January 29th, 2011 – From Africa to Asia
Yesterday morning we woke up early, around 1am, for our lodge transport to take us to the airport in groups of about 12 at a time. The drive to the airport and back takes about an hour. We finally had everyone there by 10am for our 1pm flight.
We flew to Doha, Qatar, on Qatar Airlines. It’s second only to Emirates, in my opinion. Though we flew economy, it’s much better than first class on many american airlines I’ve been on. The flight is seven hours long, so I watch Salt and Social Network for free on my personal screen which is built into the back of the seat in front of me. We enjoy steamed face towels, a glamorous TV chicken dinner, and I choose a velvety French red wine to finish, without having to pay out of pocket for it. After 3 months in Africa, two of which were in the bush, I don’t mind a few hours of pampering.
Arriving at 9pm local time, we lay over for two hours at Doha and hop on another Qatar Airlines jet en route to Manila in the Philippines. It departs around 12:30am and before conking out with the aid of complimentary sleep-mask and earplugs I now enjoy another chicken dinner and glass of wine, fast-forward through Step-Up 3 to watch only the dance sceens, and play a game of Battleship. I put a sticker on my eye-mask to alert the stewardess to wake me for meals before I doze off for a few hours of sleep. I’m awakened by breakfast being set in front of me, which I eat with thankfulness in my heart, and fall asleep once more. Next thing I know we arrive in Manila. It’ll be four more months before I get treated that well again. Yet, that’s not what I signed up for, so I happily exit the plane and head to customs, wondering what adventures God has in store for us in Asia.
As I stand in the customs line I notice two Filipino customs officers eyeballing me with giddy smiles on their faces; oh goodness, only one of them is female. As I walk. up to the male (because I was in his customs line) he comments that I look l ike Jack Shepard from the TV series Lost. Oh goodness! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve received that comment over the past year, even from before the race. After a quick few quips he’s done clearing me and I continue walking to our bus, seriously considering if I should try for a career in film. “Is that something you would want me to do, God?” I can’t figure it out, so I drop the matter and catch up with Michelle Smith on her past few months as our bus makes its way to the place where we’ll be spending the night. There’s a spaghetti meal awaiting our arrival. We’ve had spaghetti many times before, but this is the first time in seven months that we’ve had legit meat sauce! Jeff, the contact here, shows us our rooms, and I fall peacefully into the most jet-lagged sleep of my life.
