last blog

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Hi all,

Last blog because I said I would write one more and so that I didn't end on 13 blogs but 14 instead!

I have now been back just over a week, it's lovely to be back in the UK. I have done a lot of travelling i the last week, 7 flights!

My last day in Gambia was a nice day but a bit disappointing as the weather wasn't so great. I had been hoping for sunshine so I could spend my last day on the beach but it was pretty grey. I went to Bakau one last time to pick up my bag from the tailor this time it was finished thankfully. I then spent most of the day packing before meeting everyone to go out for dinner. We went to a restaurant called Paradiso's in the Senegambia strip, it was mainly Italian food and served good pizza. We got home and said goodbye to everyone before gettig a taxi at midnight to the airport.

Banjul airport has very little within it. Checking in was a very different experience. We queued when we got there for about 45 minutes to be let into the check in area where we could then queue again to check in. At passport control they took a photo of your passport which I found very strange and was a bit worried about. We got through security I set the alarms off but they didn't search me, I also managed to bring a bottle of suncream through with me ( I didn't know at the time, I only found out later!).

Our flight was due to leave at 3:50 however this didn't seem to matter, we didn't board the plane until 05:10am which meant we were late getting to Spain but this just meant our stop over was less, something I really didn't mind.

We reached Gatwick at 4pm and then I just had a few hours to wait until I got my flight home to Jersey. I was so pleased to be home!

Since being back I have been thinking about my time away and all the things I'll miss as well as the things I'm glad I won't have to face.

I'll miss the sunshine and being able to wear shorts and flipflops everyday. I'll miss eating out cheaply and being able to get taxi's for 14p-£1. I'll miss all the lovely people I met at the hospital and within the MRC. I'll miss the hospital and feeling like part of the team with my own responsibilities.

I won't miss the ants that formed an army trail in my bedroom. Facebook being blocked on the MRC computers. Seeing people die and be in discomfort due to inadequate resources.

Overall I had a great time and I feel like I learnt a lot. I possibly wouldn't go back but this isn't because I don't like Gambia but because there are so many places to explore within Africa so I think I would go somewhere else.

Thanks for reading.

K x

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