Blogs from Texas, United States, North America - page 262

That was a journey! My plane was intended to leave London Heathrow yesterday at 1pm, but didn't leave until 2pm. This was our saving grace. 10 minutes after we should have arrived in Toronto, a plane crashed (there were 24 injured, but no fatalities). Our flight was diverted to Ottawa where we set on the plane in a field for 5 hours. I found out later from an Air Canada manager that the pilot had dropped our fuel to speed our landing, but had dropped it too soon and we almost didn't have enough to land. By the time we finally exited the plane, we had been on it for 14 hours! We were in the airport for an hour and a half (going through customs and collecting our bags). Next, we were loaded into buses ... read more

Weds 6th July - Dallas calls Deb gets cash out without losing card. Hurrah. Buy Owen another watch then it is off to the bus station. Catch the 2pm to Dallas. We seem to be the only non-hispanics on the bus. Travel north towards Ciudad Juarez under some very heavy clouds, alongside very dry desert. Cross into the US at El Paso 8:30pm. Border guard tells us the Olympics will be in London 2012. We invite him to stay. Bus fills up. Thursday 7th July - Dallas 7:30am at Autobuses Americanos terminal. No idea where we are. Get a cab to the Quality Inn. Fortunately our room is available and we are early enough to have breakfast. Weather is quite wild, strong winds, lots of rain. Later calms down and we try the pool. Late afternoon ... read more

Texas. Generally the end of the line for us all, really. ...they have taken over.... just kidding. sort of. Had a great time with my best friend and her husband, Kit and Leslie Tomlinson. It was one of the times I felt most relaxed on the trip. Kit and Leslie have been one of the main reference points of existence at seminary the last two years. I'm very grateful for that, it would maybe have been a totally different experience without them--in fact, I might have left. They left to move to TX and help pastor a church (Les- associate, Kit- Youth Pastor) there now, very sad. It was great to see though that there really is life after seminary! They have a grown-up house, and grown-up offices and everything. Plus, the cool new cell phone ... read more

Hummm....I was going to put down some profound thoughts, but changed my mind yet again. I will say one thing about what I've discovered about travelling for a extended period of time. It's not always the cure or a solution for issues surrounding commitment. Commitment to what? Well, to anything or anyone for that matter. It is a great way to instigate more thoughts about where to go next though.... I've spent the last couple of days just reviewing picture upon picture on some 15 CDs spanning the last year of my life and all I have are these pictures and some words to accompany them. A couple of them I've managed to stitch together. For those of you whom I've met along the way, I promise your pictures will be coming your way sometime in ... read more

02/06/05 - 09/06/05: I had arranged to stay with a good family friend back in Australia, Aditya, who is working in Dallas as an engineer. Aditya was in the process of renewing his license so was unable to pick me up from the airport but I was happy to make my own way. Its good not having a plan but there were two things that were not in my favour. 1. Public transport is almost non-existent in Dallas - the car holds a special place in the heart of every Texan. Even taxis are hard to find. 2. The Dallas-Fortworth airport is the hub for interstate travel in the US and the terminal is the size of a large suburb. Tired from only having 1 hour sleep and slightly uncertain of what to do for transport ... read more