92 hrs.

-the full account

From brotherly love to real love in 7 hours flat.  That there about sums up the first bit.  This trip started out with a 7 hour flight from Philadelphia (the city of Brotherly Love) to Paris (the city of Love).  That flight was lovely and I landed in Paris in the morning.  I made sure all was in order for my flight the next day, bought food and then went and waited for the shuttle to the hotel. There are my knees and feet waiting....a thrilling piece of photography I know.  

Once at the hotel I slept. It was great. Of course this meant no sleep during the actual nighttime hours.  Not being able to sleep is a very unfamiliar concept for this kid, on the whole, I would say I’m not a fan of it.  Then there was breakfast.  I have a great fondness for french hotel breakfast, they have cheese and bread and ham and jelly and croissants and hot chocolate and yogurt and fruit and wonderfulness, all so grand.  This time I even found applesauce!! Then it was back to the airport for the flight to Madagascar.  

I think it would be very interesting to interview people about their interpersonal communication on flights.  Especially international ones.  You sit down next to someone knowing that this is the person you will be sitting with and who’s shoulder you may be sleeping on, for the next 9 hours.  In my case there was an added language barrier and a lengthy conversation with the middle aged french couple I was sharing a row with seemed unlikely.  I generally like to talk to the people on planes, but this time I settled for a few deeply meaningful smiles and nods and occupied myself with taking a slightly obsessive amount of could and sunset pictures.  

We landed in Madagascar's capitol around 10 pm and I was met by the hotel shuttle and went to the hotel for more sleeping.  My final flight was originally set for the next evening but it was delayed until the next day so I had some extra time to spend with the missionary families in the capitol city, a true delight.  Then a 3:45 am wake up call, a 4:30 am taxi, and a 6:20 am flight got me to Tessa.  I arrived with my body and my French and Malagasy vocabulary all completely exhausted.  But I did arrive in time to go to church!!   It was so great to see everyone who I had hung out with last year.  Then there a grand time of cooking for dinner with the the rest of the team and getting to know Tessa’s Australian roommate, Hannah.  So much goodness!!  

I truly saw the provision of the Lord over this trip.  Every flight had seats for me, even the one that was delayed resulted in blessed encouraging time with friends in the capitol.  Communication with mom and dad went smoothly.  My biggest fear, staying at the hotels alone, wasn’t even an issue at all, I felt safe at each of the hotels, everything went smoothly with my rooms, and there was always breakfast!  I praise Him for watching over me in this, for starting the trip off with such encouragement.  I can’t wait to see what the the next weeks will hold.