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The captain has notified
us that we are descending into Brussels, Belgium.
The Chicago to
Brussels portion of the trip is always the most difficult. For some reason the standard seating
layout for a 767 aircraft was patterned after the Inquisition era torture
chambers… only worse. This flight
was 100% full and it’s also a night flight. You leave Chicago when it’s daylight,
fly through the night and arrive in Brussels when it’s daylight
again. With the time zone changes
it seems like you’ve flown for much longer than the 8 actual hours of
flying time.
One good thing
about Brussels is that you have approximately 5 hours of layover
time. We had a bite of breakfast
(3 of us had 2 fried eggs each plus a half of tomato with cheese melted
on it and a cup of hot tea) and it cost over $40 US. The airport food is super expensive
anyway but the exchange rate on the U.S. dollar makes it even
higher. Anyway, after eating a
bite we found a place in the floor of the airport and laid down for a nap
of about an hour. Trying to sleep
in an airplane seat is pretty hard so it feels so good, even on a hard
floor, to be able to lie out straight for a little while.
Soon it was time
for the flight to Monrovia.
Sometimes the flight stops in Abidjan, Ivory Coast first and then
to Monrovia. Other times it goes
to Monrovia first. This trip we
had to stop in Abidjan. This part
of the flight over is always better for at least reasons: 1) the Airbus
330 layout is more comfortable than the Boeing 767 and 2) there are fewer
people. On the Abidjan to Monrovia
segment (approx. 1 hour) Gayla and I each had an entire center section so
we slept for about a half hour.
Arriving at Roberts
International Airport is a much nicer experience than it used to be since
they have fixed up the airport, gotten more organized and stopped
non-flyers from coming into the baggage area. It didn’t take much time to go through
immigration and customs. Robert
and Peter were on hand to pick us up.
Soon we were off to the Normans.
It was completely
dark for the 45 minute drive in and that gave Robert and me time to talk
a little STS business. We are
taking the Ford F-250 diesel, 4WD, truck given to us by Suwannee Baptist
Church, to the Children’s Village.
It had the vacuum pump go out about 2 weeks ago so I brought over
a new one in my luggage. Robert is
going to have his mechanic put it on first thing in the morning.
Upon arriving at
the Normans, we were greeted by Alvina and Esther. Carl Hadley was also up to see us
arrive. Laurence was already in
bed and Christine is back in the U.S. getting a checkup from the
oncologist. She went through
extensive medical treatment for breast cancer last year and this is her
first checkup since then. Esther,
always the professional, had supper prepared for us. There was rice (always in Liberia),
palm butter with beef, cucumbers, corn casserole and baked bread. It was very good (for those of you in
the know, Dr. Asa will have to be tolerant with
us during this trip).
Finally we were off
to bed. Fred, Cathy, Gayla and I
are sharing a room with 2 sets of bunk beds. I’m not sure why but Fred and I have to
sleep on the top bunks. At 6’2”,
I’m a little taller than the bed was made for but the other 3 aren’t
having any space problems.
This is the first
time I’ve visited in the middle of rainy season and it’s very comfortable
for sleeping. More lat…
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