ON Our Way..... (Sunday June 16th)

All 8 bags, 4 backpacks, and the kiddos new little critters...

Mama mia...that is some luggage!

Paul just finished getting the kiddos in his car.

Italian Style....2 to a seat.

At 9:00 A.M., Paul Johnson arrived to load our 8 bags and us into his vehicle to make the trip to the Rome airport. After some finagling, he and Jason were able to get the bags in. Jadon and Adah had to share a seat but none of us were phased by what an American would normally see as a setback. This is normal in Italy anyway! We stopped about 1/2 way there for a short break and arrived at the airport around 1140 without any problems at all. After renting two luggage carriers and all of us being weighed down with our own backpacks, we scooted the carts into the airport to find the EgyptAir desk. Of course, it had to be located at the other end of Terminal 3. We arrived at the line, handed over our e-tickets, passports, and luggage, and made our way to the security gate. We waited in the security line for 20 minutes before rushing to the gate so that we could grab a sandwich before boarding.

At Rome airport getting ready to head inside.

Waiting for the flight to be called...

Our EgyptAir beater...

Electronics and sleep....something we have not had a lot of since landing in Uganda.

The airplane was an Airbus version that looked liked it was salvaged from the 1970's. When I get on the old planes..my heart skips a beat with instant panic. Not to mention Jason informed me the night before that an EgyptAir flight from Cairo to JFC, NY had been diverted to Amsterdam because of an on board threat....GREEEEEEAAAAAT....
Note to self... Do not be take the EgyptAir flight back to the States, of which there is one we could choose from...NO thank you very much...will be passing on that.

Anyway...
It seems that the African continent in general thinks that their seat number is just a suggestion. I had to have a flight attendant boot two guys from our row and then Jason got the privilege of sitting next to a very annoying individual that was all about himself  and I will leave the story at that. Poor Jason....

Jason's Egyptain shwarma plate.

When we arrived in Cairo, the place looked like desolate from the air and the ground. From the plane as far as my eye could see there was no green at all. The only thing that stood out was the great Nile and even that was a bit disappointing from our view. Once in the terminal we enjoyed looking around in the shops, watching Jason eat Egyptian food, and chatting with three women who were traveling to Uganda with us.

Apple Fanta in Cairo...we Americans have the most boring Fanta choice.

Adah enjoying her Fanta...

Getting ready to load the plane for Uganda...

What a fake smile...ughhh

Our flight ended up being delayed for some reason so we left about 1.5 hours later than expected, again on another 1970's beater plane...
Half way through the flight I was sure we would die. No Joke, I really thought we might meet Jesus. The ride got rough and we could see the lighting near by. So, FYI flights in Africa are a bit tense.
At 415 we finally landed, filled out our customs forms, paid our $50 visa fees (each), and scooted our luggage outside to be greeted by Christie and George, the directors of Ekubo ministries.
After loading all of our things in the van, they took us to their hotel near the embassy to have a very light breakfast while waiting on the embassy to open.
To be continued...

Waiting in line to get our Ugandan visas.

Sitting at the hotel  with Christie and George waiting for our early breakfast.