22 Hours

Thankfully we were able to check in our bags the day before our flight with the help of Micah’s brother and a fellow Togo missionary friend from Albertville, who also transported our bags to Geneva for us.  The big day started out early with Micah’s brother leaving to catch a 7am flight back to the states.  We proceeded to get ready and pack the few remaining bags we had to carry on the plane with us.  We learned from our last experience that we shouldn’t take as many carry ons as possible with 3 little ones, 2 of whom need to be carried and aren’t able to help carry anything else.  This time we only had our sit and stand stroller (which we were able to take all the way to the plane at least, but then unable to get until baggage claim again), Liza’s carseat (which for some reason they wouldn’t allow on our first flight, but we talked them into allowing it on the second and longer flight) and 4 small bags.  Since we didn’t have much to carry-on, we decided to take the bus to the airport instead of a taxi.  We had no problems with security, except they wanted to go through 2 of our bags.  I guess they don’t like you to carry on sun block or yogurt, even in small amounts, but they let us take it anyway (you know, because we had kids).

The kids loved the moving walkways through the airport, always a crowd favorite.  They may have even liked them more than the play areas, but we “made” them play at the play areas instead.  Both Geneva and Brussels had play areas for kids.  These were the highlight of my day, you know, besides moving to Africa!  If you’ve ever had to wait at an airport without a play area with little ones, you know why.  Before we knew it, it was time to board our plane to Brussels.  Our first flight was only in the air for an hour and not too eventful.  Our second flight was 9 hours and seemed like an eternity.  Our kids don’t sleep much in the car and apparently they sleep even less on airplanes.  David had a really hard time staying asleep.  When he’d actually fall asleep, his naps were very short.  Liza finally fell asleep for the last couple of hours of the flight.  She even slept through our hour stop in Côté D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast).  Sam didn’t sleep at all.  He was getting really tired towards the end (about 11:30pm France time), but I wasn’t about to carry him off another plane so I kept him awake by counting down the minutes (not days) to go to Togo.

When we arrived in Lomé, Togo we walked down stairs from the plane to the run way and got on a bus that drove us to the baggage claim (not far away).  Before getting to the baggage claim we had to go through immigration.  First we had our temperatures checked (standard practice since ebola) and were handed a disembarkment paper to fill out, one for each of us that is.  We also had to pick up a Visa application for each of us and fill those out as well.  Lots of paper work at midnight with 3 little ones.  And of course Sam had to go to the bathroom, which was on the other side of the immigration bureau.  Thankfully, they let Sam and I through to use the bathroom.  While Sam was in the bathroom I was able to see a few of our bags go around and wanted so badly to go and start collecting them, worrying a little that someone else might just pick one up and claim it as their own.  We made it through immigration, less a 150 euros for the standard 7 day visa.

When we got to baggage claim we were swarmed with guys who wanted to help get our bags.  We tried saying no, but they didn’t listen.  Thankfully after getting all 10 of our checked bags together on 3 carts all but 2 of the guys left us alone.  We were then met by a guy who wanted to check our baggage claim tickets to make sure that they were all ours, which made me wonder if they checked everyone’s tickets.  Hopefully they did, as to not let anyone take someone else’s bags.  

We still had to get our bags through customs and the security machines before we were free.  They let all but one through.  They wanted us to open it up, but it was zip tied shut and of course we can’t take anything sharp on the plane, so we couldn’t open it.  They still wanted to open it, so they found something to cut the zip tie.  They proceeded to ask us what things were and if they were for the baby.  Finally they asked if they could have our alarm clock.  Micah and I both said, NO, with an “are you kidding me” tone of voice and they said alright you can go.  We counted all our bags again and rolled them through the door and there we found Rev. Jacob Gaugert waiting for us.  We rolled the carts to his truck, but not with out a few more guys trying to help.  They weasel their way in to helping by just putting a hand on your cart while welcoming you to the country and talking the whole time, so you don’t get a chance to tell them no.  At this point we were just making sure that ALL the bags were getting put into the truck and that the kids were safe inside.  We gave the two men who had helped us since baggage claim a little money and then we drove away.

Sam fell asleep right away in Micah’s arms in the truck and missed out on the “fun” ride to our hotel.  A very bumpy road would be the understatement of the year.  There is a reason why we are getting a land cruiser.  And not just any land cruiser, but a land cruiser that rides high, has a front livestock guard, winch, and a safari snorkel, yes a snorkel. This is for passing through flooded out roads.

We arrived at the hotel and got the kids to bed and finally laid down at about 3:30am France time.  Just a 22 hour day, not too bad, to move to Africa.