And we're off!!! ...to a bad start!

So we're heading back to Dominica tomorrow. We've been preparing basically since we arrived in the U.S. We've bought all the necessary things that we need to survive until April. We've packed our bags, weighed them, unpacked our bags, weighed them again. We are each allowed a total of 50 pounds. That's not much! Especially since our big, nice suitcases probably weigh 7 or 8 pounds when they're empty. Anyway, we have done everything that you are supposed to do to prepare for international travel. Today we got on to check in to our flights (since you can do that up to 24 hours before the flight) and print our boarding passes. We printed our passes from Nashville to Chicago and Chicago to San Juan. Then we tried to confirm our flight to Dominica on Thursday. For some reason, the confirmation number we had was not working. Ryan called the airline and they said that our travel agent, that had booked our flights on October 12th, had canceled those flights on October 22nd!!! Nobody told us! And nobody gave us any money back! We had a BIG problem! According to the airline, the earliest flight to Dominica was next Wednesday...meaning Ryan would miss the first 3 days of class. Well, that wasn't an option. There are only 2 airlines that fly into Dominica and we were searching like crazy to find a flight, any flight, to get us there before school starts on Monday. I found a flight to Antigua and from Antigua to Dominica BUT we have to spend 2 nights in San Juan, Puerto Rico and one night in Antigua. We are leaving tomorrow (Wednesday) and arriving in Dominica (hopefully) on Saturday! Basically, the travel agents mistake has caused us to pay a lot of extra money and we probably both have high blood pressure tonight. Our flight from SJ to Ant. and from Ant. to Dom. is not guaranteed. It is first come, first seated. Once the plane is full it is just tough luck to the rest of the ticket holders. Please pray for us to have a safe trip and for us to make it to Dominica on Saturday, if not sooner!!!