You can take the flight from Yaoundé to Douala and then fly Brussels Air straight to Kinshasa. We'd planned on a quick and easy trip home. Does Rule #1 always have to apply?
We left from the Thompson's home AT 8:30 am, stopped to see the Elders and then headed to the airport. Flight #1 went just as planned and we were in the Douala airport by noon.
We knew that flight #2 to Kinshasa didn't leave until 5:00 so we had five long hours to wait in the airport. Since we had no transportation, addresses don't exist, and we didn't know our way there to tell a taxi driver, we couldn't spend the time with the missioanries. We just had to look for a comfortable place to settle in for the day, but couldn't even find a chair to sit in. Finally, we asked a man who works for the airlines where we might go until check-in time. He took us to a small snack bar in the airport that we'd never even noticed.
After about four hours the check-in finally opened and we checked our bags, got our tickets and went to the boarding area, which wasn't any too comfortable either.
The plane, which was coming from Brussels, was about two hours late. Now we'd been in the airport for over seven hours. We anticipated another hour's wait to clean and refuel the plane, but when we saw people examining the plane with flashlights and marking x's on the outside of it, we knew that we were in trouble.
After two hours of this examination, they came in and announced that the plane wouldn't be able to continue on to Kinshasa. A part needed to be replaced because the plane had been struck by lightening and they'd have to fly that part in from Belgium. In the end, they didn't fix the plane, but flew another plane in. It also turned out those of us who were sitting in the airport were the lucky ones . There were over 100 people who had been on the plane for those two hours. About 9:30pm they took us all to hotels throughout the city to spend the night. We ended up in the Bano Palace Hotel. It was a pretty unsettling thought that we would be put in a hotel that wasn't of our choosing, but when we got to the hotel, we were pleasantly surprised. It was very nice. We were still in the same clothes and without even a tooth brush since our luggage was checked, but we were much relieved not to be sleeping in the airport. We hadn't eaten all day and were very pleased to have a meal in the hotel restaurant and a good night's sleep.
The next day we had nothing to do until the plane was ready. Our computer didn't even work. So we had a forced p-day and tried to just enjoy a little down time. We had nice meals, sat by the pool, bought ice cream at a little snack bar, and looked out over the city of Douala. We could see nice new high rises and also the more common sites of the city. We could see the tin roofs on buildings held on by old tires and people working in their tiny shops and yards. The number of large modern buildings is small in comparison to the many one-room homes and businesses in the cities we visit.
They told us to be ready at the Bano Palace Hotel at 2:00pm and they shuttled us all back to the airport for six more hours of waiting. This time there were about 200 of us in the small waiting area .
To make a long story short, our plane finally took off at 8:00pm that night. Upon arrival at the Kinshasa airport we were delayed 2 hours waiting for our luggage. Finally, after 38 hours in the same clothes and having spent much of our time in airports, we arrived home about midnight happy that we had finally finished the "easy trip home."
1 comment:
Ahhhhh. Ya got to love Africa. You are amazing examples to all of us. We admire you greatly.
Post a Comment