Survival of the Fittest

This week the team had received the flight itineraries for our trip from Winnipeg to Belgrade and it seemed as though Marisa and I had lucked out. We got to leave Winnipeg on the last group, only had 3 flights, short lay-overs and arrive in Belgrade before half of the team. We laughed at everyone else who had 3-4 flights with massive lay overs and those ending up having to travel solo for portions of the flights. The coaches were joking that those that actually make it to Belgrade will play- so it is Survival of the Fittest... Marisa and I thought we had this in the bag. Our laughs stopped quite abruptly. Reese was woken up at 8:20am (June 27) by text from Ruste informing her that they were leaving the food bag behind for us to figure out what to do with because it weighed 100 lbs. (max weight limit = 70 lbs.)
We were picked up from residence at 11am by taxi with Marie-Pierre and Alex. We didn't realize it at the time but we were strapping in for the rides of our life. Literally was a near death experience! Dude drove on average 100 km/hr through the city of Winnipeg, believing there existent a middle lane specifically for him. At one point he passed 5 cars as he went 150 km/hr.. no big deal right!? Then he gunned a red light and had to swirve at the last minute to avoid hitting another car. A few minor heart attacks occured and we were all thankful when the car was put in park.
So we divided up the food bag into another bag. Reese and I considered leaving behind the 10 lb. bag of chocolate macaroons- but with Ruste and Kyla in mind, we decided to keep it (you are welcome girls!) So after nearly 45 minutes at the check-in counter tossing food from bag to bag, we passed through security to realize that MP had packed her food bag as her carry-on and had to say goodbye to quite a few delicious items. Our flight to Toronto was heavenly, no problems there, arrived on time at 4pm. We got off our flight and looked at the departure board for our next flight to Warsaw. We saw what we thought was a delay of 2.5 hours- thought we would just enjoy one last Canadian meal before our 3 weeks abroad. We walked with MP and Alex to international connections but got stopped and re-routed through the airport to go get our boarding tickets. We found ourselves out by check-in counter amongst 200 other people in line. Reese and I stood in line for another hour, realizing we read the board wrong. It wasn't a 2.5 hour delay, the flight was actually set to depart at 2:30am (8 hours of delay). To add to the excitement of the line, there was a Doberman nearby ready to pounce on us. That wouldn't even surprise me if that went down. Reese and I stayed calm and just continued to giggle at our situation. We talk to the lady at the desk for her to inform us that the plane is having major mechanical problems. She said 2:30 am is the earliest it would leave but could be up to a 2 day delay. We laughed that one off. She also told us that once we get to Warsaw she does not know when our flight out to Belgrade would be and that could take another day. Keep the good news rollin' in!
We finally got to the Toronto Airport hotel around 7pm (as everyone else on the team was just taking off across the Atlantic) and could only muster up enough energy to eat and lay supine until having to leave for the airport at 1am. We grabbed our last bit of Tim Horton's while we waited another 3 hours in the airport for our flight. This day seemed never ending and the craziest thing is that we were still in CANADA! Not much progress made. But at 4am, our plane finally took off toward Poland. Reese and I immediately put on our complimentary eye masks and tried to spread out as much as possible between 3 seats to get some sort of sleep.
We got to Warsaw to a familiar scene. A huge line, people confused, and being informed we have to stay in the hotel. We will be catching our flight tomorrow morning (June 29) at 11am. Great news was that we have all our luggage. Reese's food bag made it which is the most important thing.
The other girls have all arrived in Belgrade, which is great! So Reese and I will be expecting a huge welcome committee upon our arrival tomorrow. Hopefully it is smooth sailing from here after these 43 hours of traveling. Cross our fingers! SERBIA here we come!