We’re here!

Some of you who read this blog regularly might not know that I’m currently on sabbatical, but as part of that sabbatical we’ve taken a huge leap and decided to spend six months as a family in Vienna, with my partner’s (Eric’s) grandmother. So for the next six months this blog will intersperse personal stories from our trip, with the more usual media/faith stuff. I’ll try to get the stories short, and put them mostly in the “extended” section of posts, so that if you’re looking for links, you can just skip that stuff. But anyway… here’s the first one!

Our trip started at home, with two cabs -- just to get all of our luggage to the airport. When we got to the airport, we learned that Dulles airport in DC (which we had to fly through) was still closed due to the snow storm, but they thought our flight would "go." So we checked all of our luggage (only having to rearrange two bags to get the weight right), and started to wait. Our plane was supposed to leave at 11:30, but at 12:15 or so they finally boarded us -- telling us we would sit on the ground for an hour, due to a ground stop in DC. I'm not sure when we finally took off -- 1:30 maybe? -- but since we had three hours between planes in DC we weren't too worried.

Then we got to DC, and just as the plane was about to land, it changed course and roared back into the air abruptly. Apparently there had been a plane on the runway where we were supposed to land. At that point only one taxi way was open at the airport, and the ice and snow were making it very hard for planes to navigate. We circled around (which took about 40 minutes in really bumpy weather), and then finally landed. I think it must have been kind of dangerous, although Eric didn't think so, but the flight attendant said -- three times -- "sorry for the bumpy landing, but at least we got here safely!"

We sat and waited on the ground for a long time, and wished we had our cameras handy because the snowplows were doing a sort of dance in circles. It turned out that they were biding time waiting to cross a taxiway (remember, only one was open?), and just driving in circles. But it was kind of beautiful. We finally taxied to our gate, but again had to wait because they had to plow out a space for the plane to approach the gate. I've never seen an airport so snowy -- and given that I live in Minnesota, that's really saying something!

Anyway, we were so late at that point that they let those of us with international connections get off the plane first, and we ran -- literally -- the length of the terminal to get to our next flight. We got there with a few minutes to spare (time to wipe off the sweat from the long run, and breathe away the anxiety of possibly being late). Eric kept saying to Alex -- partly to relieve his anxiety -- well, if our bags don't make it, that's great, because then Austrian Air will have to deliver them to Oma's doorstep.

But we got on the plane, our bags made it, Austrian Air was surprisingly nice to fly, and we arrived a littler earlier than predicted (at 8:30 am Thursday morning). We got all of our bags (almost forgetting one in our sleepiness), got a huge van/taxi, and arrived on Oma's doorstep.

Now we're all trying to stay awake so that we can actually sleep through the night. I'm at the point where I feel wrapped in cotton and like the world's not real. But I think some sleep will help.

So anyway... we're here. Thanks for the prayers and good wishes!