This morning we woke up at our normal time and went to Morning Handover before leaving. It was great to be able to see everyone one last time, and say goodbye to everyone. I was very sad to say goodbye, but at the same time I’m so tired, I want to get home to my family! We took some pictures with everyone, and then piled into the car and went on our way. It was sad to say goodbye to such a great place, but hopefully it’s not goodbye for good!
We traveled on the main roads to Freetown, and were hoping to make the 14h00 ferry across to Lungi. When we got there, it was shortly before 11h00, when the first ferry of the day leaves, and they decided to try and fit us on, so we had to literally run through the gates to get on the boat. When we got on, we tried to find somewhere up inside the cabin where we could sit down, but there wasn’t a space for us, so we ended up standing next to the car. It had been a cloudy day, but about ten minutes into the ferry ride the sun came out and shined hard on us for the rest of the ride, and guess who forgot to put on sunscreen? I made it the whole trip without forgetting and without getting sunburned, and on the last day got a burn! Good thing it wasn’t a very bad burn.
Once we got off the ferry, we had a short car ride to the airport, which was a beautiful ride. It was very beach feeling and peaceful, and seemed almost like that beach-y surfer attitude. When we got to the airport, we had like six hours until boarding and it was around lunch time, so Taylor and I took a short walk to the market and found some boiled eggs and fruit to snack on. When we got back to the car, we moved our stuff to the check in area and waited some more. Taylor and I played cards, and waited until it was check in time.
Once we were allowed to check in, it seemed like we got first priority for whatever reason, which was nice, and check in was really smooth. They did ‘search’ our check baggage, but all they really did was open one of my suitcases and send us on our way. Then we checked out bags, and sailed through customs. We were basically the first people in the waiting area, but because two flights were leaving that evening things filled up quickly.
About seven games of wild rummy latter, the plane we were taking home arrived with our friends who were replacing us at MCH. We asked the security personnel if we could go through to meet them, and she said no. I thought she was being silly and was telling us no only because she was getting tired of doing her job and didn’t want to deal with people. I told her I was disappointed in her, and she gave me this look like, “Girl, please.” She reminded me of a Jerry Seinfeld bit where her talks about airport security and that the ‘first line of defense’ should be the ‘heavy set woman with pants that look like they’ve been spray-painted on. You should be able to see the flap pulled open and the metal tangs of the zipper hanging on for dear life!” She fit all the necessary requirements.
When we finally boarded, I was sitting near but not with the rest of the girls. I thought about trying to switch with whoever sat next to them so that the four of us could sit together in the four middle seats, but I ended up falling asleep and barely woke up for dinner so I guess I didn’t really mind that much. Because the Sierra Leone airport doesn’t have a fueling station, which makes sense for them financially but isn’t that great of a situation for the airplanes that come through, we had to stop in Gambia to refuel, and pick up more passengers. Apparently while we were on the ground in Gambia, there was an argument over who actually had a ticket for one of the seats in first class. A man who’s son works for Brussels Air, was convinced that his sun had gotten him that seat even though he had no ticket, and refused to move to a different seat because he didn’t want to move his stuff. Luckily the woman who actually had a ticket for that seat was gracious enough to give up her first class seat to sit in the absolute back of the plane. I slept through the whole thing.
This post is dedicated to the child who died during the night.
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