Mission Trip Diary – June 1st

So today has been a strange long day!

I set off from Manchester at 7:00am, and everything went smoothly….boarded the plane only to find my seat was next to a woman who had a 1 year old, but God hooked me up because the flight attendants moved me so I wouldn’t have to sit next to a screaming baby my whole flight lol. This was the roughest plane ride I had ever taken though! The turbulence was so bad that the plane started loosing altitude at random, sudden plunges, and everyone was scared; in my heart I was like “well God, if this is my time, it’s my time boi” LOL

We arrived in Philadelphia (leg 1 of 3) on time and I knew it was going to be a tight stretch catching my connecting flight from Philadelphia to Charlotte given that there was less than 2 hours go clear customs, pick up my baggage, run to the other side of the airport, re-check in my luggage and board a plane, but I just kept praying in my heart and remained optimistic lol. We got to immigration now, and the line was HUGE! When I finally got to the immigration officer, he decided he wanted to quiz me about the 6 years I had lived in America before and kept asking me what I was doing in the US this time (maybe he’s had bad experiences with African’s overstaying lol)…the time is now 2:00pm, and my next flight is at 3:25pm. To make matters worse, he sent me for a secondary investigation with a senior immigration officer…this was becoming like an episode of UK/Australia boarder force. By the time I left the senior officer it was 2:40. I RAN to baggage claim to get a cart only to discover they were $4, so I was like forget that. I put my 19 kg suitcase on my back, my 21 kg suitcase on my left arm, and my 11 kg hand luggage on my right arm and ran as fast as my legs could carry me to the luggage transfer section, dropped off my luggage and ran to the security check in desk. It is now 3:00pm and I’m waiting in line for them to scan my hand luggage, but they delayed me AGAIN to swab my medicine for cocaine and drugs LOL….I finally left security at 3:12pm and ran to my departure gate, belt in my hand, laptop in my other hand, luggage in the same hand, still half dressed from the security check…i’m surprised my jeans didn’t fall down, but I caught the plane *phew*

I caught the plane only to be delayed for 40mins due to bad weather at our destination city Charlotte, NC. One again, I was at risk of missing my flight because my next connection from Charlotte only had 1 hour in-between; 40mins delay meant I probably wasn’t going to catch my next flight. This plane was supposed to get into Charlotte at 5:00pm and my next flight was at 6:05pm…we didn’t arrive in Charlotte until 6:05pm. Once again, I’m running the breadth of a HUGE American airport to try and catch a flight, only to get to the gate and they told me I’ve missed it. Sweating, I asked them when is the next flight? She said 10:40pm (:O)…so as it stands, I’m currently in Starbucks drinking a strawberry and creme frappuccino waiting 4 and a half hours for my next flight……

By the time I get to bed at maybe 1am US time (8am UK time) I would have been awake for about 21hours (didn’t get much sleep on the plane), I will sleep for 4 hours and then wake up to catch another flight to Costa Rica lol

Ya’ll pray for me!

Oh yes! I had KFC USA style today. Came with macaroni & cheese, biscuits (American style) and a regular drink that is equivalent to a UK extra large lol..

And only in America can you find a restroom attendant, and one who sings to the customers whilst they are “easing themselves” lol….there were free bottles of listerine and mints too…good to be home 🙂

Pictures coming soon

Fatmohn Scoop