The day of travels...

With a ridiculously early start to the day, the taxi ride to the airport wasn’t exactly buzzing.  Getting there super early thanks to Elisabeth’s keen and organised nature resulted in a quick seat in starbucks and a casual ferrero rocher courtesy of Simiao. Check in time and Paul arrives in his usual chilled fashion. Through security with only Sophie causing a scene, and the excitement began to set in. Snacks once again provided by Simiao in the form of individually wrapped prunes, to which Elisabeth believed to be too much for one person to eat.

‘It was only one singular prune Elisabeth!’

First plane…extremely small. Fatigue began to set in considering the early morning and lack of sleep from the night before.  Once in Brussels with some time to kill and Sophie on a mission, an easy pizza was the only thing on my mind. Yet at a steep 9 euros, my prune filled stomach would have to wait for the real flight!

Second plane…much bigger than the first. Originally seated in between a family of four with two toddlers I thought I was in for a flight from hell. Instead I was luckily asked to move, and there just so happened to be a free 4 seater row…snooze time, finally.  Woken up by the sweet smell of plane food, I was pleasantly surprised by the greek salad starter and herb crusted fish main I was presented with and so happily wolfed the lot down.  Once fed and watered I ventured up the plane to greet my fellow travellers who weren’t quite so lucky with their seating arrangements as Elisabeth had to endure Sophie’s ‘chat’…all journey.  Another nap, some in flight entertainment featuring Christina Aquilera and Liberia was in sight. Quick stop over in Monrovia and then onto the next leg of the journey.

Liberia to Ghana. Having moved from my 4 seater up to the rest of the group, staying awake seemed inevitable. Thankfully Sophie’s guide book to Ghana provided us with some much needed knowledge on the proper etiquette when out and about in Ghana. Some valuable do’s and don’t’s included; do not sing in the shower, do not whistle at night and do not blow your nose at the dinner table. Along with some inspirational quotes, for example;

‘If you do not help your neighbour count to nine, you will not be able to count to ten’

With the end of the flight in sight, Sophie’s lack of sleep began to set in, yet sadly this was not the end of our travelling day. Off the plane, visa’s checked, money exchanged, bags collected, the 'new castle' students were met by Ken’s brother David(and friends). Even with the Ghana book knowledge, unwanted help resulted in Paul passing out the Cedis to anyone that had even looked at one of our bags, let alone actually carried it.  Once loaded up into the somewhat charming banger of a mini bus or tro tro in Ghana, we began speeding along the main roads, each of us hoping they knew where Marc beas hotel was.

An evening in Ghana presented excellent viewing from the tro. Men, women and children carrying bags of plantain, bagged water, Fan Ice and anything worth selling on their heads filled the streets. Although drivers in Ghana are slightly more ‘horn-happy’ and care-free, we made it to marc beas hotel in one piece.

The hotel was a lot larger than expected, but apparently not large enough to have 3 beds in one room. But with exhaustion setting in, any room with a bed would do. The impromptu power cuts resulted in us venturing back downstairs for our evening meal. A typical Ghanaian jollof rice and chicken fully satisfied my somewhat enormous hunger that had appeared since starting this journey. Food gone, finally bed time (unless you’re Simiao and you’ve forgotten the code to your suitcase). Night(mare)!