June 2011 - Thursday - "Long Layover in London"

Our flight went smoothly from Chicago to London. We were so thankful that the staff of the airline was very helpful and switched our seats so that we could all sit together instead of singly all over the plane. An answer to prayer! The long flight was made easier by watching movies and playing computer games on individual screens on the backs of the seats. Some of us were even able to sleep some. And there are some good videos to prove it! Our red Global Impact shirts made it easier to stay together and prompted questions from several people. Christians and non Christians alike. Going through customs went very smoothly and we were soon on a train to the middle of London. Unfortunately the leaders of the team were trying to cut corners and made a bad decision to not use the subway system. We walked from Paddington Station all the way into town. We don't know exactly how far that was, but we think it was approximately 2.5 miles. We then walked to many of the major sights such as Buckingham Palace (where we saw the changing of the guard ceremony), Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the House of Parliament, the London Eye and many, many statues. Everyone was so exhausted at lunch that many of them laid their heads on the table to sleep. Then we walked all the way back to Paddington Station. We were all so exhausted that the next 8 hour plane ride was actually sounding good! Unfortunately, the plane had a minor issue and had to go back to the gate where we sat for over an hour. Many of us slept through it though and all of us were able to get a good amount of sleep on the flight to Nairobi. We are so excited to finally be on our way to Kenya!