First, I apologize for any grammar errors or other sentences that don't make sense....you try writing on weird sleep patterns, traveling through a variety of time zones, etc. Continue reading for a taste of what life has recently been like for me.....
Well for all you curious readers, here is a brief update of
my recent travels. It all began at the
wonderful hour of 4am on Friday June 27th. After multiple stops, a delicious road lunch,
being extremely squished, and watching the sunrise and set, I arrived in
N’Djamena. It only took approximately 14
hours. I had the privilege of spending
the night in the home of some family friends.
The hospitality was amazing and I truly enjoyed myself, however……I had
no mosquito net and even with the assistance of good ole Deet, I still pretty
much look and feel like I have the chicken pocks. Saturday morning I sat chatting with members
of the family. I headed to the airport
only to discover that my flight was cancelled or seriously delayed, who really
knows. Instead of leaving Chad at 2:00pm
I left around 12:00am. Needless to say,
my connection was long missed. Thus
began the long process of waiting in lines.
I waited in line to obtain my boarding pass. Then I waited in line to obtain a hotel
voucher. I had a scare that I would be
trapped in Ethiopia for quite some time, due to my voucher saying that my
flight would leave at 11:00pm on July 1st. Turns out that paper was wrong! Upon arrival in Ethiopia, I began standing in
line again. I had to get my hotel
assignment. Then I had to go through
customs in order to leave the airport.
Finally I caught the shuttle to my hotel. All together I spend about 2 hours waiting in
the Ethiopian airport just trying to figure out where to go. Now remember, I am exhausted, itchy, and
these are not nice neat orderly American lines I was waiting in. There was a whole lot of pushing and crowding
and I was honestly ready for a bit of personal space after the whole
ordeal. So I arrived at my hotel and
immediately took a WARM shower. It has
truly been months since I last did this, and let me just say it felt
amazing. It was rather disgusting when I
washed my feet and I could see the dust just melting away from them. Also another shocking things was simply
sitting on my bed and having it bounce a bit.
It has been some time since my bed bounced! Being slightly more comfortable I took a long
desired nap. After my nap I went to eat
lunch…It was rather strange. The food
was good, but it is never nice to eat alone and then they took my water. The greatest discovery of the day was WiFi in
the hotel. So I was at least able to
contact my beloved family, their plans are also ruined due to my late arrival…
Later in the evening I returned to the front desk of the
hotel to double check the shuttle’s departure time, because I did not want to
miss that! The lady at the desk said my
name was not on the list and asked if I was sure I was leaving. I immediately said yes, I have my
ticket. She said, well if you think so,
the shuttle leaves around 8:00pm. So I
was prepared and managed to get my flight and arrived in Washington. I will finally reach my destination of SanFran
at 3:18pm. It most certainly was some
long days of travel but I am very grateful to finally be back. I highly anticipate seeing my family waiting
for me to travel to my grandparents and enjoy a nice swim in the pool. I am ready to be done with waiting in lines
and sitting all day long!
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| view out my hotel room in Addis |
