Jan 20: Home .... and sick...

Hi everybody,

Kotoka Int. Airport, Accra

Jan. 20 .... and I am home .... safe and sound in Bruchem. 

And I am also sick. I think it's traveller's diarrhea. I must have made a mistake somehow with food or water.  It started yesterday evening late and I still feel quite weak.

Maybe it has also something to do with the flight from Accra to London. It was extremely cold in the aircraft, something was wrong with the heating.
So I will write about my last days in Ghana later on.

The whole trip was not really good. The plane left Accra 1 hour too late, around 23:30,  and we almost had to stay there overnight. So everybody had to hurry and take seats asap. The airport closes at 23:00 but was so kind to let us go if we would hurry.
I was very happy we didn't have to stay there overnight, that would have been a disaster.

Btw at Accra Aiport your temp. is measured because of Ebola. If you have a fever you can't leave the country untill you have proven you do not have Ebola.

Heathrow security ...

At Heathrow I had to hurry for the flight to Amsterdam as we arrived late. So I rushed and rushed and all went well ....but of course I had to pass security.... So... bags on the conveyor belt, plastic bag with liquids out of the bag, laptop and smartphone out of the bags, remove my shoes and take care that nothing was being stolen.....

And bingo  ...... one of my two backpacks did not get through. I asked why and they said they wanted to search it. I said I was going to miss my flight. "You must have left liquids in your bag so that is your fault" was the answer.
There were about 6 or 7 people in front of me so then I knew: I am definitely gonna MISS my flightto Amsterdam because of this. And I was sure there were no liquids in my bag. Boarding would close around 6:30 -6:40 and it was 6:30.

Handbag

Everybody who was waiting was very annoyed. I think it took about 20 minutes before it was my turn.
The officer asked me to open my bag and went trough all my stuff. The problem was .... my HANDBAG that was in the backpack. They could not see what it was and could not see through it..... sigh. At Accra Airport that was no problem, in London it was.

I went to a service desk right away and they said: yes boarding is closed....
So I sent Albert Jan a text message but that was too late, he already left for Schiphol....

Then I  went to British Airways customer services to reschedule. The lady behind the counter said she could reschedule me for the 10:30 flight to Amsterdam - and it was 7:00 PM....
So I said: that is very late and at the other desk they said there was a flight at 8:25 PM....
She looked again and said: o yes, you are right ...[sigh]  ....And she booked me for that flight.

When I got on board I was snapped at by a young Dutch business man and everybody was looking at me like: What is the problem with that guy ....
I said to myself: sigh... I am in Europe again ...... let's send that guy to Ghana, maybe he will learn to be polite and kind there,,,,

Misty and cold...

The pilote said it was -1 degrees Celsius at Schiphol and very misty ....
They did a full automatic landing because of the weather and several other planes coming in after us had to divert to other airports!

So I was kind of lucky after all.

AJ picked me up and we went straight home. He had to take half a day off because of this, we were home around 13:30h. So next time I will go home by train or Schiphol taxi ....

It was a huge experience for me to go all the way to Ghana and help FARA with IT.
I am by the way very aware of the fact I resided in the best region of Accra.

It was so good to meet all kinds of people, at FARA and in Yemi's church.
They were all extremely kind and happy and open to foreigners. That I will never forget.

And um... It IS cold here. I know now how African people feel whe they come visit....unbearably cold :-)