Monday, October 30, 2017

Getting there...

October 29, 2017, 11:15 PM Accra City Hotel

Dear Family and Friends,

Here we are again in Ghana, staying overnight and heading out to Liberia tomorrow.  Most trips are fairly uneventful, thankfully.  And as long as the plane lands safely, anything else is just petty complaining.

In order to save a lot of money this trip, we had to book an extra flight to Seattle first, then onto London and then Accra.  We were happy to get this schedule, even though it meant adding one more flight to our usual schedule; our only concern was a short (time-wise) connection between the second and third flights in London and worried our luggage would make the transfer.  Because of this we did some carry-on luggage just in case, but also checked two bags, one of which was for donations.
 
For our first and shorter flight we asked for an upgrade to 1st class on American.  I was not surprised when we got it considering our status with them.  Because this was a smaller plane, it meant that we had a little extra room and got an actual meal.  The plane must have been new, as the personal screens were large and clear and everything had a new feel to it.  Our cold meal was lovely and very good.  What I didn’t know was that we’d actually get to watch a movie of our choosing.  This lovely new plane made the other two larger planes pale in comparison, especially the last one—small, hard-to-see screens, less room in between rows, aged upholstery, etc.

We arrived in London only in time to head towards our departure terminal, a long process, but time to rest for a minute before departing.  Our flight to Accra, was 1½ hours late, which is quite typical.  The lines getting through customs are long these days in Accra, but the airport has been modernized and orderly and in time we got up to the counter.  This is where old people get in trouble, as did we. 
On the Ghana visa it shows the date of the expiration of our passport, and then the date of when the visa was obtained and for how long.  It does not show when the visa expires.  Jim had checked on this at least three times before we planned our trip.  The problem is that he had been looking at the passport expiration date—our actual visas were expired last month!  Not a problem, just go get one and pay cash for it. 

One can never do anything quickly though in Africa, leading to what most couples say when working here—TIA (this is Africa) to remind us that we’re not in Kansas anymore.  When we left the customs line, we could see that many more had arrived so that the line was way out of the serpentine area and that we might have to get back in that line again!  That turned out not to be a problem though because it took another hour for them to issue us a visa.  We sit there and watch them, never in a hurry, but still, do they try to make it as long as possible?  It must be some sort of art form…  So we paid our $100 cash, knowing we have to do the repeat on our return in two weeks, just to stay overnight at the hotel here in Accra!  Ugh!

By the time we got back in line, we saw that we were among the last half dozen people to get out of the airport.  I told the local airport workers that we were there to clean up after everyone was gone!  Jim was so anxious to see if our luggage had arrived, that he left me there to wait for my passport and went on his own.  Our luggage had arrived, and that was what we’d been worried about all along.  We felt so blessed.  Then as we went to get out of the airport I asked Jim where my small carry-on luggage was—sure enough, in his haste he had left it near the carousel!!  I was so happy I’d noticed!  It all makes me wonder if we’re getting too old for this…no brains at all, apparently…

Our next worry was that the Accra City Hotel shuttle had stopped running this late with hardly anyone left in the entire airport.  Much to our relief, there he was waiting for us still! 

So, safe and sound, all luggage accounted for, and our old brains somewhat still with us…blessings!!  We awoke in time for breakfast—my hair hadn’t even moved during the night—some sound sleeping!

Love, Jim & Karen, mom and dad, E/S Greding


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