A trip most diverting

We have landed safely at my mother's house after 2 days of full, frantic travel. Remember me saying in an earlier blog that I was packing way more toys and books than seemed wise? So there we are at the check-in counter in Entebbe with 4 big trolleys full of 18 pieces of baggage to check. Imagine the Beverly Hillbillies on a jet plane! We heaved a huge sigh of relief as the wonderful folks at BA began tagging them. Usually, they get checked all the way through to Charlotte (with a brief re-posession in Chicago for our point of entry customs check) What a relief not to have to lug them around, but just trust them over and be on our way with a few small carry-ons and a double stroller. Alas, this was not to be. "Heathrow is experiencing serious problems with all checked luggage. Their conveyor belt for terminal four has broken and your bags must be collected in London and re-checked there." GASP! Our flight was to arrive in the early afternoon into London and we had made plans to stay with some WHM missionaries in the London area. Our plan had been to take the tube (subway) to a stop near their homes, sleep and arrive at the airport the next morning in plenty of time for our late morning departure for Chicago. Taking the tube with our carry-ons and four small children seemed a bit daunting but do-able. BUT trying to manage the tube with 18 pieces of luggage (9 of which were foot locker trunks) seemed absolutely impossible. The thought of spending the night at the airport surrounded by said children and luggage was a completely numbing thought. As I stared blankly at the woman behind the check-in counter, she asked "Would you like to re-book for a date when the luggage can be checked straight through?" AHHHH! So with a big gulp and a desperate prayer to the Lord to please, please handle all of this somehow, our bags got checked for London and we boarded the plane. Nate, before this moment had been singing and dancing around about riding on an AIRPLANE was nearly beside himself with excitement. That is until we actually took off. "WE GONNA CRASH! WE GO UPSIE-DOWN! WE LAND IN THE WATER! I SCARED! WE GONNA DIE!" We, as well as our fellow travelors just stared at him in amazement as I wrapped my arms around him and assured him we most definitely were NOT going to crash, nor go upsie-down but would stay rightsie-up for the entire time. Of course, any of you who know me are aware of my extreme plane phobias and my sincere belief that every time we take-off or land we actually will crash or the plane will break in half or go up in flames. Sigh. I guess it is just in the genes. We arrived 9 hours later in London, collected all of our bags. This time Kev managed to pile them onto only three big trollies and off we went in search of someone, anyone who could help us. It turns out that there are some very nice people who work for BA in London. We happened across 2 of them who were in charge of lost luggage. They graciously agreed to hold all of our bags for us, in a secure area at no charge. Wahoo! We hopped on the tube, found the right stops and in no time were sitting around a table eating tacos and all manner of good food with wonderful fellow missionaries. What a wonderful evening! The next morning they dropped us off at the tube station in plenty of time to get to the airport early. We thought 3 hours would be generous. We were wrong. It took the entire 3 hours, to get checked back in and get to the gate in time to board the plane. And that was with automated check-in AND a BA representative walking us to the very front of the long line!
There was a moment of panic when we thought we wouldn't make the flight, but then helpfully, the plane was delayed by 30 minutes and we got there in time. Then the plane was delayed another 30 minutes and then another and then another. At this point in the trip we began to wonder if we were going to make our next connection. Originally we had 2 and 1/2 hours. Now that was fast shrinking to 1 hour. Was that going to be enough time to collect our bags, get through customs and then hand them over to go back onto the next plane? Perhaps. As I sat on the plane nestled between Nate and Savannah trying to not envision worse case scenrios by watching various videos I noticed that the stewardess was getting very upset with the guy seated in the seat in front of Joe. As I watched he began making threatening gestures towards her (she in turn was calm but growing alarmed and instructing him to calm down or she would inform the captain). He turned towards Joe and Kevin and began glaring. Uh-oh. What was going on? Evidently, Joe had been touching his tv screen to select his movies with more force and more frequently than this guy thought was okay. To my horror, I realized this guy was really angry with my small son. The best move, we thought, would be for Joe and Kev to change seats. Of course, that's when it all became too much for Joe and he totally melted down. He had been waiting for a window seat and was so happy to finally get one on the second flight. Jet lag, little food, disapointment and an angry face glaring at him became too much and he began throwing a massive temper tantrum. At which point the guy turned to the stewardess and said, "See his own father can't control him." I saw red. After all the emotion of the last 2 months, I was ready to leap over the seat and pound this guy. Not very "turn the other cheek" I am aware. Instead I stood up, leaned over towards Joe and glared right back. This seemd to surprise the guy, that I would dare to challenge him. Kev at this point is wondering if we are going to end up arrested or he's going to have to get in a fist fight on a transatlantic flight to protect me. Finally, after much longer than was wise for either of us, he looked away but refused to change seats. We were on a nearly empty flight so there were seats empty in almost every row, including the 2 right next to him. He maintained that Joe had to switch. Joe was still sobbing with his face pressed to the window and pleading not to move. I scooted Nate into the seat with Savannah and called Joe back to my row and the now empty window seat. The rest of the flight was uneventful if a bit crowded, but both the stewardess and I (and Kev) were pretty shaken up and frazzled. Several stewards were stragically located as we departed the plane to make sure the guy didn't do anything threatening, and he was met by the police after he went through customs.
We were too late to make our connecting flight on American Airlines so BA re-booked us on a later flight. Great. Four of our bags didn't make it on the plane from Heathrow, and YIKES, as our gate-checked stroller came down the shute we noticed that the right front wheel had been completely snapped off. Could it still be used? All four kids were exhausted at this point and the twins were falling asleep. So we stuck them in the stroller, only to have it lean dangerously to the side. Pushing it was frustrating to say the least. After a good 45 minutes we finally collected the remaining pieces of our luggage and went through customs with no problem. Feeling thankful that BA had re-booked us (since our original flight had left five minutes before we cleared customs) we went straight to the AA check-in counter. That's when we discovered that BA had re-booked us with US Air and their check-in counter was not just beside the door like AA was. In fact, it was not even in the same terminal! We somehow needed to get the kids (with no stroller) and 14 heavy bags on a train (no trollies allowed) to get to terminal 2, check-in and get to the gate. All in one hour. Kev went back to talk to BA and plead for help. They refused and said there was nothing they could do. They did suggest that perhaps we could "shuttle" leaving the older kids at terminal 2, the twins and me at terminal 4 and Kev taking as many bags as he could on the train until they were all transferred. WHAT?! With precious minutes ticking I again went totally numb and began just staring at the wall. Kev nudged me forward, shaking his head and said, "We've got to at least try. Come on." I felt a personal temper tantrum coming on. This whole situation was NOT OKAY. Leaving Kev with three of the kids and holding Savannah on my hip I stormed back into the secure area and marched up to the BA counter. In a loud, emotional voice I detailed to the four women standing there just what BA was expecting us to do, how it was impossible given the terminal change, no trolly, and no stroller issues. And how ultimately this was BA's fault and problem, not mine. Then I basically described how long we had been flying, where we had come from and how I was right now, right in front of them, going to have a complete, loud and SPECTACULAR breakdown if they didn't do something fast. It was more effective than I thought, because within seconds they had found a way to tag our bags from terminal four and send them on to terminal 2. We boarded the train with only our kids and carry-ons, but let me tell you I was now definitely "vergy". Then, when we got to the check-in counter with US Air we were told that while BA had made our reservations they had not actually bought our tickets yet and we would need to get back on the train and go back to terminal four to speak with a BA representative and resolve the problem. Kev stayed several feet back with the kids. I'm not even sure at this point what I said to the guy, but after pointing out that he, in fact, had a telephone that he pressumably knew how to use, he could just make a simple phone call and resolve the matter. Which, to his credit, he did. 15 minutes later we had boarding passes, the gate had been called to say we were rushing to make the flight (we only had 10 minutes to departure). Off we went running to security. With so many little ones we got waved to the front. As our passports were being checked and a small hope was growing that we might make the flight after all, we were told that Kev and I had been randomly selected for the in-depth security screening and should procede with our family and all of our bags to the special glass room. You have got to be kidding! Shaking our heads we trudged defeatedly over to the appointed room. Everyone got full body checks, all of our bags were opened examined and swabbed. Our shoes were removed and analyzed, much to Savannah's horror and loud cries of protest. We were cleared and off running again with one minute to spare. I have to say, running with one 3 year old on my hip and holding the hand of another one while trying to urge Joe and Louisa to keep up was surreal. We arrived at the gate to watch the airplane pulling away. The gal behind the counter looked at us and said, "Oh no! Are you the family of 6?" (What gave it away?) She said, "We can't call this plane back, but there is another plane leaving for Charlotte right now at gate F8 (about 200 yards away) if you run you might make it." Feeling a bit like double over-time in a grueling basketball match, we took off again. To keep our sense of humor, we started chanting Dori's mantra from Finding Nemo... "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..." We got to F8 and the very helpful woman behind the counter got us checked in, in about 10 seconds and told us to run that they would hold the door, not to worry about boarding passes. With a sigh of relief we got on the plane. That's when we looked up and realized that this was a regional commuter plane- 2 seats on either side of the aisle. Maybe forty people total. I'm thinking definitely a plane that could go "upsie-down." As we bustled to the 6 empty seats at the very back of the plane, all of the fellow passengers gave us sympathetic looks or encouraging smiles. Very wonderful. Nate was fascinated by the big hoses de-icing the wings, everybody else fell right asleep. As we took off, the pilot announced "Due to heavy turbulance for the entire flight the seat belt sign will stay on and there will be no bevarge or snack service. It will be dangerous to move up and down the aisles even for the stewardesses." Great. I closed my eyes and was so exhausted that we all slept feeling a bit like we were back on the road to Bundibugyo with all of its bumps and potholes. We arrived in Charlotte and collapsed into the waiting arms of my family. 6 more bags didn't make the Charlotte connection. The ones that did (we were amazed that ANY made it) had come on the US Air plane we missed. So by the time I had filed the various forms for 10 pieces of lost luggage and a damage report for the stroller we got to my mom's house at midnight. Which unfortunately felt like morning to the kids. The wonders of jet lag.