Monday, July 22nd, 2019
1:00 AM- Everything but my day pack is ready to go. I traded in my big pack for a rolling suitcase. This is going to be the greatest travel day yet! I was contemplating staying up all night but I can’t do it. 2 hours of sleep is better than none, right?
2:00 AM- I got sidetracked while trying to download movies on Netflix and I’m still awake. Down to 1 hour of sleep.
3:23 AM- I woke up late! Throwing things in my day pack, changing, brushing my teeth, and dragging everything down 6 flights of stairs so I can be on time for the 3:45 meeting time.
4:00 AM- We’re all here. Time to board this 10-hour bus. Africa, here we come.
5:00 AM- This is the exact same bus we took from Cambodia to Thailand. It has lasers, disco balls, drop-down TVs, and surround sound but the MOST uncomfortable seats. I just want to sleep!
5:45 AM- I’ve just realized I left my dressy sandals at the hostel. Those were my only cute shoes…
6:30 AM- I’m going to see if I can try to sleep again…
8:30 AM- Did I sleep? I can’t tell..but we’ve stopped for our first bathroom/snack break. I learned months ago to never skip one of these…
8:50 AM- Back to sleep!
11:30 AM- I feel a little better but I’m still having to work to keep my eyes open.
12:00 PM- Time for our second stop. Joanna and I had a very strange check out encounter. Apparently, it’s a huge deal for someone to come into a gas station and spend $9.
12:15 PM- Lunch means gas station food. Grilled ham and cheese, pringles, and chocolate soy milk which made me think of my Daddy, that man loves chocolate milk. He drinks it with anything! Spaghetti, steak, hamburgers.. literally anything.
12:30 PM- I made the mistake of chugging half of my chocolate milk in excitement. I drank it so fast that I didn’t realize it didn’t taste right until half of it was gone. Ugh
1:30 PM- Megan has never heard of Radio, which means shes never seen the movie. We’re about to change that!
2:15 PM- Now I remember why it’s been so long since I’ve watched this movie…I cry through the whole thing!
2:45 PM- I’m bawling…Megan is laughing at me. She enjoyed the movie though!
3:30 PM- We’ve been told we’re going to arrive at the airport early…3 hours early.
4:00 PM- We made it the airport.
4:15 PM- We can’t check in until 7 so now we find a place to sit and hang out on the floor and out of the way.
4:30 PM- I need money out of the ATM and I have to exchange Baht for USD.
4:50 PM- We hear there is good coffee and pizza downstairs. You know what’s happening…
5:00 PM- We stopped at the coffee shop first. I ordered and when I went to pay I realized that I left my Charles Schwab debit card in the ATM! Katrina, bless her soul, takes off running across the airport to see if it’s still there. It’s not..now I have to call them.
5:10 PM- I got a green tea latte instead of coffee. I’m going to miss them so much that I bought instant packets to bring to Africa!
5:20 PM- They were right, this pizza is GOOD! We decided to get 1 slice now and 1 before we check in to hold us over.
5:45 PM- calling Charles Schwab international on really crappy wi-fi. They’re always so nice and friendly…I was almost done giving all my information and the call got dropped.
5:55 PM- Let’s try again. I get a guy in Denver, I’m talking super fast to tell him what I need before the call is dropped again. I explain to him that I need my card canceled and a new one sent out to my parents address so they can bring it to me when they come to Africa next month. He asks me what I’m doing, I tell him, and he says he just got back from a mission trip to Mexico! I told him this would be my 3rd debit card from them this year, I’ve now had to get a new card in all 3 continents.
6:05 PM- That was my adulting for the day, all is well.
6:30 PM- We’re sitting and waiting. The world race has made us very patient travelers.
6:35 PM- Codi and Alyssa have agreed to play UNO with me!
6:40 PM- We’ve been informed that our flight hasn’t been posted yet so we are to continue sitting and waiting until further notice.
7:00 PM- More UNO. I will never play this any other way than how the Vietnamese taught us to play. Its hilarious and so much fun!
7:40 PM- Katrina has guilt-tripped me into getting more pizza with her. Kathryn and Chelsea joined us.
8:00 PM- We decided to sit at the restaurant to eat and chat.
8:15 PM- Still no news on when to check-in.
8:20 PM- We’re on our way back from the pizza place and we realized hundreds of people are gathered with their phones out, waiting for someone to arrive. Instead of sitting and waiting, we decided to join these excited people to see who was going to show up.
8:30 PM- Emalea and I have used our detective skills to figure out what everyone was waiting on a Korean boy band named Sengro to show up.
8:40 PM- Still no sign of them.
8:45 PM- We finally got the news that we can check-in at 10 and meet up at 9:30!
9:10 PM- Some of us have decided to head back to our group instead of waiting to see this band show up. I looked at Kathryn as we started walking away and said, “As soon as we leave, they’re going to show up.”
9:11 PM- Sure enough, we walked about 40 feet and the airport went nuts. Hundreds of people were screaming and people were running past us left and right. I left my phone with Emalea when we left so at least she got a video of it!
10:00 PM- Finally, we can check-in!
10:35 PM- Security just took my peanut butter and a brand new tube of toothpaste. This is a tragedy.
10:45 PM- I’m basically a pro at going through customs at this point.
11:15 PM- We made it to our gate. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough time to nap. We board at 12:30.
11:25 PM- Calling my family 1 more time since I don’t know when I’ll have wi-fi again.
Tuesday, July 23rd
12:30 AM- Our tickets have been scanned and were waiting to board. They seem to be a bit behind schedule.
12:40 AM- Something is wrong. My stomach doesn’t feel right. I tell Carter not to let the plane leave me and take off running to the bathroom.
12:45 AM- This cannot be happening right now. Something is definitely wrong with my insides and I’m about to board an 8-hour flight.
12:47 AM- Because we no longer have boundaries, I share some unfortunate details with a few of my squadmates about what’s going on with me and start putting oils on.
1:30 AM- We are on the plane and waiting for take-off. I took a sleep aid from Katrina and hopes that I would be able to get some sleep.
1:55 AM- We’re taking off.
2:05 AM- I’ve decided to watch Aquaman whole waiting for my sleep aid to kick in.
2:25 AM- I need a bathroom. I have to stop Alyssa’s movie and wake Bethany up to get out. This seating arrangement isn’t going to work.
2:28 AM- I made it. I’m trying to figure out what I’ve eaten that did this to me. It’s terrible. Hot lava is coursing through my insides.
2:40 AM- I made it back to our row. I asked Bethany to switch seats with me so I can get up quickly and I’ve located 6 bathrooms onboard for quick access.
2:43 AM- The TV in the back of my new seat doesn’t work. Great.
2:50 AM- My sleep aid is kicking in but I’m panicking because I don’t want to poop my pants in a deep sleep. This may seem like a joke but since traveling the world I’ve witnessed multiple grown adults poop their pants. So naturally, I’m worried.
3:00 AM- I have to go back to the bathroom but the front two are occupied. One of the middle ones are free, gotta make a run for it!
3:10 AM- I wonder if I just hang out in a bathroom if a flight attendant would eventually come to unlock it and make me leave? I’d really like to stay here…
3:12 AM- If the person who keeps trying to open the door thinks that’s going to make me move faster, they are severely mistaken.
3:15 AM- The man looked very unhappy, maybe he has diarrhea too?
3:25 AM- Maybe some ginger ale would settle my stomach.
3:30 AM- The flight attendant had to hunt for it, but I got a can of ginger ale. I asked if she had any medicine for nausea and she offered me pain killers. Oh, the Joy’s of international flights.
3:35 AM- Trying to take small sips so I don’t startle my stomach.
3:40 AM- Anyone who doesn’t use essential oils definitely thinks I’m crazy. I’m basically snorting peppermint at this point.
3:42 AM- I’ve grabbed the vomit bag from the back of my seat and I’ve scoped out an empty bathroom. It’s about to go from bad to worse…
3:43 AM- The people on this plane definitely know I have diarrhea at this point. Thankfully, I’m too sick to care.
3:45 AM- So thankful I grabbed the vomit bag! Something is alive inside of me and it’s trying to come out of both ends…
3:46 AM- Wow, these vomit bags are very high quality..no leaks at all..so much for my ginger ale..the first row probably heard me puking.
4:00 AM- Am I allowed to sit in the flight attendants seat next to the bathrooms? My life would be so much easier…
4:05 AM- I am literally using my fingers to hold my eyes open at this point. I have to stand up.
4:07 AM- I’m just going to sit in the flight attendants seat for a minute.
4:20 AM- They see me, but they don’t seem to mind that I’m here. They definitely know I’m suffering.
4:22 AM- Back to the bathroom…
4:30 AM- There can’t be anything left in me…
4:45 AM- Finally going to try to sleep for a bit
6:15 AM- Wow, I need more sleep. The plane is landing soon and I still feel like crap.
7:00 AM- We’ve landed in Ethiopia. We changed time zones and lost 5 hours so this whole blog is in Thai time.
7:15 AM- I had to find another bathroom.
7:30 AM- I need water, I’m so dehydrated but I’m scared to put anything in my system. We still have 2 more planes to go!
8:00 AM- We made it to our gate and we have 2 hours which means sleep!
10:25 AM- We’ve boarded the plane. I’m so tired I can barely function. This has definitely been the worst travel day of the year.
At this point, I stopped taking notes. I was still battling sickness but the need to live in a bathroom was gone. I slept an hour, watched a movie, read my bible, and refused to eat or drink anything for over 24 hours.
We landed to refuel and took off an hour later to get to Botswana. Once we got there, we were picked up by a pastor and he took us to stay the night at his beautiful home. I lasted 30 minutes before falling into bed at 5:30 pm and sleeping for 10 1/2 hours in a BED!
We woke up at 4 the next morning for our 10-hour bus ride to Zimbabwe which was incredibly nice..nicer than Asia! That’s when I was blessed with an omelet for breakfast for my first meal in over 24 hours!
We made it to Zimbabwe and have settled in with our awesome host. Some of you may be wondering why I’m in Zimbabwe and not Botswana which is where we were originally supposed to be this month. Our ministry this month is planting a church, bible crusades, and evangelism. They requested the co-ed team for this job, so here we are! Friday we started door to door evangelism and we saw 5 people give their lives to Christ and 8 people yesterday! Today, we launched a brand new church here in Zim, as the locals call it. I got to preach and two women received Christ afterward!
This month is going to be insane! I will be back with an update later!
