Frodo's Follies...Getting to Portugal

Monday afternoon I boarded a plane on Air France that began an interesting and meaningful adventure to Lisbon. The journey began as I met my new friend Sherry from Encino. Sherry and I enjoyed great food and conversation and a movie together. We discussed life, travel, spiritual backgrounds and more as we headed East towards Paris. Sherry is a single lady in her mid 50s whose father was Jewish and whose mother was Catholic. She has landed in the Jewish camp and is grateful for her spiritual heritage, but has been influenced greatly by the Catholic priest who buried her mother. She is extremely open and honest about her life, her disappointments and joys and her fulfilling her dream of visiting Paris in the snow no less. As a travelling companion, Sherry was a zest full of life. I am grateful to have met her and hope to continue dialogue with her in the future. Apparently I am going to give her information about the breeder we bought Samson from...she is looking for another yellow lab. She has one living, and one that just passed away.

We arrived without incident in Paris! Upon arrival we said good-bye and I headed for my transfer, where I met up with Frank & Dawn Wilder...and then Carlton & Shannon Deal. The five of us were going to be on the same flight to Lisbon for the conference. We enjoyed a cup of Cafe Ole and spoke of life and mission. It was extremely comforting running into these friends in Paris.

Next we headed for the gate. Our flight was apparently delayed about 10 minutes, so we continued our conversation at Gate 55 which is where we were supposed to be according to both our tickets and the screens around the airport. We waited and waited. Finally the line started to move and so we got into position and made our way to the front. When we arrived we found that the gate had been changed to Gate 63...so we ran! We arrived at Gate 63 just as the door was being closed. We pleaded, argued, and conjoled all to no avail with our French counterparts. We spoke to a supervisor and still was unable to get on the plane that was only a few feet away. We were told to go to the transfer desk and get onto the next flight.

Angry, disappointed, but glad we were together in this, we did what we were told and went to the transfer desk. An hour later we pleaded our case with the transfer desk people only to find out that it was our fault! There were about 15 of us that all missed the change that was announced over the loud speaker with the clarity of the adults from Charlie Brown...wa wa wa wa wa! Finally, they agreed that we should be able to get on the next flight out...so they issued us new tickets. As I searched in vain for the new flight on the screens a new revelation was emerging...the new flight sent us to Frankfurt, Germany! That is not at all where we wanted to go...so I went quickly back to the desk. You can see why I am calling this Frodo's Follies at this point. They apologize, which I know is difficult for the French and change our tickets once again. We are wondering at this point as to whether our luggage is going to Frankfurt or to Lisbon or who knows where.

Finally we get on the flight to Lisbon and I'm ready for a nap. As we prepared for take-off, we were joined by a company of Buddist Monks from Nepal. Mathieu Ricard, the monk who sat next to me, was a Frenchman by birth who has been a monk for the past 35 years in Nepal and Tibet. He sometimes travels with the Dali Lama to translate French for him or when there is conversation with the scientific community. Mathieu has a PHD in Genetics! He was an extremely bright and genuinely caring individual. I asked him many questions abour Buddism and was enlightened by the encounter. I even got his email address for further communication. After about half an hour of enlightenment...I was ready for that nap, so I donned my ipod and curled up to the cold window and went to sleep.

As expected we arrived in Lisbon, but the people who would have been waiting for us were no longer there. So we boarded a taxi, all huddled together and journeyed the last leg to our destination. Without further incident we arrived in time to check-in and wash our faces before heading to the Sports Bar for dinner. I hope you are smiling as you are reading this...it was quite an adventure and boy am I glad to be here!