I made it!

I left San Diego on Saturday at 1:30pm, and I arrived yesterday (sunday) in Sierra Leone at about 7:30pm... but that is not the end of the journey. You would think that the airport would be located on the same piece of land where everyone lives, but instead it's on Lungi, across a body of water from Freetown, the capital city. This means you have a few options of how to get home.

Last time I was here I traveled with my mom, grandparents and sisters, and we crossed on the ferry (it's own crazy story), but this time it was just me, so my options were the helicopter (which experiences fatal crashes every year or two), the hovercraft, or the pelican water taxi.

The cheapest is the water taxi, and so that's what was recommended to me. For $40 you are thrown in a van (I got to sit with half a cheek on the seat and try not to fall since I was in the aisle), with or without all of your luggage. You then are taken to a dock at a hotel while all of your luggage is put on a boat and it goes on to the destination...you hope. Then we headed into this small boat, and they give you a life jacket which you must wear.

Now, I definitely appreciate the life jacket, however the fact that you need one doesn't make you trust these guys much more. There were about 12-15 people down in a boat, with enough seats for all of us. The water was very choppy and it was dark outside. For the next 40 minutes I had to keep my total focus on keeping myself from being sick. I've been on boats before, but here it was hot, with no windows open in order to keep water out, and I had all kinds of layers on, and a life jacket, and my backpack, and we were all crammed in there breathing and making things even hotter. Basically... not the best situation, but towards the end when we got closer to land, the water calmed down and they opened a window. Sweet nectar of life... AIR!

Finally we arrived on land, and as I wobbled across the rocking dock I saw my mom at the end.
This may have been the happiest I've ever been to see her... not only has it been about 5 months since she was in the states, and I was very excited to spend these three weeks together, but it also meant that my trip was at an end.

It was only a short drive to the clinic, then we went into her air conditioned apartment, sat down and got a chance to chat, relax and stretch out my legs! After I cracked open my suitcases I got a chance to have a shower and wash off the remnants of my journey. Even though it was the middle of the day back in the USA, I was tired. At this point it was midnight, and so we went to sleep, chatting until my Melatonin kicked in and my first night in Africa came to an end.