The Airport Odyssey

I actually made it the Swahili Language School in Morogoro, Tanzania! I wanted to up load some pictures on the blog, but the computer I am using for internet access is REALLY old (it proudly wears a sticker that says “Made for Windows 98”), has black ants crawling on it and is extremely slow. I think that trying to deal with digital pictures might kill it.

In view of trying to extend the life of the school's computer, here is a summary of my journey from Camano Island to the Language school without pictures:

Feb 1st:
4:15 am Andy drove me to the airport shuttle.

6:50 am I was informed by the airlines that I had been bumped off my original direct flight to DC. Fortunately they were able to put me on another flight through Chicago.

Flight #1: Seattle to Chicago (approx 4 hours)

Flight #2: Chicago to DC (about 2 hours)

Flight #3: DC to Rome (a little over 10 hours)

In Rome we were supposed to have a 45 re-fueling stop, however, the plane got a flat tire. Now you might ask yourself, "How does an airplane get a flat tire?" and that is an excellent question. I still don't know the answer to this question even though I got to discuss it with my fellow passengers for 3 hours while the tire was being changed.

Feb 2nd:

Flight #4: Rome to Addis Ababa (continuation of earlier flight) (approx 8 hours)

Once I got to Addis I got my visa (this took about an hour) and collected my bags. Since the flight was 3 hours late, the driver who was supposed to take me to the guest house was not to be found. I found an airport taxi driver and gave him the directions the guest house that Tesfaye had written in Amharic for me. It is now about 11:45pm.

Feb3rd:
We arrive at the guest house only to find that it is locked and the guard doesn't have the key... He told us to find the person who has the key and come back. 1 am: It starts to rain as we pull up to the home of the person with the key. We then knock on the door and honk the horn of the car for 15 minutes. Finally we get the key and go back to the guest house. I lay down from 2am to 6am.

I get to the airport bright and early for my flight to Nairobi, only to discover that it has been delayed for 2 and a half hours.

Flight 5: Addis to Nairobi (about 2 hours)

Flight 6: Nairobi to Dar es Salaam (about 1 and 3/4 hours)

Since the first flight was delayed, I arrived in Dar late in the evening (about 8pm) and was informed that I had to wait until the next day for the bus to the language school. So, I got a hotel and actually got my first good night of sleep in 3 days.

Feb 4th:

Took a bus to the language school: Dar to Morogoro (about 2 hours).

I made it!