Some of you may be wondering about our trip from Mexico to Canada. Yes, we did have some “drama”.
We thought a direct flight would help us avoid some of the complexity that often comes with our travel, but in this case it was not so! It appears that we got on our plane without being told that most or all of our luggage – that is, everyone’s luggage, not just ours – would not even be placed on the plane!
So when we arrived in Canada, there was no moving belt of suitcases. Only a long and slowly moving line of passengers filling out luggage claims forms.
According to the airline website, they spent the next few days trying to locate our luggage. After about 3 days, one of Shari’s suitcases arrived. The other three remained MIA.
About 5 days after we left home, the rest of our luggage finally caught up with us.
However, two of the suitcases will likely not fly again, because of the damage.
The airline should reimburse us somewhat, at least financially, though not for the hours we took dealing with the situation. But we have to wait another three or four weeks to find out. So we’re hoping that all that goes smoothly. But I kind of have a feeling that the drama is not over!
I’m not going to take the time to tell you about all of our whirlwind adventures in Canada. But let’s just say that it was an extremely busy, but also very good time!
We had the opportunity to serve in 6 churches in Alberta, get some paperwork and other errands taken care of, attend a conference, and spend some time with family and friends.
Of course if you get our newsletter, you already know about the most notable news from our visit – an engagement! In case you missed it, here’s the note right from our letter.
No doubt there will be more news to come on that topic! But I can tell you that we’re looking forward to a wedding in the spring. 🙂
Our trip home to Mexico was somewhat eventful, due to a cancelled flight. We ended up travelling for almost 24 hours to get from Calgary back to Ixtapaluca, unexpectedly visiting San Francisco along the way, but God was good and we arrived – even with all our luggage, which boarded more airplanes than we did!
We appreciate many of you who prayed for our trip.
And now, after being gone for a few weeks, we’re leaping back into life here. There’s lots to get done over the next little while. But Christmas is coming! So we’re hoping to get a bit of a break over the holidays if the Lord allows.
I mentioned in the last post that we were catching up on a lot of personal things – and that has meant a lot of travelling around. And that is not always simple, as you might imagine…
(Edit: If you get our email update, you know some of what has happened over the past few days. It’s probably appropriate to note that this was recorded earlier.)
So without going into all the details, let me tell you a little bit about our trip. First, things were a bit rushed at the airport in Mexico, because we arrived a bit later than we planned. It wasn’t bad, but we were wondering if things would go faster or slower than in pre-2020 days. Well, things did go a little slower.
So we didn’t have time to eat at the airport, and no meal on the plane. They did give us a little packet with things like a face mask, water, anti-bacterial gel, and gloves (when were we supposed to use gloves??).
Steward in his protective gear.
Actually, if you’ve ever been in the hospital having surgery, you’ll have some idea what the ambience was like on the plane. Stewards and stewardesses roamed the isle as little as possible wearing face masks and long white robes, reminding you to do things for your own good. We were given another unusual form, based on new quarantine laws. (We had already filled out a form online, and one at the Mexico City airport, so I guess that makes three.)
So we arrived in Toronto, and of course the reminders of COVID-19 continued. Going through one line, we stood in front of a white background while an official with what seemed to be a camera asked us to remove hats/glasses and look up. It wasn’t until later that we realized that he wasn’t taking a picture at all, but taking our temperature. I’m not sure if smiling makes your temperature higher or lower…
There were some things open at the airports, though not as much as normal. For the most part, it didn’t look like the stores were temporarily closed, but permanently out of business. However there were still some of the usual places to buy a magazine or souvenir, or a bite to eat.
Anti-bacterial gel was everywhere, although it generally wasn’t “forced” on us (as it tends to be in Mexico).
Anyway, due to a bunch of problems (including our first flight arriving late), we missed our flight out of Toronto. So it wasn’t until late that night that we finally got something to eat, at the hotel, thanks to the fresh deli items that they had on hand. A hard boiled egg never tasted so good.
So, a very short sleep, before dawn, we were off to try again. We did finally arrive in Calgary, a day late.
And we have been very thankful for friends who changed their schedules to pick us up, and now to provide us with a place to stay for our quarantine!
But, yes it was a long couple of days, so we need a little recovery time. But we’re getting organized and doing a little work today, before getting more into regular work tomorrow.
Well, ok, Nathanael was a little bit isolated at camp last week, since it was all online. But it sounds like it was a good time!
And as for the three of us, we will be isolated soon. Although, I’m a little confused. I thought that, if I were sick, I would be quarantined. If not, I would be isolated. However, one government website in Canada explained that it was the other way around – when we go to Canada, healthy as can be, we will be quarantining. But if we get sick, we’ll be isolating.
Which was all good until we filled out the special form to explain where we were going to — to be by ourselves, away from the healthy crowds. And we received this seal of approval. Which clearly says – we’re isolating. Even though we’re healthy as can be.
Oh well – what ever. Serves me right trying to get the terminology right.
But we’re not isolated yet. We enjoyed our service this morning. Little by little people are trickling back to the services, which is fun. We’re continuing our journey through the book of Romans.
And soon we’ll be headed to Canada. Still a lot of details to work out! But little by little we’re getting organized.
You could certainly pray for our health, if you think of it, along with smooth travels. (Without the health, there will be no travels at all! At least, not for a while.) And I’ll try to let you know how it all goes.
Going through some old receipts earlier this year, I was wondering if I could figure out what our first purchase was after moving to Mexico. Other than legal stuff at the border, of course. Must be food, right? What could it be? Tacos? Churros? Burritos?
Well, we think we figured it out. 13 years ago today, on our way driving down, we stopped at Church’s Chicken. Shame on us.
I don’t know if there is any irony stopping at an American restaurant chain, which was originally started across the street from the Alamo. I do know, however, that we were shortly sicker than we had ever been in our lives with some stomach bug. I doubt it was Church’s Chicken – the theory at the time was that it was peanut butter that we ate later (another very non-Mexican food!), but we may never know.
Anyway, there’s the receipt to prove it. A couple of combos with fries, an apple pop and a Coke. Well, those sound like us, anyway. 🙂
I’m not sure I’ve eaten at Church’s Chicken since. But thanks for the memories!
