Sarah – Whew. I’m sitting here on the plane waiting to taxi to the runway. The chaos of the day (and all of my last minute preparations & delegations) is behind me. What a mad dash – total Sarah-style, sprint to the finish! A huge thank you to everyone that chipped in and helped out – I’d still be strapped to my office desk without you.
Now there’s time to get excited! What a great adventure before us.~
Katy – Tired…so tired. Hungry, and a little numb. I closed on my 1st house yesterday & now we’re off to Turkey today. I’m tired of my bags already and we haven’t left Ft. Wayne yet (that’s a bad sign). Love to everyone! See you in June.
Erin – ‘Merhaba’ (Hello). Reading up on “conversation and essentials.” Why didn’t I bother learning a little of this language? I have been a bit busy. Felt slight panic and a new found freedom when I went to check my cell phone. Left it at my apartment intentionally. No cell phone responsibility! Matt, I love you. Dad, hope surgery went well. Mom, thanks for helping with all of the details. We are flying folks!
Dave – Team is blending very well as we share more time together with layovers and meals. Travel has gone very well and we look forward to meeting our host families after this last flight from London to Istanbul. We share “luggage watch” time while others take a power nap or walk. Thanks for all your prayers & travel wishes.
Vivian – We finally arrived in London Heathrow – sleepy, hungry. There were dreams of seeing the city. This soon faded after our 10 minute walk from the plane to the bus that would take us to the brand spanking new British Airways Terminal 5. The excitement hasn’t faded yet. Maybe things will sink in more, once we get to Turkey. Wish us luck by the time we get to “our” beds for the night, we will have been traveling for 24+ hours.
Katy – We’re on our last flight, I think we have just past Budapest. Glad to know that the flying is almost over. There is nothing like that first terrifying moment when you get off the plane in a non-English speaking country and you realize you lost is significant amount of control and comprehension of your surroundings. Fortunately, all we have to do is make it through customs and we’ll be greeted by our Rotarian hosts. [Then we’ll be at their mercy.] Our layover in London was uneventful and agonizing. We’d scored seats on the plusher ‘benches’ took turns taking fitful power naps, while one person stayed up to watch the bags. I’m sure that many of our fellow travelers were wondering when we were going to get up and move on. We finally started rousing and slowly getting up to go, as the vultures started to descend. Erin had to block a couple from snagging the couch that she was trying to hold for the young mother and her two kids who were talking to Dave. Off to a great Asian meal (carbo-loading): yummy noodles, spicy soup, and fresh juice. We were all grumbling about having to pay on our credits and incur the international up-charge until we realized that Dave had figured out that they’d take US dollars, at which point there was a flurry as we busted out our 20’s and put away our plastic. Several restroom and Starbucks breaks later, we were standing in line to board the flight to Istanbul. The flight is not very full, for which we are all extremely grateful. We’ve all filled out our health forms indicating that none of us are suffering from Swine Flu, and are pouring over our Lonely Planets. The cute Turkish kids keep running up and down the aisle. Just a little time left…
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