I left Bujumbura on Tuesday morning. I had told Domitien that I needed to be at the airport by 12, but he had a Zoom meeting at 12 that he needed to be back for, so we left early. By the time we fought our way through the Buj traffic, it was about 11.40 when we reached the airport.
I hadn’t had time for lunch before we left, so I decided to splurge and get something solid to eat at the airport restaurant. I blew the last of my Burundi money on a very nice mushroom omelette (I have been craving mushrooms for weeks) and a huge plate of fries that came with both tomato sauce and mayo (I did try for a salad, but it wasn’t available.) Then to top it off I had a lovely fruit salad. All up a very enjoyable indulgence.
As I mentioned in my last post, I had to fly to Kigali via Nairobi. The flight to Nairobi was about one and a half hours. Then I had seven hours hanging around at Nairobi airport. I filled in time with a lot of games on my phone, a couple of banana smoothies from the yoghurt bar, and an attempt to get in a little sleep before the plane left at just after midnight.
When we were finally boarding I thought, “Well, the plane will go at the same time whether I am the first on board or the last, so I might as well wait and not have to stand in the queue.” BIG mistake! By the time I got on board, all the luggage racks had been filled. When I asked the attendant to find a space for my bag she said, “Oh, we’ll take it down” and went off with it. When she came back she said I could collect it at the luggage carousel at the airport. I pointed out that it had my laptop in it, and said I hoped it would be safe. She said, “You will have to remove the laptop.” I said, “I can’t remove the laptop, you have already taken the bag.” They found the bag again and brought it back up. By now I was extremely tired, and I remembered how quickly a laptop can become very heavy if you are carrying it around, and I objected strongly to being forced to carry it through the airport. After a bit of argy-bargy I finally managed to shove the bag under the seat in front, which they found acceptable, but which meant that I did not have any room to stretch my legs during the flight. Not the least impressed. I have often seen flight attendants move stuff around so that an extra bag can be fitted in, but this lot were not prepared to even try.
So, another hour and a half flight to Kigali, then eight hours waiting at the airport. Because the flights to Nairobi and Kigali were with Kenya Airways, and the ongoing flight to Benin was with RwandaAir, my checked bag was only booked to Kigali. I was told in Buj that I would have to collect the bag in Kigali and recheck it to Benin. At Kigali they met me off the plane with a wheelchair, which I didn’t say no to because by that time I was totally exhausted and I had no idea how far I might need to walk. However, the guy pushing me refused to believe that my bag was only checked to Kigali and needed to be rechecked to Benin, he insisted that it would have been checked right to Benin. Long, heated argument with him and the airport people till finally they said that they would check me and the bag in at check-in time in the morning. More games on my phone and a bit of sleep. Finally at 6am I got my boarding pass and luggage tag for Benin – though I was still none to sure that my bag was actually going to get here.
The flight from Kigali to Benin involved two legs. The first was about three and a half hours, to a city in Gabon, a small country on the west coast of Africa. This leg included breakfast. People often complain about airline food, but generally I find it quite enjoyable. RwandaAir was the exception. In response to the usual question, “Chicken or beef?” I opted for chicken. What I received was a square of pressed chicken in a white sauce, with a single overcooked broccoli floret and 3 small sweet potato fries, and a small tub of yoghurt and a bread roll. Not the most exciting brekky I have ever had! The second leg was about one and a half hours from Gabon to Benin, and included a “snack.” Again, “Chicken or beef?” This time I chose the beef. The bread roll had a single, thin slice of what looked and tasted like Spam. Moral of the story: if you want a half-way decent on board meal, don’t choose RwandaAir.
Benin is HOT! Very hot. I was very quickly dripping with perspiration. And my bag was one of the last on the carousel. I was getting more and more anxious, and drippier and drippier as I waited, but eventually it arrived and I was able to leave the airport. Pastor Roland was waiting for me, and took me first to book the bus for my travel from here to Ghana next Monday. Then there was a three hour drive from the airport to his town. By the time I had settled in to the hotel and finally crashed onto the bed, it was forty hours since I had last been horizontal.