We didn’t have to meet at the airport until 5:30pm so I spent most of Saturday finishing packing and cleaning up my stuff around the house. We needed to leave 25 pounds empty to pack bookbags that were being donated by the National Conference on Social Studies and a Blacksburg church was donating some books. One suitcase was packed with supplies and weighted 52 pounds (2 pounds over) and the 2nd suitcase was about 28 pounds. I was really worried there wasn’t going to be enough room for all of Dr. Kelly’s donations. I brought an extra bag of supplies I could pack if there was extra room after the donations but they were extras so I didn’t want to pack them before. As I left for the airport I was nervous about everything fitting.
Chris and Dad took me to the airport, my mom had to work a party. So when we got there I filled up my ½ empty bag with the donated bookbags and there was still enough room for some small little things. I packed it full with all the extra supplies I had brought. Yay! Everything fit. Dr.Kelly said that everyone was leaving enough space, so we wouldn’t have a problem fitting all the donations. Now the trouble was the weight. The 2nd bag was 46 pounds, so my dad and I moved 2 pounds worth of stuff to the 2nd bag. It worked out just perfectly! Sarah added some small things in my bags since I had left over pounds and each of my bags came out to 49 and 49.5 pounds! A whole pound in a half of wasted space! I was REALLY relieved about that!! The next concern was my misspelled name on the flight itinerary. My plan was to not draw attention to it and hope that they didn’t catch it. It was spelled “Alexander” instead of “Alexandra”. No worries! She didn’t say anything. Those were my only concerns so now I was relaxed and ready for the trip! Check-in went very smoothly. Apparently there was a backup with the checked luggage security. So there was some confusion about where to put our checked luggage. I sure do hope it ends at our destination in Lilongwe tomorrow!
Traveling with Dr. Kelly is amazing! She is super savvy and makes things happen and gets people to help her out! I don’t know how but she goes up to people and we got to skip almost every line except security. Check in, boarding, customs, we skipped all those long lines!
I left Chris and Dad when I entered the security line. It was sad because it was the first time I was saying goodbye without a real time we would talk again. Usually its “Call me when your on 81, or in Blacksburg,” etc. But since my phone will be off, and there is no real guarantee of the Internet, it was basically “I’ll see you in a month, email me when you can.” I didn’t like the uncertainty. The other girls were a mess! The other moms and dads were crying, and everyone was so emotional. It was funny but also a little sad. But the Hollars held it together just fine.
We had to get there 3 hours before our flight and I thought we would be sitting in the airport forever bored out of our mind. But check-in and security took a long time so we made it to the gate with just about 20 minutes to spare. I was prepared to buy something for dinner at the airport but Dr. Kelly said the airlines would serve us dinner first thing after we took off. She also said that since its international, they don’t charge for alcohol! As we waited to board, Dr. Kelly took a few minutes to explain some of the history of Malawi and gave us some tips. She told us not to purchase anything from the markets in Lilongwe because its super expensive since it’s the capital and you will find the exact same stuff in Zomba for much less. She told us we are “The biggest thing in town” and the locals at the market will know the day we come and where we will be each day until we leave. She also talked about the poverty issues. She said that Malawi has quite a lot of donors but that the money is all sent to Lilongwe and you will see BMW’s in Lilongwe, but the money for the country doesn’t go beyond the capital. That won’t do anything to help the poverty issues. By going to the villages and giving our supplies to them, we are helping reduce poverty by starting from the bottom of the totem pole and working our way up rather then starting at the top in Lilongwe. Dr. Kelly is so knowledge about everything! I am so glad to be traveling with her. Her first trip to Malawi was in 1998, and she has been coming ever since!
After a short Malawi lesson, it was time to board the plane. (Krista and I grabbed some last minute sweets before because we thought we wouldn’t eat them for a long time) I was prepared for overhead TV’s, but it turns out that we had individual TVs on the head seats in front of us. And they gave us little overnight goodie bags. The littlest things excite me! We could also follow our flight path on the monitor and read the flight data. It was really interesting! We were all settled and ready to go, but it was after our departure time. A couple minutes led to hours and we were suppose to leave at 8:30pm but didn’t leave until 10pm. Around 9:30pm we listened to an announcement but of course it was in a different language. Even when he repeated it in English, I couldn’t understand very much of it. Apparently there was some type of mechanical problem. It’s a little bit scary not having your language be the primary language. We just kind of had to hope everything was okay. We would get inpatient waiting for the English version, so Krista made friends with the girls next to her, and she would try and translate for us.
There are 18 total in our group, and the flight also had a large mission group going to Addis Ababa, and a second mission group going to Malawi. We are pretty sure everyone else on the plane was Ethiopian and/or some type of African decent. I’m really glad to be traveling in a large group. Everyone brings something unique to the group and we are getting to know each other pretty well. Almost everyone thinks we are a mission group, but I’m glad to explain to them who we are and what our purpose is. We are such a diverse group of people. (Okay, well maybe not. We have 1 black man and two black girls but everyone else is caucasian and female) But we come from all over the east coast and each have our own reasons for doing this trip. Mission trips are doing great things, but they aren’t the only people that can come and help/visit the country.
All of the plane meals have been just fine! The ones from Dulles were the best, and then as we got farther and farther away, they have gotten less identifiable. We would sometimes have to guess what things were because we couldn’t read the labels. I have traveled internationally before, but I’ve never felt like such a foreigner until now.
Finally after taking off 1.5 hours late, we were headed for Rome which was 4498 miles away. I watched bits and pieces of a movie, but I just rested and tried to sleep. I was exhausted after a full week of work and packing, so I had no trouble sleeping.
The time change was a little confusing. Our overnight on the plane was shorter because we lost 6 hours, but that also meant the next night would come a lot sooner, I’ve adjusted just fine. Since we left so late, dinner wasn’t until about 11pm, and then a couple hours later they woke us up for breakfast because it was morning time in Rome. It took 8 hours to get to Rome and they just switched the crew, so we stayed on the plane for 1.5 hours. I was in Rome and I couldn’t even leave the plane. Bummer! We arrived at 6am our time but it was 12noon in Rome. Rome to Addis Ababa took about 6 hours and it sounds miserable, but the entire flight overall wasn’t bad at all. I was expecting it to be unbearable. I think it really helped that I was so exhausted because I didn’t have any energy to be bored, I just took my Benadryl and slept! I bought all types of entertainment for myself but I didn’t use any of it. So it was 14 hours of air travel, but we were actually on the exact same plane for 18 hours. The delay at the beginning, the layover plus boarding time made it a very long traveling experience. The outside temperature during the flight was -51* F and we were going about 600 MPH, and our altitude was 35000 feet!!!!!
We arrived at Addis Ababa late Sunday night and everyone was glad to get off the plane! Flying into Addis, it looked just like any other major city from above. Lots of lights and houses for miles and miles. We spent about 2 hours in the airport filling out papers, getting our passports checked, going through customs and waiting for our bus. (Some girls didn’t bring a pen on their carry on--- always bring one because you have to fill out so many custom papers!) While we were waiting in line for customs, the locals just cut right in the middle of our group. I don’t know if they thought rules didn’t apply to them or what, but Dr. Kelly wouldn’t have all these people cut in our line, so we formed a second line and breezed through. No wonder they probably hate us! I was super excited to get my first stamp on my passport!!!!! Yay!!!
I didn’t get to sit by Krista on the plane so we really hadn’t had a chance to catch up until we got off the plane. I briefly showed her some of the lesson plans I printed out and even the notes my mom typed up for me. I actually just printed it out and didn’t read it. Krista pointed out the little letter my mom wrote to me at the end of her lesson plan suggestions and I read it while I was sitting on the floor at the airport:
“Express your enthusiasm. Remember your youth and enthusiasm will carry you a long way.
Smile. You have a smile that lights up the room, use it often.
You have been working SO HARD on this trip. You have prepared very well. Now might be the time to relax and let go. Enjoy the kids, have fun every day.
Enjoy the sites, smells and sound of Africa. You are on the adventure of a lifetime. Relish every moment.
Love,
Mom”
Finally the bus came and picked up all the passengers staying at hotels overnight and catching an early morning flight. I sat next to a business man dressed in a yellow suit and of course I made a friend! He kept offering his seat to other girls who didn’t have seats but they managed to fit us all in. He was claiming he didn’t know very much English (He spoke French) but I could understand almost everything he said. He was from Chad and was on his way to Egypt for some type of conference. He was very nice and helpful. Some girls tried to speak to him in French and we were having fun playing around and joking with him. I’m sure he was laughing at us the entire time! Later that night at dinner, one of the advisors said she was glad we talked to the local and said it will really make our experience so much more meaningful. I told her that my family would always leave the guarded resort at our vacation destinations and went out into the markets to get more of an authentic feeling. So I planned on doing that for this trip too! I wasn’t scared of talking to locals.
As we were driving on the bus we kept passing all these hotels. It was late at night and I was really wishing the hotel was closer to the airport. However, in the morning we got quite a tour of Addis, so I’m actually glad the hotel was further away because we were able to see more of the country.
At night, my first thought was it looked very similar to Ocean City, MD. Lots of little random shops and uncompleted buildings. Apparently there is a serious drought in Addis so the government turns off the electricity in parts of the city to conserve. So we could drive through complete black zones. You could see hundreds of bodies walking on the sides of the street. But then we would also drive though areas with lots of lights, there was even a huge projector on the side of the road showing a movie and Ethiopians were sitting outside watching the screen. It reminded me of Movies Under the Moon! There was also tons of light decorations in the city saying “2000 millennium celebration” We were all confused by that, did they not take down their New Year 2000 decorations? Someone else said that Ethiopia was celebrating their 2000 year of something? I have no idea and we couldn’t figure it out. I would say about ½ the signs were in English and I recognized the brands and products.
We made it to the hotel and we were waiting in line to check in and guess what… we lost electricity! Yikes! (Another hint: always pack your flashlight in your carry-on because we didn’t have our checked luggage that night) Thankfully Krista and I both had our flashlights with us in our carry-ons! It was only a couple seconds before it turned back on, but it sure gave us all a little panic! The hotel was just fine. It wasn’t anything fancy, everything was mismatched but it has lots of personality. Some of the levels were a little sketchy but if you didn’t think about it and stayed with a buddy, it was fine. I was really pleased with it because I thought it was very clean and neat. We came down and had a late dinner. I am so skeptical about all the food! It was buffet but it looked like it had been sitting there all night and I couldn’t see the heat coming from the meat, so I didn’t touch it. I had rice and a roll. Everyone else ate it and was just fine but I am just so paranoid about it I’d rather be safe.
Krista was super smart and asked someone on the plane if she could have one of their huge water bottles the airlines use, and someone gave it to her! It was perfect because we brought it to the hotel and used it to brush our teeth. So smart Krista!!
The bus was coming to pick us up at 6:30am, so we were ready for some rest and excited to sleep in a bed!!! There were noises from outside all night long. Thankfully I’m a deep sleeper so it didn’t bother me. Some of the other girls were really scared and couldn’t sleep all night. Krista did have a weird dream and woke up in the middle of the night yelling “Oh my gosh Lexi” and dived off the bed onto the floor! Hahahaha She isn’t taking the Malaria medicine that causes nighmares, so we don’t know were that came from! She can’t remember either. We are enjoying laughing about it!
Our 1st day was super short because we lost 7 hours and got to go bed earlier than we normally would, but traveling is so exhausting we needed the sleep. I don’t understand why traveling is so exhausting because all we do is eat, sleep, sit and wait in lines.
P.S. Thanks mom for updating the blog!!!
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