Since I've been drawing comfort from probabilities, and it hasn't worked out for me yet, the odds are good that if I continue to draw comfort from probabilities, it's bound to actually prove comforting. I figured that since the worst has already happened, the odds aren't good of it happening again. I knew there was a possibility of missing my connecting flight in Munich, because our flight from Chicago was delayed by some colossal imbecile whose bags were loaded onto the plane but didn't show up. What's more, I only had 30 minutes to begin with to make the change from plane to plane. But this time, I really wasn't worried about it. The odds were in my favor, and even if history repeated itself, it couldn't be as harrowing as it was yesterday. When we landed in Munich, I checked the departures board and found my next flight, changed to a new gate that required me to exit downstairs through customs and go upstairs through security again. So much for changing planes in 10 minutes. At least I was only an hour's flight from Berlin now, and there was almost no chance of missing my flight from Berlin to Bishkek via Istanbul tomorrow afternoon. I had booked my travels in two separate round trip tickets: one round trip to and from Berlin, and another round trip from Berlin to Bishkek to Moscow and back. I left a day in between just in case something like this were to happen, and it's a good thing I booked the way I did because it afforded me the freedom to be a total idiot.
So I missed my connection by a mile, but this time it wasn't my fault, and Lufthansa was more than helpful with rebooking me on a flight leaving an hour and a half later. Apparently German airline employees are much happier when in their own country. Even though I didn't feel responsible for the delay and subsequent missing of yet another flight, I still wasn't about to approach the next hour and a half with my typical cavalier outlook. After I got my second new ticket, I went straight to the gate, and did not leave there until boarding, even though I was famished from having slept through breakfast on the flight from Chicago to Munich. I did take a quick moment to use the restroom and have a face-to-face meeting with my old friend, deodorant. So maybe it was more like a product-to-armpit meeting, but nevertheless, I still felt like I had been transported to a more mannerly time that smelt of vanilla and musk (honestly, I don't even know if those are ingredients of this deodorant…). The flight from Munich to Berlin was quite short, and I managed to doze through much of it, so before I knew it, I was on the ground again.
The Berlin Tegel Airport–or at least my very limited experience of it–is the most common-sense travel arrangement I have ever encountered. I walked up the gangway from the plane to find the baggage carousel right there in front of me. I was surrounded by glass on all sides. Behind me, I could see the plane, and the baggage being offloaded. On either side, there were other gates with baggage carousels of their own, and presumably all of the same logistical arrangements as mine. And in front of me was a short exit with a customs window in case I had anything to declare. Beyond that, the outside world. No long hallways to traverse. No complicated mazes of velvet ropes. Just the street, a bunch of busses and taxis, and the city of Berlin.
And Erin. As I was waiting at the gate, I was delighted to see Miss Erin Underwood waiting just outside on the other side of the glass doors. She has been in Berlin since last October, engaged in an 11-month ministry connecting with people and working on business-as-mission projects to help reach a very secular culture for Christ. After the travel I'd had, a familiar face was just what the doctor ordered. I motioned to Erin that I'd be just a minute, and headed around the baggage carousel to the other side of the glass room in order to peer out at the plane and watch for my bag. There was no small amount of consternation in hoping to see it emerge from the plane, considering that it had been through a day about as bad as mine. It was loaded in LAX, loaded in Chicago, offloaded when I missed my flight and loaded again on the next one, loaded in Munich, offloaded once more when I missed another flight, and finally loaded aboard my correct flight to Berlin. It contains several items of expensive equipment for FEBC, let alone most of my stuff. And I had not seen it with my own two eyes since Los Angeles. When I saw it gliding down the baggage chute from the plane, tossed aboard the baggage cart, driven over to the escalator taking bags up to the gate, and eventually emerging onto the baggage carousel, it was like greeting another old friend.
I wasn't originally planning on seeing Erin today, since I have another flight leaving tomorrow and I'm essentially viewing this as just a long layover. But for so many reasons, I'm glad it worked out. Since she's been here for so long, she is quite familiar with the metro system and I didn't have to worry about navigating my way to an entirely different airport tomorrow afternoon. She was able to offer me her couch, so I had a rent-free place to spend the night. I was in dire need of some familiarity and friendship after a long day on my own full of mishap after mishap. And of course, it was just splendid to see her again after 9 months. She gave me a big hug as I exited the gate, and we chatted all the way back to her apartment aboard the bus and the subway. Then, when we arrived, she fed me, and proved to be invaluable in checking in for tomorrow's flight. I had tried to call Pegasus Airlines from California, but couldn't get through, and they don't offer online check in. Since I booked with a foreign booking agency website, I had no way of really knowing if the airlines themselves had my flights confirmed. We found the German number, which Erin was able to call using her German phone, and then she basically did all of the work confirming my flight for me using her German skills. Safe in a friend's apartment with flights confirmed and tomorrow planned out, I was able to settle down for a nap while Erin ran off to a meeting. When she returned, we went out for Kebabs (she lives in a heavily Turkish district), walked around her neighborhood a bit, talked about missions, and returned to settle down for a nice long sleep. A nice long sleep in a horizontal position. With the peace of mind that comes from knowing my flights are confirmed, the couch I'm sitting on belongs to a friend, and the Lord is in control.
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