Our (looooonnnnnng) Trip

Well, Jade and I are back in Eck en Wiel (pronounced Eck en Veel), Netherlands (aka Holland) for another three and a half months now. We arrived Friday night and are just getting over our feelings of jet lag. It is a nine hour difference from the time in Portland, Oregon; where we were coming from.

We had the most absolutely draining travel experience I can ever remember in my life. Kim (a good friend from college) drove us to the airport Thursday morning and from there we flew to Phoenix, layover, then to Newark, NJ, layover, then over night to Dublin, Ireland, five hour layover. The airline carrier we took from Dublin to Eindhoven, Netherlands has a weight restriction on check-on and carry-on baggage. We were much too heavy in our check-on luggage, so Jade had a great idea! We lugged our bags over to the giant scale near the check-in station where we proceeded to lay our 50 lb suitcases wide open on the floor and put on layer after layer of clothing! I think by the time we were finished we both had something like 6 layers of shirts and sweatshirts, plus things wrapped around our waist, two pairs of jeans each, big socks, our heaviest shoes, all the hats, belts and things to wear we could find. Then we stuffed ever pocket we had on with something small and heavy. It was insane! I don’t think I have ever laughed so hard in my laugh, and fortunately it was rainy and freezing in both Dublin and Holland that day, so we didn’t over heat. We looked like hockey players, and I’m sure I could have passed for a big burly man from behind.

But our story isn’t over. We then flied to Dublin and had to take a bus ride, then a train ride with three connections to a town called Tiel which is about 7 ½ miles from L’Abri. We arrived in Tiel at 9 pm (you can do the math on how many hours that is after leaving Portland a whole day and a half earlier…plus time change...) Needless to say, we were pretty tired! So we got to Tiel about 9 pm and realized that the buses had stopped running to the town where L’Abri is located two hours earlier. Neither one of us had the phone number to L’Abri, nor to the taxi service. Then we walked into town to try and find an internet café or someplace with a phone book. EVERYTHING was closed already (on a Friday night! Can you believe it?) No cell phone, no numbers, no anything.
So we started walking. With our abnormally large roller suitcases and heavy backpacks. And we walked. We put up a few half-hearted thumbs to cars driving by, thinking maybe an empathetic person would slow down and be an angel from the Lord. But nope. Instead we got some honks and a few other fingers (I guess the middle one isn’t just an American thing).
And so we walked. And walked. And pretty soon we were all aching muscles and singing silly songs in a tired delirium and we planned how we could make “speed roller suitcase walking” the next Olympic sport. And we walked. For 7 ½ miles we pulled those suitcases. And in under 2 1/2 hours we arrived to L’Abri! And the last stretch of road into the house is either gravel or muddy apple orchard, so, like a scene from Rocky IV, Jade muscled our two bags in both hands and practically sprinted the 200 meters or so to the front door. It was crazy…and kind of fun in a sick kind of way : ) Robb told us he thought that story belonged in the L’Abri Hall of Fame.
The next day Christa informed us that there is a new button at the train stop that you can push and a taxi will show up in no time. I also found the L’Abri phone number scribbled in one of my journals. I think we were too tired that night to even THINK. You know that feeling? Anyways, I had to get that story out there…I hope you enjoy it! : )

We are thrilled to be back! We are slowly getting accustomed into our daily routine again, made much different now by the variety of jobs we were given for the term…but more about that later…I’ve got laundry to hang! : )