Beginnings

Wednesday morning I had a number of meetings with my new colleagues in Ottawa. One invited me to join a group that walk during the lunch break. I'm glad that I took her up on the offer as it proved to be a guided tour of the canal and parliament buildings. It was fantastic to catch these sights in the daylight and while the rain held off.

At 10:00pm that evening, I boarded my flight. As luck would have it the flight wasn't very full. So as soon as the seatbelt sign was turned off I abandoned the stranger next to me and claimed three empty seats in the middle section of the plane. As I stretched out, I happened to notice the couple on the opposite side glaring at me, envious that they hadn't thought of taking the seats first. I did my best to get what sleep I could.

In London, Heathrow I had to change planes. I followed the signs for British Airlines, but didn't pay attention to whether it was local or international, and wound up in the wrong terminal. It took at least 45 minutes to get out of that wrong terminal and that was with asking everyone I could for directions! With less than an hour before my connecting flight to Geneva left, I finally boarded the bus bound for terminal 5. We hadn't gone far when the bus had to stop because the road ahead was closed. I said a quick, sincere prayer that I would make my connection. After a slightly anxious 10 minute wait, the road reopened and I made it through the security check (again) in time to catch my flight.