I made it safely to Rwanda but the journey here was less than perfect. My patience skills were put to the test but I’m alive, had some sleep, and clean. Here’s a play by play of the past few days just so you get a good feel for my travels…

Thursday June 9

11:00 am leave Winston-Salem to go to Moose Café and airport

11:30 arrive at Moose Café, realize I didn’t have my passport

12:00 arrive in Winston, grab passport, grab lunch

12:30 reach to get gum out of cabinet, knock over soy teriyaki bottle and make huge mess

12:50 leave Winston to go back to airport, freak out about going to miss my flight

1:30 arrive at airport, am told that my flight is delayed

1:40 rebooked for same flight on June 10 since there is no way I would make connections

Friday June 10

11:00 leave Winston this time with passport in tow

11:30 arrive at Moose Café, eat huge southern meal

12:30 head to airport, find out flight is delayed

1:20 say goodbye to Mike one last time

2:00 Mike calls and says he’s still at the airport and my flight still hasn’t left its original destination (thanks for the bad weather Chicago!)

2:30 Mike goes home, I wait for my flight which is 45 minutes late

5:00 arrive in Washington, DC

5:30 make it to my gate which is boarding after a tram and running through the airport

Saturday June 11

8:00 am arrive in Brussels, make it to my gate with plenty of time to spare

10:30 take off, make friends with German guy sitting next to me; school group of high schoolers on plane switching seats every 5 minutes

11:00- 3:00 sleep

4:00 snack passed around, its an ice cream bar with nuts so no snack for me

5:00 look through guidebook with German friend, make plans to get a drink after we land

6:40 descent into Kigali, wait, no, there’s a thunderstorm so we’ll circle for 15 minutes

7:00 pilot decides its not safe to land yet, continue on to Entebbe where the plane was to go next

8:00 arrive in Entebbe, sit on plane while they refuel, change the crew and clean the plane

9:00 head back to Kigali

10:00 land, go through customs easily, wait for bags

11:00 name is on a list of people whose bags didn’t make it, go to counter to file claim

11:10 meet driver and go to hotel

11:30 arrive at hotel, power is out, stumble around room by candle light and pass out