This trip was somewhat of a last-minute decision, triggered
by watching the great video that Dan produced featuring our last Uganda
adventure. Susan and Carly decided the
next day they needed to return to Africa soon, and quickly got Alan and Scott
on board. With the Christmas holidays
upon us, there was little time for planning and preparing.
The ride to the airport goes smoothly despite the rain, but
we leave early because the temperature is forecast to plummet and freezing rain
may sabotage our travel plans. United
Airlines allows us two suitcases each and we follow our usual practice of
scavenging old suitcases from friends and filling up one each for the children
of Kulikayo and Bright Kids. Nevertheless,
we have too many clothes and crafts for just those suitcases, so we agree to
bring a ninth piece of luggage and pay the $200 fee.
Sitting at the airport, we watch the steady rain turn to
freezing rain then eventually snowflakes.
We’re amazed at the array of machines and people working for Pearson to
keep the pavement free and safe. Many
US-bound flights are delayed or cancelled, but we are loaded on time to our
small jet. After the doors lock, the
captain announces that Newark airport has imposed a temporary “blackout”
meaning that no new planes can be allowed to take off for that destination for
the next 45 minutes. The cabin crew are
friendly while we patiently wait, but when it’s time to leave we are obliged to
spend another 20+ minutes at the de-icing station. Thankful to get away at all, we realize the
delays will have chewed up most of our 2-hour layover period in Newark.
Once on the ground, we are required to grab a shuttle bus to
Terminal C, and the departures board shows our flight as already boarding. Fortunately, the bus is at the curb for us to
board as soon as we get out of the doors.
The race down the hallways past security checkpoints to find our gate
seems impossibly long, but we are rewarded by seeing airline staff wave us over
to the empty departure lounge and gate.
We are only partly reassured by their assertions that our luggage will
arrive on the plane with us.
The landing at Brussels is very smooth despite the dense
fog, and we quickly grab the shuttle to Terminal T which services African
destinations but has very few amenities.
The flight to Entebbe is punctuated by the usual stop at Kigali, Rwanda,
which does not require us to disembark.
Most passengers have pre-purchased online Uganda visas, but that does
not seem to shorten the wait in the lineups.
At the luggage carousel, we are dumbfounded to see that only
one of our nine suitcases has arrived. How
could one make it but not the rest? Fortunately, it is Carly's bag, but the rest of us will be without a change of clothes and
toiletries for at least 36 hours. Forms
completed at the airport, and we are told the bags will arrive tomorrow night
around 1030 pm but will not be delivered to Banana Village until the following
morning.
To make matters worse, the drone gets confiscated. Uganda has only recently imposed many
restrictions on drones. There is a story
that some idiot flew his machine through an open window in the President’s
palace. From what I have read of
traveller’s stories, it’s a matter of luck whether one’s carry-on is selected
to go through x-ray leaving the airport, and, of course, we are so
unlucky. We are promised it will not be
a problem to retrieve the drone as we are leaving the country.
Exhausted by now about 30 hours after leaving Lindsay, we
are happy to settle into our rooms at Banana Village.
