Late: London and Luggage

Jubilee? How about Jubi-not!

We began our journey with a near two-hour check in at the airport in Indy... causing us to arrive at the gate for the final boarding call.

Next. Once we arrived in London, we ate at a local pub called Sawyer's Arms. We enjoyed some traditional cuisine, such as fish, chips, and mushy peas (well, just brave Laura).  We then ventured to find our tour bus stop only to find that the tour buses were not running due to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee!

Alternate plan? We decided to walk to Buckingham Palace... upon arriving at the Palace, we found a sign: Buckingham Palace closed to public.  Also closed were several roads that provided the most direct paths to other London sites.

How about we go see the flotilla on the River Thames?! What, the Queen's gonna be there? Sweet! And we can see Big Ben and Westminster while we're there! After weaving through the millions of people there, due to the Jubilee/Jubi-not, we came to a road block.  "You shall not pass!"  So we watched people on the bridge, a mere 20 yards away, as they waved and cheered for the Queen who was floating by on her ship.

Finally, we were able to capture some of London's beauty when we saw Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.  The bells of the abbey were ringing in celebration of the Queen.  It was about this time that the rain began at a slight drizzle.

It was time for us to begin heading back to Paddington Train Station and from there to Heathrow Airport.  The plan was to catch a city bus so we would not have to walk.  A few minutes into our walk, we realized we only had 11 out of 12 people with us.  After some calm, cool thinking by both the lost and the seekers, our member was returned to us approximately 20 minutes later.  During that anxious time, the rain picked up.

Grateful to have our team back together, we waded through the streets of London to several bus stops.  We waited for the mythical bus 463, but it never arrived.  So Carma energentically attempted to hail a cab but to no avail.

Our goal was to be at Paddington at 5:30, but instead that was the time we decided to walk the rest of the way... which ended up taking about an hour (roughly 3 miles).  The rain had yet to desist as we slogged through the city... what troopers!

Now freezing and dripping, we rode the train back to the airport where we had to pick up some carry-ons we checked.  Some, however, had their carry-on items with them in London... and they were now sopping wet.  This caused some security personnel to question the 3 oz. liquids rule.  Shockingly, the machine didn't like our tickets, so we had to get all new boarding passes.

After getting through security, changing into our dryish clothes, and reaching our gate, we had about 15 minutes before the plane began boarding.  We then boarded the plane for our second 8 hour flight.

Remember when it took 2 hours for us to check in back in Indy?  Well, that's because we had 37 bags of luggage and 6 boxes of books.  However, only 6 of those made it to Uganda.  Denise and Shelby were the lucky two, and the rest of us began the search for our luggage... no one is quite sure where they are or when they will get here.  Supposedly, Sue's bags are still in Chicago...

Throughout all this, we have grown closer together as a team.  We have maintained positive attitudes, and we learned that how we choose to react to situations is important.  We trust that our bags will arrive soon.  In the meantime, Denise's wardrobe is located on the pool table for all to enjoy.  We are all proud of each other and how we responded in these situations... it's been a crazy couple of days.

When we landed in Uganda, it was truly breathtaking, and funny enough, raining.  But it was a cleansing rain that decreased the humidity and cooled the air.  We enjoyed a day of rest and orientation in the Stevenson's resort, I mean house.  The whole Stevenson family is home (4 kids and 2 grandkids) for their youngest son's graduation.  It's been four years since the entire family was together here, and they've been very gracious to share this time and space with us.

Keep us and our bags in your prayers.  We begin our workshops and visits tomorrow.

From seven hours into the future,
Laura and Alex
Your Blogging Correspondents of the 2012 Uganda PP Team