Travel blessings

I left from my home yesterday on a 24 day trip to the US. During that time I will fly on 17 flights, visit more than 10 cities, and rack up more than 27,000 actual air miles, let alone bonus miles and so on. For some road warriors that kind of trip is par for the course. While I might not be so cavalier about it, I do have to say that the thought of this trip does not overwhelm me like it might others.

I have traveled enough to know what I like and don’t like in my travel experiences. In fact, just the day before leaving on this trip I specifically prayed “God, please let me get upgraded so I can sleep on my long international flights.” Upon check-in at the airport I was told my seat had been moved and I was now sitting in business class, with one caveat. The service would only be economy since everyone sitting in that section was economy ticket holders. My prayer was for sleep, not for fancy meals or better movie options, so it was exactly answered. I slept almost 7 hours out of the 9 hour flight. Those that have traveled with me know it is no small miracle that I slept that long.

Another nice thing about my trip was when I checked in I knew I was WAY overweight on my suitcases due to the 2700 brochures I was carrying for our partner organization in Denver. I estimated the brochures alone at 100+ pounds, plus my clothes and so on for three weeks. The airline staff did not even bat an eye at how heavy my bags were. They just tagged them and sent them on for screening and loading onto the plane. No extra charge. Nice!

The third nice thing about my trip was on the second international flight (the one taking me into America) where I had the seat next to mine vacant, giving me just a little more room to move around and relax a little. Again, nice!

All in all, not a bad trip. Nearly a third of my air miles for this trip are over and so far no major hassles.

My biggest concern for the rest of the trip is for making all my connections and no cancelled or delayed flights along the way. Let see how it goes.