International air travel is usually pretty much uneventful, but when you fly as often as we do,  you have stories to tell.

We left Hungary in a hurry so that we could participate in my father’s funeral service in the US.  We left our house at 2 AM on Tuesday, January 12.  By the time we got in the air, things started to go wrong.  Ami became sick to her stomach and had to use the airsick bag.  We hoped that the sickness was either caused by a lack of sleep plus all the stresses of what was going on, or that she just had a mild flu bug.

When we arrived in Frankfurt, we asked for help in getting from one end of the terminal to the other.  The airline helpfully provided a cart for her to ride on and we cleared passport control and security with ease.

Just as boarding was about to begin, the purser discussed the situation with us.  He said that if Ami became worse on the flight to the US and the authorities suspected that she had the H1N1 virus, they could quarantine the whole airplane.  He wanted us to obtain clearance from a doctor before she was allowed on the plane.  That clearance was impossible to get before the plane took off, and the next possible flight was the next day.

The bad news is that the airline was not responsible for our expenses.  The cost of changing the tickets, staying in a hotel over night, meals and paying for the doctor and medicine amounted to about 550 euros ($825 US).  The good new was that some of you prayed for us.  When I purchased the tickets for this trip, I did something that I have never done before: I bought trip insurance.   The agent that I contacted assured me that they would cover these added expenses.

The upshot was a one night stay at a 5 star hotel, no less!  Since we had very little sleep over the previous 48 hours, this was a welcome development.  We got 13 hours of badly needed sleep and arrived in the US a day later than planned, but much refreshed.

Our travel adventures were not over.  On the return trip, our flight was late taking off from Chicago O’Hare.  I was concerned, since we had a tight connection of only 1 hour, 10 minutes in Munich.  A helpful flight attendant moved us from the rear of the plane to near the front just before we landed, so that we could get off ahead of the other passengers.

As we rushed into the terminal, I checked the monitor to make sure we were headed to the right gate.  That is when I discovered that our flight had been canceled.  The airline graciously paid for our lunch and booked us on the second of the three flights they make to Budapest in a day.  As it turned out, a blizzard shut down the airport in Budapest the whole day.  Again, we stayed all night in a nice hotel and had our meals furnished at the airline’s expense, this time.

We arrived in Pecs yesterday afternoon in time for me to preach for the evening service.  The extra night in the hotel gave us a head start on getting over jet lag.

Experience has taught us not to take travel for granted.  A lot can go wrong (and has!).  Thanks for praying.