Day 1: From Seattle to Miami

I'm starting this chapter the night before we leave. Yesterday, I went online to verify the $0 fee to check a bag to Haiti and realized we could upgrade all six of us to an exit row seat for free. I giggled with glee as most of us have long legs. Ben is 6'5", Steve about 6'4" and Eli not far behind them. We'll head to the airport at 6:30 to begin this journey we've been planning for over a year.

I received an email today from my contact at the print shop that we'll be using to supply new t-shirts to the school. We will be able to refresh the supply each year since the shop is only a few miles from

the school.
http://www.seedapparel.com/ My contact said the t-shirts have arrived (they have to be shipped from the states) and will be printed this week. He even invited some students to come and help. Christopher should be able to capture it all since he's bringing his nice camera.

We stated our day early with coffee from Ladro and a 6:30am departure from Bothell. We arrived with plenty of time to spare, check-in was a breeze and security was surprisingly quick. We expected more crowds due to Spring Break but choosing a 9:30am flight meant we arrived after all the early morning travelers. Our heaviest bag was 49 lbs, just under the 50lb limit for free bags. Spirits are high, the plane is on time, and we are looking forward to what we hope is an uneventful trip to Dallas, then Miami.

We knew Eli would get to practice his French on this trip, but we didn't expect Ben to get a chance to practice his German. We encountered a German woman in Dallas who didn't speak much English and needed help finding her gate. Ben and Christopher chatted with her and while at first she was going to our gate, they discovered her plane was in a different terminal. We had time, so Christopher and Ben escorted her to the right location. She gave them her phone

number (she doesn't do e-mail :-) and now we have a new friend in Frankfurt!