GUYS! I survived my very first World Race travel day(s)! Our travels officially began last Tuesday at 12:25am when we began taking shuttles from our hotel to the Atlanta airport. Our first flight to DC was not scheduled to leave until 5:20am but, with a group of 35, you need to get to the airport super early. I now have a special place in my heart for the United staff that had to check said 35 20/30-somethings in for all three of our flights. Since our final destination was in Cote d’Ivoire, this involved scanning not only each of our passports but verifying our visas as well. By the time we all walked away from the counter, these folks literally looked like they had just completed some grueling physical workout. Also, I am proud to say that my pack weighed in at precisely 49.5 pounds. (One of the guys may or may not have put my tent poles in his bag for me–thanks for that, Dirk).
Our first flight seemed non-existent to me as I fell asleep long before take-off and did not wake up until we were at Dulles. Not to my surprise, everyone seemed pretty rejuvenated upon arriving in DC despite the fact that most of us did not sleep prior to our 12:25am hotel departure. Why? Because we were all very concerned with what was going to be our last American meal before we boarded our next flight to Ethiopia. Priorities are priorities. When we were getting settled at our gate in the international terminal, we learned that the flight to Ethiopia the day before was delayed for four hours and eventually cancelled. Folks that had been stranded the day before were frantically gathered around the service desk at our gate, hoping that they still had a seat on our flight. Our take-off time approaches and the airline had not even mentioned the boarding process yet. An hour ticks by…then two hours…another 30 minutes…At this point, a few of us grew slightly concerned as we were only scheduled to have a 2.5 hour layover in Ethiopia before our flight to Abidjan. By the time we were boarded, it was over three hours after our original flight time. The captain announced over the PA that the reason for the delay was due to “slow boarding.”
Seating-wise, our group was pretty much scattered across the whole plane. I sat next to a lovely Ethiopian couple that kept asking me, “Are you sure you are supposed to be here?” I later learned that they were under the impression that I was 14 years old. As the flight drew to a close, we learned that we were going to land in time to make it to our next flight–woohoo! I slept through most of our last flight, and we were all pretty thankful to finally arrive in Abidjan. After going through customs, we grabbed our bags and my team’s host was waiting to greet our whole squad. (Side note: our hosts are the sweetest. You’ll hear more about them later).
Our squad got to spend the night together at a conference center in Abidjan before going our separate ways on Thursday morning. My team was going to be located in Korhogo, a city in the northern part of the country. As a result, we still had a ten-hour bus ride to conquer on Thursday! We left for the bus station at 6am, and our taxi proceeded to drop us off at the wrong bus stop. After finally making it to the correct bus stop, we boarded and learned just how cramped African buses are. All of us needed to sit with our 20-25lb daypacks on our laps. Everyone was seated so close together that, when we started sweating, you honestly had no idea if the sweat was coming from you or the person next to you. Needless to say, it was pretty darn cozy and I was so thankful to be seated with other girls on my team. We had heard stories about how bumpy the Ivorian roads are but I don’t think any of us were prepared for the reality of said bumpy roads. The bumps would cause the bus to rock back and forth so hard that objects would fly off of the overhead racks and hit the people seated below (except my team is convinced that every falling object seemed to hit just me). By the end of our ride, I had been hit in the head with a ukulele, a 15lb duffel bag twice, and a boxed Barbie. The MVP of the ride definitely had to be my motion sickness meds. All in all, I was just grateful that the bus had air conditioning. Thanks for that, God.
After the bus ride, we were only about a ten-minute cab ride away from out hosts’ home. The first few days were spent doing language/cultural training and getting settled. I am so excited to tell you guys more about our new home, our hosts, and the ministry work we will be doing this month!
With love from Korhogo,
Alexis
