We are HERE

I thought that my first post in SL would be all about first impressions and a general description of our whereabouts but first impressions are difficult to capture when you arrive in a haze of exhaustion following 20 hours of travel.

We arrived in Freetown airport on Sunday evening.  I am no urban planning expert but I do suspect that perhaps something went wrong when those in charge of establishing the airport set it across the bay from the capital city. To reach Freetown from the country’s only passenger airport can be done by water taxi, ferry or helicopter. Theoretically it can be done by road too but you would have to have your own vehicle and it would likely take you about 8 hours. The boat rides reportedly take anywhere from 1 to 4 hours and only travel during the day. We arrived at dusk and opted for the easily arranged and rather glamorous 7 minute helicopter ride. After two hours waiting in the airport - and despite the fact that it was “broken” when we arrived, the helicopter eventually whisked us off to Freetown where a car was waiting to take us to the hotel in the rain.

A funny thing happened in the airport that seemed perfectly normal at the time but now seems more extraordinary. While waiting for our transport, we started to speak to the woman who was sitting next to us. She was arriving from the UK but is a Canadian who grew up in Ottawa. It turned out that she and Matt went to the same high school and were only a year apart. If I hadn’t been so tired, I probably would have realized what a coincidence this was but instead I just shrugged - “small world”.

I fear that this post is a getting a little tedious – too much to cover and not knowing where to begin have conspired to help me produce a rather disjointed start but I promise more (hopefully) interesting and thematic posts ahead.

We are HERE – I think that was the point I have been trying to make. We are HERE!