Day 1 - The Twists and Turns of Travel

The day started off normal enough. I woke up early, finished packing, cleaned my house, and tied up a few loose ends with work stuff. We left Masaka just after 11am, giving me plenty of time to be at the airport the requested “3 hours” before departure (which, by the way, is still WAY too early) for my 6:15pm flight. Jeff and Shannon, another couple living and working here, said they thought I was cutting it close. I told them I had more than enough time. They countered with the possibility of getting a flat tire on the way up, or any number of other unpredictable things that seem bound to happen on Ugandan roads. I hadn’t even considered that, so I felt lucky to be at the airport with plenty of time to spare. So far, so good.

Waiting at the airport was boring, but it was fine. It gave me time to read up in the Lonely Planet guidebook about Cairo. The first flight was average. Of course it was a bit delayed, but what plane isn’t these days? My first stop was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (I guess I should preface all of this by saying I was on a different flight than Sean and Jamie. In fact, I flew out of Entebbe ten hours before they did – which left me with the prospect of waiting at the Cairo airport for a long time. But that didn’t happen. Suffice it to say, they beat me to Cairo.)

Once we landed in Addis, I went to the gate to get my new boarding pass for the second portion of the trip. But to my unpleasant surprise, although I had a confirmed reservation, I didn’t have a seat on the plane. They overbooked the flight – as many airlines do – so I had to wait to see if other passengers didn’t arrive. Initially, this wasn’t a huge deal to me – I had time to kill, so I would just take the next flight to Cairo. The problem, though, was that the next flight wasn’t until the following evening! So now I was looking face to face with the prospect of staying in Ethiopia for a day by myself (which wouldn’t have been horrible, just not preferable), missing out on a day in Cairo, and not knowing how I was going to get in touch with Sean and Jamie. I sat nervously waiting in the terminal, watching loads of people board the plane that I desperately needed to be on. Finally, when only I and three standby passengers were left, and the plane was ready to take off, they gave me a boarding pass and let me go. Praise the Lord! I was going to Cairo! … But not yet.

There was one more stopover in Khartoum, Sudan. But this was just a quick stop – drop a few people off, re-fuel, then get back in the air. We didn’t even have to get off the plane. But of course, this didn’t end up being a quick, routine stop. The fueling seemed to take an extremely long time. Then we heard there was a flat tire (of course, on the plane rather than the car!). But that seemed like an easy enough fix, so we waited. About an hour later, still waiting, some passengers were starting to get very impatient. After plenty of arguing and yelling, we were allowed to get off the plane. So we waited inside the airport, a slight improvement to sitting on the plane. It took them the better part of two hours to finally bring us some food and water, which helped people to calm down a bit. But now it was 4am, and we had been waiting for them to re-fuel and fix a flat tire for four hours … really? A flat tire? Come on … But apparently they didn’t have the right parts at the airport, so we had to wait for another plane to come from Addis Ababa. Ok, we’re in for the long haul!

So at around 5am, they took our passports, gave us “boarding passes” for identification (though they were blank), got us into buses, and took us to a hotel in town. After even more waiting, we paired up and were given rooms. So we finally got to sleep, at least for a couple hours. (To find out what happens next, please see “Day 2” tomorrow.)

An interesting side note to this unpredictable travel fiasco is the various people on the plane with as many different stories. I couldn’t help but think a little bit about “Lost,” though I knew this was not nearly as bad. The demographic on the flight was about as diverse a mix as you could have. There were Americans, Europeans, and many different African, Middle Eastern, and Asian nationalities represented. I’ll just detail a few of the people I talked to during this time. There was a guy from New Jersey, who is married to an Ethiopian-American girl in the States, but they came to Ethiopia to have the cultural wedding here. They were accompanied by nine other Americans and were planning on traveling in Cairo for a few days before they all go home. There was a diplomat from the Somali government – the Communications Director. He was a young, very nice man who gave me some insight on what’s really going on in Mogadishu. We also had a very interesting conversation about what Muslims believe (or at least what he believes) about Jesus. There was a pair of Kenyan cousins who were starting their studies in Cairo. A couple middle-aged British women were finishing part of their Africa tour. And a group of Arab businessmen that just happened to be leading the charge against the airlines.

And of course there are so many more stories to be told. I think if I had the time and desire to do so, I could write a great book about this whole experience. All these different people. All their different stories. The reasons they’re traveling. What they were doing before they got on this ill-fated plane. What they should be doing now, rather than sitting at a random hotel in Khartoum. Not to mention the ridiculous circumstances setting up this whole situation.

So in summary … A word of caution: never book a flight with Ethiopian Airlines. A word of hope: I am okay, since I eventually made it to Cairo and back to Entebbe. And a final observation: traveling is unpredictable, and it helps to have an attitude of patience and contentment, so that little disturbances don’t become huge problems. So, with all of that said, I wait.