I knew I was in for a long day. This half of my ticket was the home end of the ticket from last year. It was purchased by a friend with frequent flier miles, and so it was the route no one wanted! From Entebbe, I would fly to Amsterdam, then to Detroit, then Cincinnati, and finally home to Chattanooga. The great news was I would end up at home – no two plus hour drive home from Atlanta at the end. The bad news was I had to land and take off in both Detroit and Cincinnati in late December. There was bound to be weather!
We landed more than an hour and a half late in Amsterdam. I hurried off the plane and checked the screen. My flight to Detroit was already showing as boarding.
Schipel Airport is a great place for a layover. There are wonderful shops, plenty of places to eat, even great chairs for resting. But it isn’t a very nice place if you’re late for your flight and your next gate is in another terminal. I never broke into a full run, but I certainly rushed at top speed through the early morning airport. There was no time to shop (I had planned to buy chocolate for Lisa, but there was no time to spend any of my Euros!).
There was a tremendous line at the gate. I took my place at the back of the line and settled in for a long wait. The diversity of the passengers was incredible. There were many Indians, a number of Arab people, several blacks from Detroit as well as some from Africa, and there were some white folks, of whom there seemed to be an equal mix of Europeans and Americans. The line moved incredibly slowly. When I finally got to the front of the line, I looked back and found that the line was as long as when I joined it. Each passenger was taken alone to a desk and was interviewed by an airport employee. The questions were routine, but there was obviously a much higher level of security than normal on the flight.
Once I finished my questions, I still had to clear security. I had my liquids in a bag and my pockets were empty, so I cleared without incident and joined the other passengers in the next waiting area. I read while the rest of the passengers were cleared.
Our plane was a new Airbus. My seat was an aisle in the center section, but even though it was still a tourist seat, there was significantly more room than on the other plane. I took my seat and waited. The rest of my row mates were all Saudis.
The plane had a personal video system, so I spent the next many hours watching movies. First, Miami Vice followed by the start of a British comedy that wasn’t at all funny and a great little suspense film from the 1950’s. Then I listened to music and read my book.
Through it all, my row mates asked questions. The airline passed out Immigration forms soon after take off, and the two young Saudi men didn’t know what to do. I helped them a number of times. One of the guys was concerned about getting his forms right to the point that he filled them out at least four times. I thought everything was fine the first time, but he kept getting concerned that something was wrong and doing them again. The other guy and the woman were less concerned; they only did their forms once.
The larger seats and video distraction made this flight go much more quickly! I still couldn’t sleep at all, but I actually enjoyed the flight! We had very strong headwinds across the Atlantic and the added security had resulted in a late take-off. We were about an hour late, so I got off the plane as quickly as I could. Although we lived in Detroit for more than two years and had entered the country there from Canada many times, I had never been through Customs at Detroit’s airport. There were only three open lines at Immigration, so I had to wait a bit. The agent was quick, however, and I was through in no time.
Customs was a different story. First, I had to reclaim my bags. The sign said bags from our flight would be coming in on two different luggage carousels, which presented quite a problem for someone traveling alone. At first, bags only came out of one carousel, so the entire plane gathered around it. Within five minutes, the luggage belt became blocked and stopped. Nothing at all happened for a while, then a man came and freed the blocked belt. And as he did, bags also started coming out on the other carousel. Over the next half hour, both belts became blocked several times, but at least that made it possible to catch up on what was coming out. Almost everyone had their bags, but I didn’t have either of mine. Finally, one came out but the other was among the last bags unloaded. I put the bags on a cart and rolled them into Customs.
In Uganda, I had visited a chicken farm and every village and even some of the homes in the city had livestock everywhere. So I marked my declaration card to say I had visited farms, and the Customs agent picked up on that. He sent me to another area, and my luggage had to go through another scan. I claimed my bags at the other side, and an older male agent called me over.
“You’ve visited farms?” he asked.
“Not exactly, but there was livestock everywhere. And I did visit a chicken farm.”
“Better to be safe,” said the man. “Let me see your shoes.” I showed him my shoes. Ugandan dust remained in the soles of my shoes. “I’ll need to take those. Did you have any other shoes?”
“Boots,” I said.
“We need them, too,” he said. “Which bag?”
Although there were only two, I told him the wrong one. He opened it, but another agent came over and told him they were in the other bag. I opened it, and dug out the boots.
The man took my shoes and the boots. “You go wait over there. I’ll have these cultured and sprayed.” He pointed me to a row of seats along the wall. My socks and I took a seat. I was the only one being held.
After about half an hour, the man returned. My shoes and boots were dripping with some sort of cleaner. He put the boots into a bag and I repacked them. Then I put on my shoes. I
hurried to a screen when we landed and checked on my flight. I was in the right terminal, but many gates away, so again, I had to hurry. Unlike Amsterdam, this terminal was quite busy, so I had to weave through passengers as I hurried on and off the moving sidewalks.
I reached the gate only to find that my flight wasn’t listed. I sat down and found that the airport had been closed all morning due to fog. Some of the passengers waiting at the gate had spent the night in Detroit because their flight had been grounded the night before.
I knew I wouldn’t be leaving any time soon, so I called Lisa to let her know I was back in the US. She told me Delta had just called to say that my flight out of Cincinnati had been canceled so instead of a 4:00 flight, I wouldn’t be leaving until 9:00. I was so tired, I didn’t know what to say to this. We talked for a few minutes, then I went to the gate and waited in line to talk to an agent. I was scheduled into Cincinnati on a Northwest flight and out on a Delta flight, so the gate agent wouldn’t help me at all. She told me my gate would change soon, so to listen carefully.
The announcement came in about half an hour. The gate where I was waiting had a plane parked there, but the announcement said it was broken down and we were moving to another plane and gate. It wasn’t far away, so I walked over to it as soon as it was announced.
I boarded the small plane as soon as they let us. It was quite a change from the Airbus! In fact, I whacked my head on the ceiling en route to my seat. I was seated beside a very pretty young woman, who I learned was a student at the University of Tennessee. I also learned that she had grown up near Chattanooga. I enjoyed talking with her as the plane prepared to take off, then I went back to my book and she to hers.
It was a quick flight to Cincinnati. Even though we had a late start, the pilot got us off the ground in a hurry and we were hardly late at all in our landing. I went directly to a gate agent and learned that Lisa’s information was true. It was a few minutes before 2:00, and my flight wasn’t leaving until 9:00! The agent gave me a $7 food coupon. “The best food
is in Terminal B and you have plenty of time. I’d suggest going there. You can’t get change, so try to eat it all!” I hadn’t really eaten since early morning lunch with Phil more than 24 hours ago. I thanked her and told her I didn’t think change would be a problem!
I took the subway to Terminal B. My first stop was the restroom to freshen up a bit. I found a map of the terminal and saw an Outback Steakhouse. I looked around a bit, then went in and watched football while I ate a salad, a baked potato, and the largest steak on the menu! Even with the coupon, my meal cost more than $20!
I watched Boston College beat Navy in a fabulous football game, then headed to Terminal C to wait for my flight. I walked around and checked out the terminal, then took a seat and tried to read. I was so tired that I struggled to read, but I finally finished The Poisonwood Bible a great read for Africa. I got up and bought ice cream, but that only kept me awake for a few minutes. I got out another book, but I kept dozing off. When I jerked awake, I didn’t know where I was. I actually had to walk into the terminal and find the airport name!
I spotted an old friend and his wife across the terminal. I napped one more time, then went over to talk with them. We caught up on old times while we waited for the flight.
The announcement came right on time, and I hurried aboard. It was an even smaller plane, but I remembered to watch my head this time. I took my seat, and soon found that no one had the other seat. So I turned off my light and lay down across the two seats. It was only an hour flight, but I slept the whole way, from before take off until we landed.
We touched down in Chattanooga, and I hurried into the terminal. Lisa was waiting at the security gate and so was Jon! He had come to help us get the bags, which I greatly appreciated because I was too tired to move! The bags came quickly and Jon helped us load them into the car. Lisa and I drove home.
With the time riding around with the crew in Uganda, I had been up for 48 ½ hours when I finally walked into our house. That included 31 hours from the time I walked into the airport at Entebbe. I had eaten very little except for the steak, and I was so sleepy I could hardly speak.
My three weeks was over. It was great to be home. Lisa and I had Christmas to celebrate, and New Years.
And then there’s a summer trip to Uganda to plan.
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