When one door closes, another door opens

Yesterday I left Champaign to come back home to Vancouver. I was all packed and ready and Katie dropped me off at the train station. We said goodbye and I hauled my luggage up to the second floor desk.
"Hi, I'd like a ticket for the train to Chicago."
"There are no trains going to Chicago this morning."
"What?"
I had looked them up online at least twice to check the schedule, and planned that I would catch the 8:00 train to get me to Chicago in time for my 2:00 flight.
"You might want to try Greyhound." The man said blankly and went back to his computer screen.
At the mention of greyhound I felt a wave of motion sickness come on, but I swallowed it back. It was my only option. I lugged my bags down the stairs and found the greyhound office.
"Hi, I'd like to catch a bus to Chicago."
"There are no buses going to Chicago this morning."
"What?"
Just a little hint of panic hit me. I was stuck in Champaign. 2.5 hours from Chicago and I had a flight to catch and no one to call if I needed help.
"Are there any other ways to get there?" I asked.
"You might try getting a shuttle." The woman said to me, "But it'll cost you a fortune."
I dragged my bags to the city bus and shuttle office.
"Is there any way I can get a shuttle to Chicago this morning?" I asked.
"Let me see...." The lady tapped away on her keyboard. "There is one this morning... oh wait, it's full."
She gave me a smile "I'm sorry."
"Is there any way I can trade seats with someone?" I asked hopefully. I had $40.00 in my purse and I'd hoped it would last me a lot longer than one day, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
The lady moved to a different computer. "Oh, actually, there is another shuttle today..." She said, "But it doesn't get to the airport in Chicago until about 1:00. Is that okay?"
A four hour bus ride. I could feel the wave of nausea.
"That'll be great." I answered her.
"Are you a student?" She asked.
"Yup."
"Well, then you get the student discount."
She handed me a ticket and I handed her $39.00. I sat down to wait for the shuttle and in my backpack I had a fortune cookie and I opened it up and it said "When one door closes, another door opens."
I took my car sickness medicine and when the bus finally came I squished in with all my bags and passed out. I slept most of the four hour journey (with my mouth open, nonetheless) and got to the airport and rushed inside. I checked in with Air Canada and went to go through security and there was a lineup of over 200 people. I tried not to panic. After all, what could I do?
A man motioned me aside and asked for my passport. He looked at it and my ticket and then pointed to a different lane.
"Go down there."
Yes! They were going to fast-track me through security! A woman greeted me at the door.
"Have you had this done to you before?" She asked politely.
Suddenly I didn't feel so jubilant. "Uh... what do you mean?"
"Have you had the 'four S's' of security?"
I had no idea what she was talking about but the four S's didn't sound that exciting. She told me to go into a little room with glass walls and stand on a little mat with my arms out while they searched me and emptied my bags and swabbed everything with little wands. When they were done with me I collected my dignity and my clothes and my bags and rushed down the hall to my plane.
Just in time, they were boarding. I got on and sat down next to a huge German man who wanted to talk about international business with me. The pill I took must've still been working because I passed out with my mouth open. I woke up as the plane was taxiing towards the gate in Toronto.
"Are we already there?" I asked, surprised.
"I can't believe you slept through that!" The man said to me. "That was the worst flight of my life! The turbulence was so bad that I was barely able to keep in my seat!"
Praise the Lord.
In Toronto I had to go through customs and security again and then I found myself sitting in a lounge waiting to board. An old man started talking to me. I told him how I was excited to be getting home that night, even though it would be 11:00.
"what do you mean?" He asked. "Our plane is landing at 9, not 11."
"It is?" My ticket had the wrong time printed on it and I hadn't even thought to calculate the time difference. Well, I would just call my mom and let her know I would be arriving earlier. I punched the number in my cellphone. Uh oh, no money left on my phone.
"Would you like to borrow my phone to make a call?" the man asked.
"Yes, thank you!"
The flight to Vancouver was not as fun. I had the window seat, next to a very large young man with the worst breath in the world and a very large lady. The young man was coming from Saudi Arabia and didn't speak English but wanted to talk. I told him Vancouver was beautiful and he managed to say "I... think... Vancouver is beautiful because you are there."
Boy, did I have a surprise in store for him. The last hour of the flight I suddenly began to get sick. I grabbed for that little paper bag and I started retching violently. It was horrible because I was actually making vomiting sounds that everyone could hear. The young man looked like he wanted to get as far away from me as possible, but the lady handed me some tissues and said, "Don't worry, I'm a nurse." (That made me chuckle cause I say the same thing to people.) Thankfully I hadn't eaten much that day (on purpose) but I still gagged for ages and by the time the plane landed I wished someone would put a gun to my head. I folded over the top of my little paper bag and just left it on my seat.
Someone helped me get my bags down and I stepped into the cool night air and felt so happy to be home on Canadian soil.
Some people love to travel. They love the excitement of the planes and trains and airports. I guess I do love it, in a way, but I think I mostly love the new places, not the actual journey. I am impatient to get there and I am impatient with the amount of suffering it necessitates. But I am constantly amazed at the little ways God works to protect me and take care of me and make a journey that could've been horrible, not be so bad after all.....Except for the vomiting in front of everyone, that is....