Went to bed nice and early in our lovely hotel so that I could get up nice and early to eat and catch the shuttle to the airport and catch our flight. Complimentary breakfast in the restaurant was excellent!!! Fresh squeezed orange juice, warm soft boiled eggs, cheese and breakfast deli meats, mushrooms, and LOTS of wonderful bread.
After breakfast we checked out and took the shuttle to the airport. Check in and security was a breeze! We helped a woman who is a native Sierra Leonean with her bags because she had NINE of them. Apparently she lives and works in the States, and whenever she visits her family she brings all kinds of things for them. A couple in their mid to late fifties also helped her, and they are also headed to Sierra Leone to a different hospital north of Makeni. I mentioned the therapeutic feeding center to them, and Steve gave me his card so we could get in touch. His son works for a company that makes food specially designed for balanced nutrition in children, and they are very generous with their donations to projects such as the one at MCH. Hopefully it works out!
After a quick flight to London, I was told that my carry-on, which was deemed too large when we boarded and had been stowed with the checked baggage, would have to be picked up at the baggage claim. Which meant going through customs, down a flight, and once I had the bag back upstairs to departures to check back in. While I was waiting for my bad, I saw Elizabeth's bag come around the carrousel. And then Tanis's luggage came by as well. We had all been told that our bags were checked through to Freetown, and I knew that Tanis and Elizabeth wouldn't know to come get them, so I went and asked luggage services what to do. They assured me that my bags were, "probably checked through, since they didn't arrive on the carrousel, although since you've lost your luggage tags (glare) we can't really check, can we?" I went up stairs to departures and checked in, and got another glare for, "transporting other's luggage," and, "attempting to check baggage other than my own." After that, every question I asked was answered with, "you'll have to talk to the BMI customer service desk."
After more ridicule about lossing my luggage tags and attempting to transport and check someone else's baggage, I was finally told that they would page Tanis and Elizabeth and tell them to come check in their bags. In the mean time, in order to get more information about my bags I'd have to go to the Brussels Airlines desk to get my luggage tag numbers and find out where they were routed to. After confirming that my bags were routed to Sierra Leone, and another visit to the BMI customer service desk that was accompanied by a lecture about how I should have just tole the baggage guys to re-route the baggage, and for not having an international cellphone (see mom, I'm not the only one!) we finally reached Tanis and Elizabeth and I just had to sit tight until they could get through customs to come check their bags.
After they checked their bags, we hurried through security to our gate. Once there, it was a breeze. We flew to Marrakech first, because the plans that land in Freetown can't refuel there, and wouldn't have enough fuel to get back otherwise. I sat next to a really nice guy who is from Sierra Leone, but teaches at a high school in Chicago. He visits Sierra Leone every summer to see his family, and gave me his email and told me that if/when I get a cellphone that I should get in touch with him, and if ever on a weekend Tanis, Elizabeth, and I want to come down, stay with him, see the beach, see the sites and so on, that it wouldn't be a problem. He said he lives on the west side of Freetown, which is the wealthier side, and has a large house that we can stay in. I will definitely email him, but I think I'll see what Dr. ABD or Dr. Erdi think about the safety of visiting Emmanuel having only met him on the plane ride over.
As soon as we landed in Freetown, it started pouring and thundering. We hurried onto the bus and through customs, which are much less intense than getting into the U.S., and I found someone waiting for us with a sign that said, "Alma Students." I met Dr. (Insert unpronounceable last name starting with an 'A' here) who said he is related to Dr. ABD. He helped us find out luggage, and then we joined the chaotic flood headed toward the one door out. I had people yelling at me for luggage tags, trying to push in front of me to get out, I got separated from the group briefly before Kathy (Steve's wife) block everyone off and said in a very assertive voice, "Let my girl through!" Sounds a little bit like a different Kathy I know!
Dr. A took us to our hotel, where they told us we'd have to wait until the other people in it left and they could clean it, and Dr. A said, 'You can't rush these things, you may rest here in the lobby." About forty five minutes later, they ended up deciding to put us in a little villa out behind the hotel because it had three beds, and once I'm finished here, it is to that bed that I intend to go.
Ta!
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