I am finally getting to post this! There was a delay in getting it out because the internet was out in our room, but they finally got us connected this morning! In the meantime, I have had so many thoughts swirling in my head. I already have another blog brewing, and it will probably be posted sometime later this week, but for now, let me give you a run down on our travel here!
We left Greenville, SC at 6am on Wednesday, March 20th. We were nervous about flying with our dog, as we had never done that before, and the lady at the front desk gave us some small issues with it, but it all turned out ok in the end. I began praying in tongues at that moment for the rest of our travels and telling the devil he had no rights to our travel plans and that we would not have issues getting there. Billy and I were both exhausted before the travel ever started, because we had stayed up the entire night before, just trying to get packed and tying up the loose ends we were leaving in the States. That 9-hour layover in Detroit was brutal. We were so tired. We would cat nap some in the airport, but with Mocha there one of us had to be watching her. Getting on the flight to Amsterdam, we were both praying for sleep. Unfortunately, there was a good bit of turbulence on this flight, so we didn’t get much sleep. Thankfully we were too tired to care about the turbulence. HAHA. Mocha did so well on the flights. She lay there most of the time, and she was the star of the show with all the passengers and even the flight attendant taking care of us. De-boarding in Amsterdam, we couldn’t decide what to do first, eat, or take the train to the next stop. We ended up just sitting in the airport for about an hour, just trying to decide. We settled finally on just getting a quick snack and drinks, and then onto the next place.
The next stop was a train to a subway station. The train is connected to the Schipol airport, so it was easy to get to, but we had 4 suitcases with us and Mocha, so that made it difficult. We found the train, but there was no room to sit. It was absolutely packed with rush-hour traffic. In hindsight, we should have realized how busy the train would be at rush hour, and taken it as soon as we got off the plane, but we weren’t thinking straight at this point being up almost 48 hours. We barely fit onto the train and had to stand in the doorway for a large portion of the ride. After about 8 stops, we made it to our next destination, but only with of the help of others. Everything they were saying was in Dutch, and I had no idea if that was our stop or not, so I had to ask which stop it was every single time. I know they thought we were crazy Americans, especially with that much luggage, but oh well… they were friendly enough to assist us. We got out of the train station and knew at this point we had to get to the subway(which I expected to be underground, but it was not!). There were no attendants or employees anywhere that I could find, and everything was in Dutch. Keep in mind, we had had no sleep in almost 48 hours at this point. We were both getting frustrated. Neither of us knew how to figure it out. Thankfully we had time. We still had a few hours before we could board the ship, and it was just a quick 20 minute ride there, as long as we could figure it out. I had managed to find someone that showed me where to get a ticket and how to translate it into English, so I knew I was getting the right ticket, but he had disappeared before I could ask him about the next subway ride to take. We had stepped over into an alcove to figure it out. I couldn’t google it because my phone had died. I had it charging, but it wasn’t quick enough. I had no clue how to read which subway platform to go to because we had missed the original subway we were supposed to connect to because we couldn’t figure out how to get the ticket. At one point, in sheer desperation, I prayed to God with tears, Lord, please help us figure this out. Before long, a nice older man who only spoke Dutch came along and helped us so much. He told us where to go to find the next subway, and even tried to help us get our luggage through the gates to the loading area. Another lady also came along and helped. They were so kind. It was in those moments in that train/bus/subway combo station, that I realized just how helpless we were. I was so thankful to the Lord for sending people to us in the moments we needed help the most. Then when we got to where he told us to go, we thought we were in the wrong place again, because it said “C” instead of “B”. We ended up asking someone else there who spoke only Dutch, but she was able to assure us in her own way that we were in the right spot and how to read the board. The next ride to where needed to be was just 10 minutes away. Yay! I was relieved. When we went on the subway – it was more like a train in my opinion – and it was much more open with plenty of seats and some space for our luggage. The lady speaking also gave directions in English again, so we were able to get off in the right spot on our own. When we got off at that stop, we were able to really catch our first breath since starting the travel. There was finally grass outside and Mocha was able to go potty in peace. It turns out Mocha is a miss priss when it comes to potty space. She refused to use all of the pet potty places in any of the airports, and there had been no grass anywhere in sight anywhere in Amsterdam since our arrival. She ended up not going potty at all for 24 hours. We had set her up in bushes, walked her down the sidewalk, etc, and she would not go. Once she was able to go, it lessened our worry about her.
We had a few hours to sit in the lobby of the ferry station before we could board, but we were glad to know we were in the right spot. When we finally got on the ship and were so thankful that we had booked a cabin to sleep in for the 7.5 hour ride. WE PASSED OUT for the next 4 -5 hours. It was a hard sleep. We got up and went to eat a quick dinner on the ship before it was time for us to deboard the ship and into UK Territory.
When we were walking down the plank toward UK customs, I began to pray in tongues and cry. Cry in relief that we had made it to the UK, but also praying in tongues, because I did not want there to be an issue at the border. We breezed through customs, and then I really did tear up just thinking we had finally arrived on UK soil. We were here. God had been faithful to His word to get us here. We had a couple of hours to wait for the train to our hotel – at this time it was 8pm on the 21st UK time – so 4 pm on the 21st Eastern time. The ladies in the port were just oohing and ahing over Mocha and Mocha ate up all that attention. They assisted us however we needed with luggage, gave us tips and pointers for the next town we were headed to, etc. More angels in my book.
When the train to our hotel arrived at 945pm, we were the only ones on it. it was nice to sit there for 30 minutes and just breathe a sigh of relief. We had made it. We were in the UK. It took us to the train station in Ispwich, where we had a quick overnight stop at a hotel. The hotel was a couple of miles from the train station so we had to book a taxi to get us to the hotel. The vehicles are small here, and the taxi couldn’t get us and our luggage into the taxi so we ended up being split up into to taxi’s to get to the hotel.
We slept so well that night. We had a leisure morning, with a WONDERFUL full english breakfast and some additional rest in the room, before we caught the next train to our Airbnb in Peterborough. This train ride was so nice and easy. Everyone again loved Mocha. She is going to be a star on this trip. LOL.
God blessed us so much with our airbnb. We had booked a small room with a kitchenette, bedroom and bathroom, and instead, because of a waterleak, they put us upstairs in the Penthouse – a 2 story aprartment, with 2 balconies, one set up for Mocha to potty on, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and an upstairs living room, kitchen table, and kitchen – with a washer and dryer. I’ll post more about our days here in the airbnb in the post later this week.
I still have more to say, but for now, I’ll let this be it. God has showed himself faithful in every step of this journey. We have seen his hand at work from the very start of this trip, and are excited to see what the rest of this journey holds. Don’t ever doubt the Lord when He asks you to step out of your comfort zone. It is worth it every time.
We love all of your posts on facebook! we thank you guys for following us and for your support! There is more to come! Stay tuned!
