this precious life.: Uganda, Africa

London: 6 hours ahead of Central time

Uganda: 9 hours ahead of Central time

Written: Saturday, February 25th, 2012 during the last 50 miles to Soroti

{During our 30 minute layover in Chicago, I typed up a really quick post with some photos and added it to the blog-- I even linked it to my facebook --but when I got online in Entebbe, there were no traces of it anywhere- or any traces that I had linked it either. Weird.}

Thursday we got to the Nashville airport around 11 armed with seven 50lb bags and 6 carry ons. Apparently we don’t believe in traveling lightly! haha {Many of those bags contain items we’re taking to various missionaries}

Andrew helped us get all of our baggage checked {he’s the pro at packing & checking them. This is the first time in 7 years he isn’t going on this trip} and then we had some time to sit and visit with our families before heading through security. We had a great send off crew {as you can see below}!!

Kay is a woman that has gone on this trip before and it turned out that we had all the same flights! So she was sort of our traveling companion. Though we didn’t have close seats on the flights, we would meet up during each of the layovers. Once we reached Entebbe, she headed out to visit some former students of hers. She’ll reach Soroti sometime Monday and we’ll get to visit with her again then.

Our flight to Chicago was short but delayed so our 2 1/2 hour layover turned into 30 minutes. After walking all the way to the other end of the airport for our next flight, we had 20 min to quickly use the internet & have afternoon tea.

Chicago to London was just over 7 hours. A very quiet flight considering it was the middle of the night London time. Mr. Flautt slept a bunch & Eleanna caught a small nap but sleep eluded me. I spent time wrapping my earbuds for the first time & they turned out okay... but it was dark and I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention so they aren’t very even. They definitely help to keep tangles out though! When we stepped out of the plane in London it was 8a their time. The gate for our next flight hadn’t been posted yet so we decided to grab a midnight meal {breakfast} & tea at Huxley’s bar & kitchen. They served delicious Eggs Benedict but their Breakfast Tea was so weak! Rather a disappointment for Eleanna & I since it was the first time we’d had tea in England! But I’m leaving room for improvement:) Hopefully it will be made correctly on our return trip! Oh, and apparently London hasn’t caught onto the free WiFi craze we have in the States because the airport had none.

By the time we boarded our flight to Entebbe, Eleanna and I were about to fall over because we were so tired! Thankfully it was a really empty flight so we were able to spread out & catch some shut eye. For all you Downton Abbey lovers- you must know, they had DA episodes on the TVs for both of our flights! That was unexpected!

I also worked on getting my project journal up to date & watched a few movies. I originally thought I would read a bunch on the flights but I ended up only reading on the way to Chicago. Our plane arrived in Entebbe about 10p their time. I hadn’t really thought much about what their airport would be like but as soon as I stepped out of the plane I was outside on the tarmac! No tunnel! The temperature was beautiful. We walked inside the airport amidst swarms of lake flies to get our Visas and wait for our luggage. Everything had arrived except for one suitcase which we found out had been left in London. So by the time we had filled out all of the lost luggage paperwork & such it was past midnight. Joshua, our driver, picked us up in a little volkswagon/suv and we crammed all our luggage inside.

He drove us to a missionaries house where we spent the night. They keep all of the windows open & Saturday morning we woke up to a downpour of rain & constant thunder-- such a beautiful sound! I don’t think I’ve ever heard non-stop thunder before! After a fabulous night’s sleep & showers we were really refreshed. Everything was so lush & fresh looking after the rain and while walking around the yard, we saw wild monkeys for the first time! Our hostess was incredibly hospitable and after a yummy breakfast we were ready to head out.

We drove to Kampala where we ran errands. Bread & African tea {black tea, steamed milk, sweetener, chocolate powder & ginger-- quite good as long as there’s not too much ginger!} from a Dutch bakery, groceries & phone minutes & deliveries to another missionary couple. After buying groceries, a water cooler & two 5gal water jugs, our car was absolutely packed out! Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that the last suitcase didn’t make it.. because WHERE would we have put it?!