Getting to Malawi

Getting There

Flight itinerary

Arrive at the Atlanta airport at 3:00am on Thursday, May 30, 2013. This was very exciting and exhausting.  It was great to see everyone in the group again and also nice for our family members to meet.  Josh got to see Dr. Gyagenda again (he had him for a class at Mercer in 2005) and he was able to meet Dr . Vokhiwa and help get all the donated trunks loaded.

Departure: 5:30 am. 

This was a crazy flight because we stood at ticketing for a long time with no one to check us in.  When we finally got checked in, half the group went the wrong way and had run to get on the plane.  I went through security with one other person and the very nice TSA agent let us go through the employee line because by the time we got there it was 5:20.  We got to the gate with 6 minutes to spare, only to fin out that we were the first people from our group to board the plane.  The flight attendant told us to call the rest of the people in our group and tell them to RUN!  We did make it and settled down for an uneventful flight.  Good thing too because this was the first of many close calls.

Arrive Washington Dulles at 7:15 (more like 7:45 by the time we deplaned)

Departure: 8:20

When we got off our plane, we had to take two different shuttles and run again to get to our gate in time for our next flight.  At the gate, they took our carry on bags because there was not enough room for the flight.

Arrive New York Kennedy Airport: 9:30am (more like 10:00 by the time we deplaned and got our gate checked bags).  Grrr.

Departure: New York Kennedy 11:15.  This time shuttles, exciting the airport, crossing the street, reentering through international security, and brisk walking, but still no time to buy food for our growling tummies.  By now we are all hungry because we have been on the go for almost 9 hours.  By the way we have had no snacks because they keep taking our carry-on bags with all our goodies.  Double grrr.

This next flight was the biggy.  We got on the plane at 11:15am New York time on May 30th and got off at 8:00am May 31st Johannesburg time.  There is a seven hour time difference so the flight was actually about 14 hours.

This was a looooong flight.  If I could have slept it would have been better but I have a hard time sleeping sitting up.  What do I do instead of sleep on a red eye flight you ask?  Here is my list

1.     Eat (finally we had our carry-on bags full of junk food.  Yeah!

2.     Walk around the plane and talk with other people in our group.

3.     Eat (they kept serving terrible food and I kept eating it because it was in front of me and I was hungry/bored.

4.     Yoga at the Flight Attendant’s food prep area.  (They loved that)

5.     Eat (see eat 1 and eat 2)

6.     Talk with the people I am sitting by (although they all seemed to get some shut eye)

7.     Try out all the bathrooms on the plane.  There were 6 bathrooms and I used them all.  See Eat 1 eat 2, and eat 3.

8.     Watch 3 movies (Argo, Something about FDR’s mistress (your rascal you), and Guilt Trip.  I also watched a few TV shows and followed the plane on the map, watching the minutes tick away like months.

Arrive 8:05 am.  (More like 8:30 after the 300 other passengers as well as our group got together all their belongings and straightened out their legs.)  Not a problem for me since I mostly ran around the plane anyway.

Departure 10:00 am – Lilongwe, Malawi  FINALLY!

This time we were able to use the restroom on the way to our gate (although in South Africa and Malawi the sign says toilets).  We arrived with about 20 minutes to spare but couldn’t buy a thing because we only had American money.  We boarded a bus that brought us out to the tarmac.  We got on the flight and it seemed to go so fast compared to the recent 14-hour flight.  When our feet finally touched the ground in Lilongwe, Dr. Vokhiwa asked us all to gather in a circle and hold hands.  We all got a little chocked up as he welcomed us to his home, Malawi. 

In all the flights went very well.  We didn’t miss any of our connections  (although some of our bags did) and we all got along very well.

I was a little nervous coming in through customs (mostly because I just watched ARGO- Iran 1980 customs a little different than Malawi 2013 customs).  But some people seemed to have a little yellow paper that showed all their immunizations.  I got all the necessary shots, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Tetanus, Diphtheria, Protusis, and Malaria pills but I had noting to prove it.  All that worrying in line for nothing.  The woman looked at my picture, took my finger prints, and warmly send me on my way.  As the group gathered the 24 checked bags and the 10 gate checked bags, we realized that we are about 5 short.  How could they lose 5 bags?  We load everything up in a truck and two vans and leave our information with the airport.  One person lost her malaria pills and 5 bags are still somewhere floating in the Atlantic Ocean, but in all it went very well.  I am glad to be here and ready to learn about this fascinating place.