Day #9- Journey Home

Sunday- Beginning of our long journey home

This morning we woke up at 6am, finished packing and had our last delicious meal cooked by the famous Fadia. The bus was right on time; he pulled in the gate at 7:00 to pick us up. We loaded up the van with our luggage and off we were to Freetown. Our goal was to make the 11:00 ferry to Lungi, we were the last vehicle to make it on the ferry.

Once we arrived at Lungi we headed to Sierra Paradise Hotel. We had no idea where we were going but the bus driver promised us it was “close” and beautiful. We started down a long bumpy dirt road. Not knowing where we were going it seemed like the road that never ends. We went through village after village, through a police check point, through what seemed like the jungle, and over a “bridge” (which by the way I was scared to death to go over). Finally, an hour later we hit a beautiful white sand beach. There were actually people there vacationing. Everyone on the team was talking about how nice it would be to vacation there. Not me, it was way too remote for this girl.

After some of the team had lunch at the beach resort and we got the bus unstuck (sorry forgot to mention that excitement), we headed back down the long bumpy jungle road and headed to Lungi Airport Hotel. We showered (the water was actually hot)  and relaxed for a few hours then off we were to Lungi Airport where the next stop in our long journey home would take place.

Well I showered and felt much better just to stand in line for hours at the Lungi airport to go through multiple check points and security checks because they don’t have metal detectors there. I believe I pulled my passport out eight times before I finally got to sit in my seat on the airplane. We had a pretty good dinner at the Lungi Airport restaurant. The only weird thing we encountered is when one of the customs guys asked for one of our TSA locks. He didn’t know what it was. When Laura handed one over, he asked if we had a key to go with it. Too bad he didn’t know he was the one that should have had the key. Now he has a TSA lock that has no use to it because he doesn’t know the code to unlock it, loser. We took off right on time, 11:45pm.

The flight to Heathrow, London was uneventful. We had a MUCH nicer crew on the BMI then we had going to Freetown. I slept off and on; it was only about a 6 hour flight so it was hard to sleep because we had a meal right when we got on and again an hour before we landed. The group did have the exit row so we had a lot of leg room. It was ALMOST like a free upgrade to first class.

We arrived right on time at Heathrow. I was totally jealous because Scott was home when we got off and the rest of us had a 5 hour layover and 8.5 hour flight still ahead of us before we finally reached our home and final destination. Once we got checked in and through security for the British airways flight we had very British breakfast at the Giraffe at the airport, can’t wait for American food!! I relaxed for the rest of our layover and thought about how EXCITED I was to get home. It will feel good to be back on American soil.

I was SO happy when our plane finally landed at Dulles. I couldn’t wait to see my family, get a clean shower, sleep in my own bed, and it lost of food. I wanted to start singing “God Bless America,” I was so happy and relieved to finally be home.
I had a wonderful time in Africa; it was an experience of a lifetime. Those children will forever be in my heart.