Jamaican Me Sit in Miami for Seven Hours

Good morning from Kingston, Jamaica, where I arrived last night approximately when I had planned, just not how I had planned. 

I was going to meet Area Facilitator Charles St-Onge in Montego Bay and take the Knutsford Express bus to Kingston, to assess its safety, comfort, and reliability before recommending it (or not) to short-term teams. Southwest Airlines flies into Montego Bay, making it an attractive option from the US. Plans changed when I saw the following from Charles: "I will not make my connection. I'm going to try and get a flight to Kingston today." Thank you, ice storm in his hometown of Montreal! 

Given that there are few non-resort hotel options in Montego Bay, and rather than take a form of transportation we knew nothing about that would put me in Kingston after dark, I too rerouted myself directly to Kingston, arriving within 15 min. of Charles. The only catch was that two hours at MIA became seven!

I kept busy by writing a story about last week's short-term team, knocking out some thank-you notes, answering emails, grabbing lunch, people watching, walking the terminal to get my 10K steps in...and downloading an entire season of The Great British Baking Show from [US] Netflix, once I got the WiFi to cooperate!

Plan B went according to schedule; immigration and customs were a breeze. Charles & I shared a taxi to our hotel, where my bed looked oh so inviting after a marathon travel day. 

Our agenda for the next three days is twofold, from my perspective:

1. Do some legwork that will put us in a better position to host short-term teams later on this spring and summer. 

2. Support the hardworking but overburdened local team so as to move the Ministry Centre renovation project forward. First up is a 10 am site visit from B&L, an HVAC company, for A/C unit repair and installation estimates. 

Until next time, blessings!