Travel: There's More Than One Day of It?

Greetings! Steve here...the work team had a flight on Wednesday down to the Bahamas, so they have already been busy there.

For me, here are the objectives I've been given as I understand them: I'm scheduled to preach on Sunday, join up with the work team (Scott, Todd, Angel, and Gary) for a couple of days, then give a challenge for a potluck meal, help lead a youth family night, meet with young adults and other island residents, and preach again the following weekend. All while considering and praying about our family's future involvement in partnering with the ministry in the Bahamas.

For those who are familiar with my family's travel experiences in January: this travel experience has been par for the course. Last night prior to travel, I got the worst migraine headache I've ever had. Between that and receiving an alert that my first flight from Philadelphia to Charlotte was delayed, making my Charlotte arrival time later than my Charlotte to Marsh Harbor (Bahamas) flight, I was tempted to cancel my trip. However, after a call to the airline, they found another flight out of Harrisburg into Charlotte instead. After some apple cider vinegar supplied by my wife, Kara, to take the edge off my headache, a few hours of sleep while she packed most of my things (THANK YOU!), I was up a little after midnight getting ready to head out. In looking at the weather, though, a tropical depression was making it look like flights might be cancelled anyway. Kara encouraged me to take things one step at a time and keep moving forward. So we made the decision to go ahead and make my way to Harrisburg.

Found out that Harrisburg's "24-hour" shuttle service is a lie. Walked about a mile with luggage along the road from long-term parking to the airport 😬 Flew into Charlotte...

...and after breakfast--boarded, waited on the tarmac for a while and then just as we were about to accelerate for lift-off, we got word that the Marsh Harbor airport had closed due to weather. Apparently it's literally in a marsh, and there's really no such thing as drainage. Plus, there's no tower so landing is basically by sight? Probably best we aborted the flight.

Long story short, I made a quick change to fly in about 100 miles south to the capital of Nassau where I found the reasonably priced hotels were booked or a long ways away. I booked a domestic flight with Western Air for tomorrow morning. Not sure if I'll make it in time for service--already missing the Men's Night tonight. I found some palm trees and benches in a courtyard near the airport. Looks like that will be my hotel tonight...

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