As we got ready to board our first of three flights from Missoula, Montana to Bogota, Colombia, “bust” seemed like the more likely option.
In the weeks leading up to our departure, everyone had been sniffling, coughing or feverish due to a revolving menagerie of viruses. Rob had barely recovered from a severe ankle sprain during a November volleyball game before he was struck down with pneumonia. And our house was definitely not in any shape to be rented out for our three-month sabbatical in South America.
But we rallied, thanks to antibiotics, a LOT of help from my family and sheer grit. Drawers emptied, refrigerator cleaned out and toys contained, we waved goodbye to my dad at the airport. We managed to fit all of our gear into carry-on backpacks and just one checked bag.
But as we arrived at the counter to check said bag, we faced Hurdle #1: “We can’t print your boarding passes until you show us the QR code from Colombian immigration.”
Huh? Never heard of it. We scrambled to fill out the online application for each of us, and barely made it through security in time. I dispensed a cornucopia of over-the-counter drugs to minimize coughing, congestion and earaches–along with many Lifesavers–and we all arrived in Dallas safely.
After waiting 45 minutes for a dilapidated courtesy shuttle, we arrived at our expensive-but-gross hotel and got some questionable takeout dinner from the only restaurant in sight. Luckily, we didn’t have to brave the hotel for long since we left at 3:45am to board our flight to Miami.
Which brings us to Hurdle #2: “You’ll have to check your bag, ma’am, as there’s no space in the overhead bins.” I begged and pleaded, to no avail. Quickly taking out my laptop and a few key meds, I put my backpack down a black metal chute to…well, who knows? And, of course, there was plenty of overhead space above our seats once we got aboard.
As Rob got the kids settled in their seats, he reached down for our snacks…and tweaked something in his back: Hurdle #3. His deer-in-headlight glance made my blood run cold. Backpacking around South America for three months necessitates a healthy back. I gave him Tylenol and crossed my fingers.
In Dallas, we fast-walked to our last flight with only a 40-minute layover. As we hurriedly ate some sandwiches while they began boarding, I suddenly realized I’d left my laptop–so lonely without a backpack to store it in–on the last plane. Hurdle #4. Now I was the one with a deer-in-headlights look. “Run,” Rob told me.
I sprinted the half-mile back so fast that I thought my heart might explode. So fast that I couldn’t speak when I got back to the gate. I spied my laptop on a counter, grabbed it without a word, and sprinted back.
We were the last passengers aboard. My hamstrings felt like too-tight guitar strings. And then we sat on the plane for an hour at the gate until the runway traffic in Miami cleared enough for takeoff.
You’d think with that extra hour our checked bags would easily make it aboard, right? But no. Hurdle #5: my bag went down that mysterious chute at the gate in Dallas and ended up in a black hole. It’s currently circling Uranus, I believe, or perhaps lost in an asteroid belt. American Airlines sure as hell doesn’t know where it is.
The good news? We made it to Bogotá! (Note: no one in Colombia ever asked for the QR code/immigration application that was Hurdle #1.) Rob celebrated our arrival by collapsing on the Airbnb’s couch and announcing, “That was the hardest two days of travel I’ve ever experienced. Kids, you were total rock stars.” They were, too–the best, happy, easy travel companions.
Today, we woke after 12 hours of sleep grateful for each other and our chance to travel, hurdles and all. We’re acclimating to the 8,660′ elevation, eating lots of fresh fruit, and practicing Spanish with many friendly people during short walks in the Chapinero neighborhood. Lyra is singing and Talon is reading. We’ll hit up some museums later. And we’ll keep praying/visualizing/willing our luck to swing fully back to bueno.
Felíz año nuevo de Colómbia!
UPDATE – My bag arrived in Bogotá! That visualizing is powerful stuff 😉
