Our travel day was very long, but without any major hiccups. Although the huge task of checking in our baggage was done by the guys Monday night (whew!!) we still had to get up very early as our flight left at 7:15am. We were in the airport in Geneva in just enough time to drop off the rental car, lug our numerous carry-ons, 4 small kids, 2 teenagers, and 6 adults through security, plop down and eat a quick breakfast of croissants, run to get the internet code, and make a quick FaceTime call (as in 2 minutes!) with my parents before we started boarding. We saw our trunks and duffels being taken to the plane to be loaded, and of course Sydney shouted, "Choo-choo!!" We chuckled to think that 4 of the train cars were loaded with baggage from our group.
Flights to Congo are infrequent (2x a week), with major airline "direct"flights only coming from Brussels and Paris. Our plane was quite full, and the Linds and we were seated together with kids and the Rice group near the back. It wasn't ideal for assistance with kids, but it worked, and several times we took Sydney back to see Nounou and the gang. Sydney also got to watch the TV for the first time, and loved seeing the zebras and crocodiles and water buffalo that were one two different documentaries. However, in her zest for animals, she often shouts their names and points, then takes our hand to point to them as well, so that made for a rather loud sort of entertainment for her. It was a long journey, and finding out that we were making a "quick"stop in Angola (the country south of Congo) was painful, although it explained why our flight time was 9 hours but we didn't get to Kinshasa for 11 hours.
Upon arrival at 8:45pm, we walked down a flight of stairs to get off of the plane. Instead of being met with hot, humid, smoke-scented air as I expected, it was instead a very comfortable temperature with a slight breeze. The scent of smoke remained, but that is something I expect from any country where a chief source of heat is still charcoal and wood. A bus took us to the new international terminal which was brightly lit with clearly marked signs for customs entry and passports. This was all a welcome change from my expectations!
We had our passports checked for visas, then went to a second set of people who made sure we had just gotten the stamps, then went to a third desk to have the yellow fever cards verified. Finally, we went to baggage claim, which again was new with 2 large functioning and modern turnstiles. Handling of bags was much better as a team, as we split up. Nounou played with tired kids, I guarded carry-ons, Lisa watched a sleeping child and identified bags, and the rest ran to get baggage carts and start getting bags and trunks loaded. The whole process took over an hour, but it went relatively smoothly.
Our MAF and Vanga teams now split as we had two different greeting teams. The Rice-Potter group pushed our numerous carts of luggage out to a waiting box truck and we passengers loaded up in a van. The drive into the city from the airport was another surprise, for the old pot-hole-ridden 4 lane road was replaced by a nice, smooth, 6 lane highway. Being that it was late at night on a Tuesday, we had much of the road to ourselves. We pulled into the guesthouse called MPH shortly before midnight. There was not a baby bed that first night, but I plunked Sydney down on a twin bed to rearrange and make sure everything got into the room, and she never moved.
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| The bed I plopped Sydney down onto the first night when we didn't have the pack n play set up. But she slept under the mosquito net and didn't try to get off until morning when she called for me. |
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| MPH Guesthouse |
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| MPH guesthouse parking spaces marked with rocks |
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| Front gate of MPH guesthouse from the inside of the courtyard |
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