Welcome to Conakry

Long day spent confined to a flying metal tube 30000 feet in the air. 21 hours of flying time to get from Vancouver to Conakry.

Left Kitt’s house this morning at 7 AM for an 11:15 AM flight. Had put the 6 pieces of luggage in storage at the airport the day before, so did not have to lug all those heavy suitcases around. 450$ (2 suitcases) worth of excess baggage (ouch), but when you think of it, its still less expensive than shipping all that stuff to Africa. Shipping costs would have run us up to over $2000.

All three legs of the journey went well...lots of leg room Vancouver to Montreal (emergency exit aisle), basically off one plane and on to the next in Montreal, bulkhead seating Montreal Brussels, good meal, two movies, 7 hour flight went well. Madeleine has a headache due to all the TV (movie) watching. Longer wait in Brussels, took time to buy a box of Belgium chocolates for Madeleine (her 55th birthday tomorrow). Third and final leg of journey (Brussels - Conakry) again went well. Lots of empty seats, so I sat by myself with free seat next to me. Madeleine and I have quickly become the ‘white’ minority. One hour stopover in Dakaar, sit (or rather stand) in the plane for an hour. Swollen feet hurt. Tired of sitting...and eating. Start reading briefing notes for new assignment in Conakry. Not a good thing to do....sliding back into the ‘am I really up to this challenge?’ space of mind. Do I really want to do this? Shaken out of the self doubt quagmire with the announcement that we have started our descent into Conakry. Oh well, no turning back now.

Arrived in Conakry 2 hours late. Typical African mayhem begins as soon as we land...people getting up to get their carry-ons (huge carry-ons) and flight agents yelling at them to sit down. Luckily, we’ve done this before so we don’t get too overwhelmed by it. I’m actually a bit surprised at the calmness and serenity that appears to have taken hold of both Madeleine and I. We take our time, we’re the last ones out of the plane. No reason to rush, we’ll all get there at the same time in any case. Standing on the tarmac, waiting for the bus to arrive.

Arrive at customs, well received (our Canadian customs guys could learn a few things from these Guinean customs officers). They take our Passports and direct us directly to the arrival area..sans passports. This would have usually and understandably bothered me before, but having done this before in May, I knew that to separate ourselves from our passports at this time was not a big deal.

Past customs, Sellia, our expeditor calls out my name and waves....relief. Mass of people at the luggage carousel. Djaina, the schools business manager shows up...again, relief. Our luggage shows up almost immediately, Sellia is ready with a luggage cart, almost has a hernia lifting those 6 suitcases.

Exit Conakry airport...people, chaos, traffic, heat, humidity, noise, ...we tunnel our way to the carpark where Bivan, our driver is waiting for us. Again, relief to see a familiar face in such a chaotic place. Immediately, guys show up to help Sellia load up the car...four guys surround Sellia and offer him their advise on how to squeeze 6 pieces of luggage in a small car. We succeed, Seelia tells me he will get our passports tomorrow at the customs office...they will be stamped with entry visas.

Madeleine gets in the back seat, I get in the front...unable to shut my door because of the 4 helpers asking for a donation for their consulting fees re: placement of baggage in car. Sorry guys, no money on me. They walk away saying goodnight. We drive off into the Conakry traffic...swollen feet and all. Welcome to Conakry.