We finally loaded everyone into the vans, despite the fact that we were still missing one student, and we were just getting ready to leave when that last student arrived. We were on our way! We arrived at the door nearest the Ethiopia Airways gates and unloaded everyone and headed inside. At the gate, “mama” Jean Hayes, one of our staff members, who also happens to work with the GCP and international students, gathered all our passports and headed for the gate to help get us all checked in. That proved to be a great time-saver, and we were all checked in, and bags were all checked in no time.
Security was relatively uneventful, and we hopped the shuttle to the B terminal. It seemed like no time until we were boarding Ethiopia Airways flight 501, beginning around 10 am. The plane was a very large 747 with rows of three seats on each side, and three in the middle. As one may imagine, boarding all those people took a considerable amount of time. For us, however, we were on our way to an exciting new place, so it didn’t bother anyone. Takeoff was also smooth and soon, everyone was watching movies or TV shows, playing games, or listening to music on his own screen on the back of the seat in front of him.
There was a very diverse mix of people on board...young, old, white, brown, black. I remember standing near the very back of the plane at one point waiting for the rest room, and looking out across the sea of heads before me, many of which were adorned with the most colorful and varied array of hats, scarves and headdresses, and thinking what a great photograph that would make.
All the members of our group were seated in the same general vicinity. There was a young mother with four small children, probably aged 2 to 5, sitting in the rows in front of us. She, and a few other ladies somehow managed to keep these children relatively quiet and subdued throughout the trip! I marveled the whole time at how well-behaved these children really were. I am not sure that I could have kept my own kids entertained with such success for so long a period of time!
We were served two meals on board during the flight, both of which were surprisingly good, AND they opened up the little kitchenette in between and set out an array of sandwiches, snacks, drinks, etc. for everyone to just go pick up if they wished. Periodically, I would check the interactive map on the screen in front of me periodically to see where we might be. I was watching as the little plane icon flew over parts of Spain, Portugal, Tunis, and more! I remember looking past the folks in my row and out the window at one point around 7 pm (home time) and seeing a strip of coastal land all brightly lit and glistening in the blackness below. I checked the map on the screen on the seat in front of me, and it indicated we were passing over Algiers!
I think I speak for everyone when I say that the long flight turned out to be a lot less painful than perhaps we expected. We deboarded, again, without incident, and relatively quickly, and we were met by one of our leader, Des’ friends, Mesfin, with whom he once worked here in Addis Ababa. Mesfin has been very helpful already in Des’ preparations for our arrival, and today, he helps us through customs, through gathering baggage from the claim area, and he has a van in the parking lot waiting to load up our gear and transport us to our hotel!
As we stepped out of the airport on our way to our vehicle, we were immediately bathed in warm 78 or so degree sunshine! Having left the mid-Atlantic earlier this same day, essentially, at 20 degrees with windy conditions, this was certainly a welcome change for me!
Coming up next....Day 1 in Addis Ababa!
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