Akwaaba!

---

Hey All!

Akwaaba! or Welcome in Ghanian!

Just to let you know that I have now arrived and had a couple of days to settle in...

Here are some highlights from my journey getting here:

Thursday 29th January 2009.

Had a ridiculously early start this morning... decided at the very last minute (typical) that I wanted to re-pack one of my bags into my rucksack and take that instead... doh! It did make it easier to carry... until I got off the train at Gatwick and tumbled over my suitcase cos I forgot I had almost 20KG on my back... not to worry, nothing bruised except my image!

Checked in at Gatwick no bother... now, when they had intially told me that I could take 48KG I thought there had been a mistake... then I thought, that's a challenge... then I thought, hold on, thats about three quarters of what I weigh... that would be impossible to carry - ahha... another challenge! :o) So, yes, I had packed quite a bit... well, alot really, and if it hadn't been for Fabulous Flatmate Fran, then I would have had a hell of a lot more!!! Well, I certainly didn't have the 10 tonne that all the locals had... woah... they really had gone to town! I didn't look like such a ninny with my suitcase, backpack and oversized handluggage... and it all only came in at 40kg - disappointing!

We were late boarding - a great start, working on 'Africa time' was not going to help me catch my connecting flight! But once we were off the ground it was all good... had a movie to keep me entertained (Vantage point - v.good, would recommend it! Except, because it was a Libyan airline, they are muslim and therefore blurred out all the parts of the film where a lady was wearing a strappy top, or short-ish skirt!) The food was fab... here we go folks... I had a salad to start with a bun and then some lovely green herb chicken and some rice and veg, and then a fruit trifle and some cheese and biscuits... all washed down with some lemonade and a very stiff coffee!

As we came in to land at Tripoli International Airport, the pilot pointed the airport out as we flew past... and kept on going, and as I saw it disappear under the wing I started to panic that we were going somewhere completely different all together!!! But then he started to turn the plane around and nearly took the top of some little farmers house off... we were soooooo low coming in! I could see everything... all the farms, cars, people... I also noticed that in Libya they make a living out of farming lots of ... sand?!

In Tripoli Airport, everything was in script... ummmm... proved to be quite difficult working out where the hell I was supposed to go to get my next flight in 1.5 hours... you'd think a white western girl wandering around looking completely lost would attract some sort of assitance... you'd be wrong... so I figured it out by just looking at the numbers and following the familiar looking people from my other flight, and amazingly they let me get on the next plane!

This flight was even better, assisted not in the least by 2 very fit portuguese airline stewards, some chocolate cake for pudding and 3 seats all to myself :o)

Arriving in Accra, Ghana an hour or so late... I dragged myself off the plane into the sticky, sweaty humid heat and waited for my bags... and waited, and waited some more... when I was the only one left I started to panic... the little baggage handler man called me over and asked me to point out which of the 3 remaning bags was my suitcase... I duly pointed mine out (maybe a little too excitedly) and then he started to bribe me "how much?"... what, does it weigh? ... oh lots... "no, how much you going to give me...?" er... well, I have this english coin called a penny, you can get a lot with a penny... you want it?! " what else you got" ... well other than some tatty clothes and flip flops... surprisingly not a lot, I know it looks like more!? Anyway... with my wining smile and threatening fist I got my bag without having to pay the little man anything - Welcome to Ghana!!!

I had a much warmer welcome from the guy who was picking me up from the airport on behalf of Projects Abroad - Nyame. Who talked and talked and talked, but didn't do a lot of walking... it was 11.30pm and all I wanted to do was get to a bed and be able to wash.

Eventully got to my host family. The look on their faces as I came to the door with all of my luggage was one of pure shock... 'how long is she staying for?!'

Had a very brief tour of the house, ... but more about that later,... and finally got to settle down for the night...


Plenty more to write, but I feel I've already gone on too long... will keep you all posted :o)

Clare x

---

Comments

[Ru]

Congrats on getting there!
Hey hey!!! well done on getting there with all that luggage! Am glad you got to the house safely. Thanks for the update - to the extent we all know what you ate on the plane - v cute!! hope all is going really well with your Ghanaian family. Look forward to hearing more from you xxx

[Rob]

This all sounds very cool

[Nick]

Winning smile.
Hmmmm....I am guessing the fist was used more readily than the smile in this scenario. Am I right? Glad you got there safely. Is your Skype working? xx