New Zealand to Sydney to Dubai to Ghana on Emirates Air (fantastic food and service) was uneventful, so I'm starting on the Ghana to Freetown leg. The only noteworthy comment on Emirates Airlines was a spirited discussion about religion that flared up between an Arab, a Ghanaian, and an Australian. Who says you can't discuss religion amoung strangers? The stewardess tried to break it up, but everyone assured her all was well and the group dispersed with good natured jibes about whose god was best.
Transit from Ghana to Freetown started off as a piece of cake. We got off the plane in Accra, Ghana into 32 degree heat (celcius) which would have been lovely except for the five layers of clothing I was wearing. We must have had that deer-in-the-headlights look, because an officious looking man in a blue suit with a big pot belly scurried up to us and the only two other white people there and rushed us through a labyrinth of shortcuts, skipping immigration and customs. 'Africa is great', we were thinking, 'so easy, much more efficient than SFO'. But unfortunately he left us stranded in a queue and things slowed to a snail's pace. It took 1.5 hours to move the 40 feet to check-in. At the podium, five staff members were busily working. That is, one poor chap was filling in paperwork, three were gossiping, and one lady had her head in her arms and appeared to be taking a nap. On the other hand, muscley guys in uniform with AK 47s wandering everywhere...gotta say it - kinda hot.
After showing the same documents through another four checkpoints we finally reached the security queue to get back on the plane from Ghana to Freetown. Apparently the chances of terrorists overthrowing the plane with a shoe bomb are higher in Ghana than Dubai, New Zealand, and Australia? I was patted down and had my bags searched, while Ide had his lighter confiscated. My backgammon set was eyed with great suspicion until I opened it, at which point the escurity guard exclaimed in delight "oh, it's just like [insert strange word here]" and cheerfully waved me through.
At this point we'd been 36 hours in transit, and 43 since I'd showered. I noticed people giving me a wide berth...I wonder why?
Everyone on the African legs seems maniacal about getting on and off flights. Disembarking at Ghana people were literally clamboring over one another to get to the front of the plane - despite the 20 minute wait to actually get off. Embarking Ethiopian Air (well actually they changed the airline on us to some rickydink airline called Air Sky) for Freetown was the same in reverse. I've never seen a crowd of people move so quickly. Finally, after all the security hurdles we were jammed into a bus to be taken to the Freetown plane. Hot and sweaty we waited forever for the bus to move. When it finally did we drove 20 feet and got off. It would have been 10 times quicker and considerably less painful to walk.
We were seated at the back of the plane underneath an overhead compartment of oxygen masks and life jackets, so in the event of a water landing we would have been quite safe. A ruckus erupted at the front of the plane between the airline attendants and a very large baldheaded man. Several of the attendants needed to restrain one attendant from punching the guy, but as long as the flight took off we weren't too concerned, although the smell of festering airline food was a bit sickening.
Two hours later we arrived in Freetown...that post coming soon.
