Baltimore and Beginning of a BonVoyage

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This morning we woke up and got ready for the beginning of our voyage to Ghana. We walked down the street to Caribou Café to get some coffee and a bagel. We met back up at the hotel, and hit the streets. We went first to the new CRS building in Baltimore - which is very nice, thought just a shell of a soon to be office. After, we went to the Catholic center to do all of our pre-trip briefing, so to speak. After we finished, we went across the street to the Cathedral, which was a nice break. We grabbed some lunch at a place called David’s and Dad’s (I think)… where I grabbed my second bagel of the day. From here, we walked back to the hotel to get on the shuttle to drive down to the Dulles airport to fly to Amsterdam. I don’t remember much of this because I fell asleep on the drive there. When we checked in, I helped this one gentleman with his many many bags to the check in counter, but lo and behold he ended up being on our same flight to Amsterdam, but he was to arrive eventually in Uganda, us Ghana. At the airport gate, I had a rather interesting conversation with him. He had been in the US for the past few weeks traveling around to different universities participating in conferences within his field of comparative politics. The things I remember him saying in his commentary on the US follow:
“I’ve been staying in a $700 a night room, but I don’t even have a dollar in my pocket”
“Americans love 5 things, their food, their alcohol…” somehow this got cut off and I never found out the other three…
“I will never understand these ‘tips’ you have here. Why not pay them enough and not worry with tips?”
And the most thought provoking question I’ve ever been asked, nor have I ever considered the answer to:
“How does it feel to be a part of the most powerful country in the world?”
It was an interesting start to my adventure. I tried my hardest to give somewhat-smart, non-controversial answers.
Our conversation was eventually joined by a British man who worked for God TV. Nice guy.

From here, I boarded the best plane ride of my life to date. It was a KLM flight and I had an aisle seat, with no one next to me, my own personal entertainment system in the back of the chair in front of me, free booze, actual silverware, two blankets (three if you count my prayer blanket my Parish in Austin made me), two pillows; it was wonderful, and I was in an economy seat! Oh, and it was the first plane ride I’ve been on where I actually got NUTS! - roasted almonds to be exact! I was so happy to get a lil’ packet of plane nuts. Once I got over that, I watched Babel, which probably wasn’t the best idea considering my situation at the time but it was at least captivating, and then a Simpson’s episode to lighten things up. I slept quite a bit on this flight since I was able to stretch out so much. Only complaints - my gosh the air was so dry, and the seat in front of me seemed to go down way too much… but otherwise, all was well.

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Photos

Austinites
(taken by Sarah) the St. Austin's Parish people

Baltimore Babes
(taken by Sarah) walking to get breakfast

My Serious Addiction
(taken by Sarah) the first coffee of many on this trip...

Lunch Venue
(taken by Sarah)

Bus Ride
(taken by Sarah) from Baltimore to Dulles Airport

Didn't take me long
(taken by Sarah) I learned this trick during my Italy trip... after staying up all night hanging with my pal Vince the night before... I was so tired.

My New Friends
(taken by Sarah) I swear I have a sign on my forehead that says "TALK TO ME"

Our Delegation
(taken by Sarah) Before we departed

Over the Atlantic
(taken by Sarah) We are probably over miles and miles of ocean at this point...

Comments

[Vince]

this is an insufficient entry.
I should be in this story some where...