The trip to Sweden that wasn't meant to be

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." Psalms 32:8

I got an excellent reminder of this yesterday. My day definately did not go as planned, and I really struggled to understand why God chose to choreography my steps the way He did.

I had class this weekend and had decided that I would sneak away for a couple of days while Philip was gone to visit Stockholm, Sweden. This last year there were two foreign exchange students from Sweden in my brother's school district. One of them, Matilda, was Josh's prom date and her host family attend the church that my parents have started going to. I had the opportunity to meet her while I was in Minnesota and fell in love with her. She is the sweetest thing ever and is someone who I really would like to get to know better. I knew Philip was going to be gone in July, so I had mentioned outloud that it would be fun to visit her while I was by myself. I couldn't make plans or book a ticket until the end of last week because I wasn't sure when I would start work this week.

Josh & Beautiful Matilda

I found out my schedule on Thursday. I talked to Matilda and contemplated whether or not to go. Usually a round trip ticket from the UK to Stockholm would be as low as $40! However, since this was last minute it was $200. I talked to Philip about what he thought. He said I could definately go if I wanted to. I really hesitated about the money thing, but decided to get the ticket because I wasn't sure when it would work out with Matilda's & my schedule like this again. I had talked to her about coming, so I might as well go! I was excited to be so adventureous on my own and was very much looking forward to have the opportunity to connect with such a special young lady and hear about her experiences and perspective after growing up in Sweden and spending a year in the US.

I arranged for my transportation to and from the airport. I finished two papers due yesterday on Sunday night when I got home from class, so that I could relax and be ready to go Monday morning.. I woke up SO excited yesterday. I packed my backpack and was out the door.

I had checked in online. It had been a bit confusing. There was an area where they asked about if a passport was EU / EEA. I confused EEA with EUA (often a traditional world abbrev. for the United States of America). I went ahead and checked that box and later decided to enter my passport information online rather than at the airport.

I went through security. TWO individuals checked and okayed my ticket (which had the passport information that I had entered on it) with my passport. The plane arrived and I was in line to board. When the ticket agent took my boarding pass she said, "This is an American passport. You cannot check in online with an American passport. This ticket is not valid. You will need to go back and rebook another flight." Instantly the tears started welling up in my eyes. It was one of those, "you have GOT to be kidding me" moments.

I found my way back to the ticketing counters (going against the flow through security is quite confusing in the London Stansted airport). At one point I almost locked myself in an emergency exit stairwell. I stood in the wrong line for about 45 minutes and then realized where I needed to go. I talked to the Ryan Air customer information and she explained that I would need to buy another one way ticket from Stansted to Stockholm because the ticket I had now had invalid passport information connected to it. Had I known this BEFORE boarding the plane, I would have time and just purchased another ticket for $75 to get me from London to Stockholm. However, since two people okayed me and didn't throw up any red flags (essentially I was saying I was from the EU while carrying what was obviously a US passport and they didn't notice), the plane was leaving by the time I could have done that. There was another flight leaving much later in the evening but even that was full. They couldn't give me any kind of a refund (and of course I had decided to purchase my bus tickets online ahead of time that morning to get from Skavsta airport to the city center in Stockholm where I was meeting Matilda)

By this time I was really in tears (thank goodness for sunglasses). I called Bea, my England "mom." She and her husband lead the Campus Crusade for Christ military ministry for us over here and have been the facilitators of one of our small groups. She had just gotten home from dropping me off, and graciously turned right around to come pick me up. I tried to reach Matilda from the airport to explain the situation to her to no avail (country codes for international calling are reeeeally confusing). I could dial internationally to the US on my cell phone, so I called my mom and asked if she could try and get a hold of Matilda on her international calling card (I don't think it worked). I put change in one of those stupid surf-the-net machienes in the airport (I couldn't really see the screen due to glare and the keyboard was reaally crappy). I left Matilda a facebook message and prayed she would check it before I got home and could call from our house.

I made it home. Safe and sound. Stress typically does two things to me: it makes me tired and it gives me a headache. Luckily I wasn't in migraine territory last night (that was a God thing). I watched a few episodes of Friends and then went to bed. I must have slept 14 hours last night. I talked briefly to Philip around 10 pm and had called my brother before I crashed for the night (my mom had knee surgery yesterday, so she wasn't home yet when I called in the evening).

I was most upset and bothered about being out $275 and a tank of fuel and still didn't get to go anywhere. I also felt HORRIBLE about going back and forth with Matilda and then bailing last minute. Had the ticket been $40 and had I not implicated another individual in the chaos, I really wouldn't have cared. I did plenty of hindsight/20-20 thinking:
- why didn't I google EU/EEA when I had a question
- why did I decide to enter the passport info online last minute when they weren't requiring it
- I had plenty of time when I arrived at the airport, why didn't I double check that I was set to go before I went to security or while I was sitting at the gate for an hour
- Why didn't the security people notice the obvious error

I have since then transitioned into what I try to do as soon as possible in these situations: think about how it could have been MUCH worse:
- I could have not been able to go because I was in a car accident. Then I would have been out the ticket money, our insurance premiums would have gone up and we would have had to pay for a new car
- Bea could not have been able to come and get me
- Had Philip been traveling with me, we would have wasted leave days (military vacation) that he had taken off from work
- I could have had a hotel booked and lost that money too
- I could have lost my passport and UK visa
- This could have happened when my parents and brother were here if I tried to arrange for all of us to visit Matilda in Sweden - that would have REALLY sucked

I'm feeling better today. I still feel stupid and silly. I am still frustrated about the money. I still feel horrible about standing up Matilda. However, this too shall pass. . . I was blessed to have some very encouraging emails from Hannah, Shannon and Laura in my inbox after I explained what had happened.

I just ran to the comissary to pick up some milk, and chicken (and I gave into my craving for cheddar rice cakes since I had a coupon). I also filled up the depleted fuel tank of the car while I was on base. It was really hot here this morning but it looks like we are getting ready for an afternoon shower (which I LOVE). I have a gift for being able to sleep A LOT - maybe I'll curl up, read my textbooks and take a nap while it rains (I love falling alsleep to rain and storms -the louder the better).

I really hope that my streak of "excitement" on international flights is FINISHED. I had thought to myself before this, thinking of the comment Philip's mom made on the blog after my last MN trip, that this would be a simple 2 day trip. No frills. No flaws. Boy was I wrong.