Sunday, September 19, 2010

Off to Juba

We spent the morning lazing around G's place, packing and just relaxing. We had some more yummy beer bread for breakfast (I have GOT to get that recipe) and lentils and dodo for lunch. Then it was off to the airport.

The Entebbe airport was (according to T) really busy - lines everywhere! The process was a bit different than other airports I've been through:

  1. line up outside the airport
  2. show boarding pass at door into terminal
  3. go through metal detectors
  4. line up to show person passport and travel permit
  5. check into flight and check bags
  6. go through immigration (for some reason, I got 2 identical exit stamps)
  7. meet other NGO worker and compare flight departure times (his = 3:30pm, ours = 3:15pm, actual departure time = 3:00 pm!)
  8. go through security
  9. show boarding pass, passport to gate agent
  10. wait in lounge
  11. get on bus
  12. get on plane
  13. go flying! (only a 50 minute flight, but we got a meal!)
  14. arrive in Juba
  15. walk as fast as possible to terminal to beat the crowd
  16. read the huge billboard saying "Vote NO for war, YES for peace"
  17. enter large room with no internal walls or doors to separate passengers from people picking up passengers
  18. line up at table near the wall and sign name on list
  19. hand over passport, travel permit and yellow fever card to be checked
  20. walk over to a table in the middle of the room to have hand luggage "inspected" and marked with chalk X (though I'm not sure what they were checking for because they only take a quick glance in the main pocket)
  21. go over to the people who were meeting us
  22. watch as T gets our checked bags and has them inspected and marked

I'm glad T was there to follow, there are no signs about where to go or what to do. Even leaving the plane to go to the terminal I was lost - the VIPs have a separate entrance and neither are marked!

We picked up some bread and chicken for supper on the way home, an important task since T had 5 people besides us to feed. It was a late supper, so once we finished the dishes, it was shower and bed time.

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