The day before I left, I had 2 finals, and last minute packing. My flight was scheduled to leave at 9:30 am from Dulles. Dad and I were going to drive there Thursday night, but I was too busy with last minute stuff. I went over to visit Gail the night before I left. She gave me a book called Dare to Love Completely by Janine Roberts. It is the story of the time she spent at an orphanage in Zimbabwe, and Janine's brother went to high school with Gail so that's pretty cool. Thank you, Gail, for thinking of me. I loved the book!
I was able to go to sleep at 11:00 pm, and Mom woke me up at 1:30 am to leave for the airport.
Luckily, I was able to sleep most of the way in the car -- my poor father was not. We arrived at the airport, got checked in, and had a last minute meal of Cinnabon before heading to the gate. For some reason, I didn't get the boarding pass for my connection in Addis Ababa. I was told I was supposed to get it there. When I went through security, the TSA guy commented that I had a long trip ahead of me, and I got to inform him that Ethiopia wasn't even my final destination. I felt so cool.I waited at the gate for my people to arrive. Tony, from California, was the first to arrive, followed by Mike from Boston, and then Madeline. I was able to talk to my friend Katie from sc school before and after the final we had that morning (I took it the day before). While she was walking the halls of school, she ran into our Dean, and then gave the phone to Dean Chase. Dean Chase's last minute advice to me: "Don't fall in love. Come back to us." No prob, Dean Chase. No prob.
For some reason, we were delayed out of Dulles and didn't leave til 11 am. I was sitting next to a very nice man from New York who was on his way to Addis to complete his adoption. His wife was sick and couldn't go. A few rows back was a friend of his also on her way to adopt. She would often come to talk to us. They were both very nice, and made the 15 hour flight more tolerable. However, about 4 hours into this 15 hour flight, I was stir-crazy and bored. I overcame it by watching movies (Harry Potter 6 and Four Christmases).
We eventually landed in Rome (view from the window and Your's Truly).
It was storming, and there was definitely loud booms and bright flashes of light when we were landing. It was terrifying. My poor little sister would have been screaming (2 things she can't stand: flying and thunderstorms). Luckily, she was safe and sound in Scotland. We were in Rome for an hour, but we couldn't leave the plane. Around this time, I was concerned about making our 90-minute connection in Addis (remember we left 90 mins late).
Six more hours later, we finally arrived in Addis, and sure enough, we missed our flight. We hung out in the airport waiting to Ethiopian Air to figure out what they were going to do with the 17 of us who missed it.
(Mike and Brian. Brian and his wife Pourmina were on their way to climb Kili. They are great people. In this photo, Brian is showing Mike how to use his camera.)
(Madeline)
(Tony on the phone to CCS Tanzania to tell them that we were going to be slightly late.)There was talk about going through Nairobi or Dar es Salaam, but in the end, we spent the night on Ethiopian Air's dime at M.N. International Hotel.
Up next, Adventure: Ethiopia. Stay tuned.
