Made It--Only took 48 hours!

Sorry, these are being posted out of order.

[Written Saturday, January 17, 11pm]

Well, I made it! It has EASILY been the worst travel experience I've ever had--and they haven't all been peachy before this! I checked out of my posh Westin room at noon on Friday. My 4:00pm flight to Amsterdam left on time and arrived an hour early. The one highlight of my trip to Ghana this time was that I had an entire row of 4 seats to myself from Detroit to Amsterdam. I laid out, people! Unfortunately, the two babies under 18 months in front of me cried the entire time so there was no sleep to be had.

Got to Amsterdam with over 9 hours until my next flight. Yuck. I couldn't get my boarding pass from Amsterdam to Accra in Detroit, so I went to the transfer desk to get it. Not opened at 4am. I went to the automatic kiosk and it said I had to talk to an agent. That should have been a clue, but I was in denial. I found the "comfort chairs" (leather recliner chairs) and settled in for a 4 hour nap. At 10am I got up and headed back to the transfer desk. They couldn't find me on the flight! I didn't have a reservation on that flight! I told them I HAD to. The people in Detroit even gave me a seat number. Nope. No ticket on this flight. They had me on yesterday's flight. There were a few tense moments before the ticketing agent smiled and walked over to me with a boarding pass. I was lucky, she said. There were a few extra seats on the plane. And you know what? I felt lucky! I just wanted to get there!

My ticket wasn't for an aisle seat. It was for a window seat. So I got to be stuck with two people between me and the bathroom. I went to my Zen state telling myself I had to make only ONE trip to the bathroom the entire 7 hour flight. The guy next to me thought it was okay to shake his legs against my leg the entire trip. Don't be that guy. It's NOT okay! ;-) The food was the worst its ever been (beef instead of chicken???). The flight was an hour late getting into Accra. And to top it all off, my luggage didn't arrive.

I thought maybe my luggage would have arrived the day before, on the plane I was supposed to be on. Nope. They don't have it here. "It's lost" the agent tells me. Supposedly they will call today and tell me when it might arrive here in Ghana. In the mean time, I have one winter-ish outfit, and one Ghana-appropriate outfit. Two pairs of underwear. A pair of shoes that doesn't match my Ghana-appropriate outfit. No laundry detergent. No bug replant or sun protection. And very crazy hair (with all my hair supplies in my luggage).

So there you have it. My worst travel experience to date. But you know what? It could be worse. I almost didn't pack my "emergency" outfit into my carryon this time. I do have most of my toiletries, and all of my adoption-related documents (and care packages for kids). I can hear someone in my ear saying, "Well, God must have something special planned for you this trip, for satan to have made it so horrible for you getting there." I certainly hope so!

Anita