27.5 Hours later....

Team 2 arrived in Istanbul. Our journey began at 3:00 Chicago time at O'Hare when our British Airways flight was two hours delayed. We stood in line for an hour, ate our last American meal courtesy of British Airways meal vouchers, all safely passed through security and finally boarded the plane. We sat on the runway for another two hours as a traveler decided to deplane and needed his suitcase. Finally though, we took off and arrived in London six hours later. Once in London we had to transfer to Terminal 5 to get re-booked on flights to Istanbul and wait in yet another line. We were all switched to the same Turkish Airways flight --back in Terminal 3 -- leaving at 4:30 PM London time. We found an Irish pub and ate fish and chips with our second set of meal vouchers -- have to have fish and chips in London! Full stomaches and tired bodies, we headed to our gate, where not surprisingly, we were delayed for another 30 minutes. After boarding our Turkish Airways flight we sat on the runway for another hour and finally, finally took off. We landed in Istanbul at 11:45 p.m. or 4:45 p.m. Chicago time. The whole plane, lead by our team, cheered and clapped!

After clearing customs (another LONG line) we headed to the baggage claim, Colin found his backpack first, Sarah and Jim found their suitcase and soon everyone had found their bags...except for MeriKim, Monica and me (Katie). We filed a claim with Turkish Airways, filed a claim with British Airways and left the airport without our suitcases. It's been 3 days since we've last seen our bags and we are asking our father daily for them! Living without clothes, toiletries and accessories while adjusting to a foreign country has presented a challenge for us, teaching us we must rely only on Him (and hand washing clothes!). We made it to the hotel around 2:30 a.m. and were anxiously awaited by Donna and Team 1. We could not wait to see them!

It was quite the adventure, and one I'm sure we'll never forget. But we are greatfull for safety throughout, a bonding experience to share and individual TVs on both planes!