The Adventure Has Begun!

"Well, our adventure has begun!"  This was a quote from my friend, Kim after a fairly frustrating 24 hours.  I love it! We all maintained our composure (which was apparently a HUGE accomplishment for me according to my son who said, "Make it your goal not to get mad at anyone on our plane.")  We were two hours late taking off because they had closed down DFW airport because of the storms.  Our extremely hot plane just taxied around on the ground from one spot to another (I swear at one point we were parked in the Park 'N Fly) trying to get to the most likely "open" spot on the runway for take off when they opened DFW back up.  After take off, the rest of the flight was non eventful.  It wasn't a full flight so everyone got to spread out.  About halfway through the flight, I looked at our connecting flight's boarding passes to see if we had a chance of making our connection.  It was at that point I noticed my boarding pass was for Candace Muhamood.  Well, heck... :( I knew it would be close, our flight was set to arrive at 9:10 and the gate for our connecting flight was set to close at 9:55 but Heathrow is a BIG airport!

Upon arrival, many had already missed their connecting flights, but 6 of us still had the chance to make our flight to Nairobi.  I'm not exactly sure why they didn't let us off first, but they didn't (and we were in row 47).  When we got off the plane, there was a gate agent waiting for the "Nairobi people"...we were so encouraged we'd make our flight!  We had to fix my ticket, wait at the BACK of the security line which was moving so slow and not short of it's own drama...but we still felt encouraged!  When Harrison's bag went through they pulled it off to the side, left it there, had to get someone to re-swab it, sent it back through (all the while the sun is setting on us making our flight).  Then they took his passport and "interviewed" him about his bag.  Apparently there were some traces of chemicals used in making explosives on his bag.  WHAT?!?!  It dawned on me from the questions they were asking him that perhaps his brother, who oft times borrows the bag, may be the culprit as he and his friends were making "bleach bombs" and setting them off in a field at one of their houses.  Harrison was SO mad, I think because he was embarrassed and stressed because we needed to make our flight.  We finally cram all of his things back in his bag, ran downstairs and the gate agent informed us we missed the flight (which was a little frustrating  because our flight didn't leave until 10:15 so it was still sitting on the ground, but they had closed the gate...)  

We gathered our composure and headed to the British Airways ticket counter.  About 15 minutes later we were booked on a Kenyan Airways flight that left at 7 pm arriving in Nairobi at 6:30 am.  So, we've been hanging out in the Admirals Club all day, we've all had a nice nap in "the most comfortable recliners ever"(according to Harrison), we are currently showering and freshening up, for the next part of our adventure.  Upon touchdown in Nairobi (assuming our bags arrive) we will grab some food, change our money and head to see the kiddos.  It won't be a long visit on Wednesday, but I do want to say hi!  

It was just so frustrating that our plane was STILL ON THE GROUND and they were expecting us, but wouldn't let us on the flight...I guess that's airport "logic" for you.  At least we got out of Dallas, I heard the weather was still bad there.  When I shared this sequence of events with my husband, Walt, he said, "Well, it sounds like you've got some good blog material!!" So, I hope you agree... ;)