Travel Day 2 Update

The flight from London to Ethiopia went well.  (For those following my facebook posts about carry-on luggage, they did weigh our carry-ons, but we came in under the limit!)

We flew on Ethiopian Airlines, which was fun, as the magazine had lots of info about Ethiopia, the announcements were in Amharic and English, and it just felt like a little taste of Ethiopia before we even arrived.  The supper was really good; not just “airplane food” good, but “could I get this recipe” good.  So that was a relief!  The kids slept pretty well, and I got a good 3ish hour chunk.  Dave didn't sleep this leg. 

When we arrived in Ethiopia, we lined up for our visas.  The flight attendants had only passed out the arrival cards to one half of the airplane, so it took a little while. We actually got called out of line to go ahead because we were travelling with children.  I only felt a little guilty. ;)  Then we had another line to go through immigration, and then off to the baggage claim area.  That was an experience!  There weren't any carts left by the time we got there, so Dave stayed with the kids to watch for our bags while I went off in search of a luggage cart or two.  A very helpful airport employee (not a porter) eventually helped me get one cart and I decided that would have to be good enough.  (Carts would be brought in from outside and people would attack the poor man and take the carts.  Very pushy! I don’t know if I’d have ever got one without that man’s help.)  The bags took a while to come, but eventually they all showed up.  Then we had to line up again because they x-ray all bags before you leave.  While we were in line, with one cart, and 4 suitcases, a man approached with a cart and asked if we wanted it for our 4 suitcases.  I mistakenly thought he was an airport employee like the last helpful man.  Um, no.  He was a porter and wanted $20 usd for bringing us a cart (I think he would have pushed the cart for us, but we didn't need/want that).  I thought that was ridiculous, and we finally paid him $12 usd to just leave us the cart.  Anyway, the airport was a reminder that a person has to be much more aggressive and less polite (it seems) or you get run over!

Afroland had sent someone to pick us up, and he was waiting for us when we got through security.  (We thought it was Markos, but maybe Aseffa? Or someone else? )  He had parked right in front of the airport, but then was approached by security and told he couldn't load us there.  So he had to drive through the parking lot and we had to follow as best we could with 2 carts, 2 kids, and a few backpacks.  It was interesting!  But we made it and got to Afroland without trouble. 

We got minimally settled in, had some breakfast, and then Dave and the kids napped while I set off on a couple adventures... But that will be the next post...