Timothy arrived about 15 minutes later and promptly delivered us in plenty of time to the U.S. Airways check-in counter at Blue Grass Field. We learned from the airline clerk that our U.S. Express turbo-prop connection to Charlotte would be leaving from Gate C-5; so after we checked in, we took our carry-on backpacks with us over to the Gate C-5 waiting area.

After taking some pictures of one another in the waiting area and of the plane out on the tarmac, I then left my backpack with Jeremy and walked back to the entrance to take some more pictures, trying to retrace our actual entrance into the building. When I reached Jeremy again, I noticed that the number counter for my camera was not changing when I took a picture. Just before we left the terminal to board the plane, we had a brief prayer together, giving our families, ourselves and our trip to the Lord, asking Him to use it in our lives however He wills.

Sitting here in the plane about 3:15 p.m. writing in my journal, I am trying not to panic about my camera. I estimate that I have already taken about twenty pictures. So when I reach the film’s designed limit of twenty-four, I will rewind the film, put another roll in and see if the counter resets itself. Even though the number was not changing, each time I took a picture, the motor inside of the camera sounded as if it actually was still moving the film. Anyway, I will check it when we land in Charlotte.

We finally boarded the plane at 2:40 p.m. and left on time at 2:50 p.m. The information card on the back of the seat in front of me describes our twin propeller plane as a British Aerospace Jetstream Super 31. Jeremy and I were supposed to be sitting next to each other, but the seating in these small planes is so tight and the number of people on this trip is so few that the flight attendant let him move into the seat behind me and next to the window. He is now in seat 3A, and I am in 2D. Both of us are right next to the engines.

After our flight lifted into the air, the pilot announced that our trip to Charlotte should take us about seventy-five minutes. The actual schedule allows for eighty-five minutes. So that gives them about a ten minute fudge factor. Right now, at 3:25 p.m., we have just hit some turbulence; in fact, it feels as if we are riding on a roller coaster. I even had to stop writing in my journal because I could not read my own writing. Everything seems okay now as the pilot took us up above the turbulence.

Our flight from Lexington arrived in Charlotte at 4:05 p.m., about ten minutes early, and we deplaned into Concourse D. Our flight to London would leave from Gate C6 in Concourse C; so, now we must find our way there. Once we had found our new waiting area and since neither of us had brought any British money with us on the plane from Lexington, we felt that our next task was to find a bank in the terminal which would sell us some. We found just what we needed downstairs next to the British Airways ticket office. I exchanged 376 US dollars for 235 British pounds. When I did the math on this exchange, it turned out to be that each pound cost me $1.60. Jeremy decided that he wanted to test out an ATM machine to buy his pounds. His 200 British pounds cost him 324 US dollars or about $1.62 per pound.