Greetings from cool, foggy Kampala, Uganda, East Africa.<\/p>\n
My trip started in a freezing cold plane in Amarillo, Texas. \u00a0 The heater that they usually warm the planes with in the mornings after they have sat all night was not working and neither was the on board quick heater. \u00a0 There I was in my sandals, looking all African-ready in the teen temperatures of frigid West Texas. \u00a0 We were all literally shivering for most of the flight. \u00a0I’ve only had one flight colder and that was from Almaty, Kazakhstan to Semipalatinsk Kazakhstan in the dead of Winter with no heat whatsoever. \u00a0 My pants leg stuck to the side of the plane when I slept. \u00a0 I had to carefully peel it off. \u00a0 This Amarillo flight rivaled it though, and I’ve not been so cold in years.<\/p>\n
I met a guy on the plane that was local to me, living and working in Saudi in oil and gas and returning home from a Christmas vacation. \u00a0 I love meeting world travelers on the plane because we always have lots to talk about, and share. \u00a0 It is an elite group of people that travel for pleasure and for a living. \u00a0It is fascinating to know where other people have been or are going… \u00a0So that made the icy trip not so cold.<\/p>\n
Houston to Toronto was uneventful and I even slept. \u00a0The funny thing is that this flight is new to the “Star Alliance” and the guys that drive the ramp up to the door, were not\u00a0familiar\u00a0with the plane so we had to all sit down until the door ramp could be properly aligned. \u00a0That took about 20 minutes. \u00a0 \u00a0When we arrived in Toronto the airport was so familiar. \u00a0 Lots of nice memories there for me. \u00a0I met dear friends that I will hold in my heart forever the week I spent in a Toronto conference a few years back.<\/p>\n
I was excited because it was snowing! \u00a0However when I got to the flight sign I knew I was in trouble. \u00a0 I had only an hour and a half until I departed for my next flight but something was wrong. \u00a0 They were unable to give me boarding passes in Houston but gave me a confirmation pass so I could get one. \u00a0That said it was a Continental-United flight on Lufthansa operated by Air Canada going from Toronto to Brussels. \u00a0 My itinerary said my flight was from Toronto to Montreal to Brussels. \u00a0The only flight up on the board was not the number or the flights I had. \u00a0 What a mess. \u00a0 So I asked customer service for Air Canada, they sent me to the international terminal to the gate where the flight to Brussels was. \u00a0 Unfortunately that was the wrong gate, the wrong airline and the wrong flight. \u00a0 I finally found someone that was actually working, and she was very kind but told me I have to back track. \u00a0 Now….Toronto has some VERY long walkways and no walk-ride on the way back.<\/p>\n
Because I’ve recently had feet issues and have been told I need a series of \u00a06 surgeries, this was not good news. \u00a0 I walked until my feet were screaming.<\/p>\n
I found my gate finally but yet they still could not get me the boarding pass to Brussels nor Entebbe. \u00a0All were operated by Brussels Air via Canada Air so their systems were not connected??? \u00a0That was the worst part. \u00a0 So I did go to Montreal after all, got off the plane, walked around the corner and sat to get right back on the same plane and the same seat to go to Brussels. \u00a0Ha. \u00a0 It was strange.<\/p>\n
The weather delayed us over an hour arriving into Brussels, and they have a very bizarre, almost Eastern European-like bus system to take you to another terminal. \u00a0It was time to board the bus that came every 10 minutes, my flight would leave in 10 min. \u00a0I didn’t have a boarding pass and they just told me to go get one at the gate after I wait there over 30 minutes with them punching codes and finally not knowing what to do with me since I didn’t have a boarding pass. \u00a0 I had to run to the bus. \u00a0RUN. \u00a0 My feet! \u00a0Because I had to go backwards, I had to pass through security yet again. \u00a0 Yes this was the flight they picked me to unpack. \u00a0 Sigh.<\/p>\n
Running to the gate I finally make it but they have sold my seat, and their computer has malfunctioned and they can’t get anyone a real pass or look up much. \u00a0They take 20 minutes wondering what to do with me. \u00a0Now mind you I’m thankful that they waited, but it seemed logical to just put me in business class don’t you think? \u00a0 So there was a lovely Ugandan lady that gave up her seat for me and they let her go to business class while she yelled at the flight attendant that it was just wrong that she should be disturbed and moved all around. \u00a0 There was an argument that ensued and the lovely woman sitting with me said “I’ll be so very happy to change my seat…” knowing that she would get business class but the Ugandan lady kept mumbling about how put out she had been and how disturbing it was to have to move her own luggage to the front where she would be able to lay down flat as we flew. \u00a0What a deal. \u00a0 I felt like a VIP since the whole plane was waiting on me and now staring, \u00a0and my boarding pass issue had finally been forever resolved.<\/p>\n
I again got a very wonderful and delightful English seat-mate that has started a school in Kamuli area. \u00a0 We exchanged information and since she was a teacher she gave me some resources for materials for the North. She had climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro when she was 50. \u00a0 Where else can you meet people who have those kinds of adventures? \u00a0We both decided that economy seats having an interesting person to talk to was better in the long run for both of us. \u00a0We never did understand why they did not just put me in first class and avoid all the trouble.<\/p>\n
I love the connections of wonderful people that God gives me on the plane. \u00a0 Those people you know but for a moment, yet they manage to touch places in your life that will always be remembered.<\/p>\n
The arrival to Kampala was so familiar. \u00a0 I felt good this time, at home, calm. \u00a0 My feet at this point after my legs being bent were like balloons. \u00a0 No pain but just severely swollen. \u00a0 \u00a0I waited until I’d seen every bag 200 times go around the carousel. \u00a0No big green ugly bag of donations. \u00a0 No black wonderful bag of personal items. \u00a0 Sad.<\/p>\n
So I fill out the obligatory information and inform them that I will come back to the airport myself to pick up my bags tomorrow. \u00a0 I have to wait until the Brussels flight arrives then at 8:30.<\/p>\n
I only packed half of a change of clothing, but the airport gave me a t-shirt and other toiletry items thankfully since there is such a\u00a0limitation\u00a0now on what you can carry on.<\/p>\n
I finally exit and my dedicated driver has been patiently standing outside for about 3 hours since we were late. \u00a0I hugged him so hard, I was so happy to be “home.” \u00a0I adore this man and his ethic, his punctuality and his vast knowledge of Africa and tolerance of the American culture.<\/p>\n
The familiarity of the guest house was so welcoming, and yes I was greeted many times with the Ugandan “You are very welcome!” \u00a0 I so love that.<\/p>\n
So that is my travel the first day. \u00a0 I won’t even tell you about my feet. \u00a0If I was in the US I would be iced down and possibly seeking medical attention. \u00a0Here I will just pray.<\/p>\n
Dogs barking in a predictable sequence all night. \u00a0Choruses of them in different locales…a concert of canines keeping me mostly awake, yet I didn’t care. \u00a0 I had arrived, and here I collapsed into my mosquito net bed and smiled. \u00a0Tomorrow, I would have internet and tell the world my story.<\/p>\n
Two puzzling things…<\/p>\n
Greetings from cool, foggy Kampala, Uganda, East Africa. My trip started in a freezing cold plane in Amarillo, Texas. \u00a0 The heater that they usually warm the planes with in the mornings after they have sat all night was not working and neither was the on board quick heater. \u00a0 There I was in my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[585,115,268,165,11,383,5],"class_list":["post-484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-africa","tag-amarillo","tag-entebbe-airport","tag-kampala","tag-travel","tag-travel-problems","tag-uganda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":486,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions\/486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}