it was bound to happen…

Crazy travel days are kind of like medals of honor on the World Race. No one likes what you have to go through to earn them, but in the end, when it's all said and done, every racer loves telling their stories about the most heinous travel day they ever had. 
 

The thing is, B-Squad has been pretty blessed when it comes to our travel. Oh, we've had our fair share of delays, stinky buses, and even a theft at a border crossing, but nothing that stood up to the horror stories the alumni racers relished in telling us at training camp. Leave it to month eleven to save the day.

It was bound to happen, really. We all knew it. But even so, as we piled up our bags early the morning of July 28th to wait for our bus, most of us were optimistic that we would be at our hostel in Malawi late that night. 

Well, here's how that went for us:

3:45 am: All 45 of us are packed and ready to go, even if we are still half asleep. Mini busses are scheduled to arrive any minute. 

5:30 am: Mini busses arrive. We pile all 45 packs, 45 day packs, 45 people and an assortment of other items onto two 20 seat busses. 

6:15 am: Our busses cross the bay on a ferry. As we disembark the ferry, we hear some very concerning noises coming from the bus, and begin to smell a concerning odor. 

6:30 am: We arrive at the "bus station" – a random bus place in a back alley. It's not where we scheduled to be dropped off. We have a flat tire and several other problems with the bus, and the drivers are asking for more money to take us to the correct bus station.

7:15 am: We finally pay them, get picked up by a new mini bus, head to the real bus station.

7:40 am: Board our coach bus, get situated

8:00 am: Hit the road for Malawi

 

Hours and hours of driving ensue… us thinking we should be at the border by late evening. 

11:45 pm: Arrive at the Tanzania/Malawi border, only to discover it's closed for the night. Our driver tells us goodbye and leaves for a hotel. 

Midnight: get off the bus, brush our teeth, wash our faces and use the bathroom behind a random building before settling back into my seat… for the night. 

[July 29th]

6:00 am: Wake up to currency exchangers banging on the side of the bus and yelling at us, asking if we want to change our money to Malawian currency. Um… no.

7:00 am: I get off the bus, pay to use the bathroom, buy a coke and walk up the hill to get some chapati for breakfast. 

8:00 am: The border opens! But our bus driver is no where to be found. 
 

We entertain ourselves by eating more chapati and taking pictures. 

9:30 am: We walk across the border and get our exit stamps for Tanzania. Wait for the bus. 

10:30 am: The bus comes, takes us across to the entry border. Go through customs for Malawi, get our entry stamps. 

11:00 am: The bus parks 100 yards away from the border. Our driver leaves. Again. 

Wait. 

Get off the bus to go to the bathroom.

Wait.

1:00 pm: Get off the bus and eat some fried eggs and french fries from a shack with Kayla. 

Wait. 

Take pictures. Trade massages. Wait some more. 

 

[Jeremy is ready to drive us to Malawi himself!]

2:30 pm: One of our squad leaders goes to find the bus driver and tell him this is getting ridiculuous. 

3:00 pm: The bus driver returns, and 16 hours after arriving, we leave the border!

We are stopped every half hour or so by the Malawi police, who search the bus, and sometimes ask us to get off the bus so they can search more thoroughly.

9:00 pm: Stop at a gas station for "dinner." More chips, cookies and soda!

Again, we are stopped every half hour, asked for passports, bus searched. 

[July 30th]

2:00 am: We arrive at the Lilongwe bus station, about 6 kilometers from our hostel.
The bus driver tells us that he is going to a hotel and that we have to sleep here. On the bus. Again.

Much heated discussion, chasing down the driver, and more heated discussion occur

3:00 am: They finally agree to take us to our hostel. 

3:05 am: Arrive at our hostel and finally get off of the bus.

3:15 am: Start setting up our tents for the night.

4:00 am: I finally lay down in my tent and drift off to sleep. 

Thank. You. Jesus. 

For a great travel day story, and getting us to Malawi safely!

Month 11… it's here! I'm ready to finish strong!