to the counter. We thought that they were re-booking us. That was fine, as long as we got home. It turned out they got us seats for this plane. But the plane was going to TAKE OFF in 10 minutes. One of the crew members said, "Follow me." We went through the security and immigration that the crew members go through. We got to our gate and they were waiting for us. We gave them our ticket, ran to our seats, and the plane took off a couple minutes later. We looked at each other and were like, "That was unbelievable."

There's not much to say about the 15 hour flight, so I will go on to our next adventure. These words are like curse words in the aviation industry...Newark Airport. We already had a 3-4 hour layover and when we got there, they delayed it for two more hours! We were there from 2pm-8pm. I met a guy there who had been there since 6:30 in the morning trying to get a flight to Nashville! Can you believe that? He was also getting deployed to Afghanistan this week. He made it with us, but my goodness. Anyway, the fun thing that happened was our gate changed twice. The first change was okay. We were at least in the right terminal. Then as I was talking about it this man came up to me and said, "Are you going to Nashville? They changed the gate to terminal C." I went and double-checked and then an announcement came on. We had to take a shuttle to terminal C and then wait for an hour or more. We finally TOOK OFF at 9:00pm and got home around 10ish? I was tired, I really can't remember.

That was our day of flight. Once again, once of the longest days of my life. I will probably blog again to wrap up everything, but I wanted to share what happened yesterday.

I hope that everyone is doing well. Have a great rest of the day!

Scott