I get to the Syracuse airport at 2:00pm for my 4:00pm flight. We check my hiking backpack and my mother starts welling up. She told me that it's not too late to turn back, I rolled my eyes and received my boarding pass. They walk me up to security and, considering that it's the middle of the day on a Wednesday, I'm through security in about ten minutes. So I have 1 hour and 50 minutes to kill in the most boring airport I have been in. Luckily there was Wifi, but unluckily Netflix wasn't streaming. Thank goodness my opponent in Words with Friends was replying back as quickly as I was. The heat was on in that match, but he eventually came out on top because I'm pretty terrible at Scrabble-type games.
The plane boards, and I have to literally duck into the aircraft. I'm as tall as the ceiling and my backpack doesn't fit under the seat. I channeled Zoolander in that moment, questioning if this plane was made for regular-sized people, and not ants.
 |
| [tumblr] |
I grumble, crush my legs against the wall, and buckle in for the measly 38 minute flight to JFK. The time goes by quickly, but I couldn't help but be distracted by an adorable toddler that would smile every time our eyes met. What a cutie. We land successfully and I get off the plane. This was my first time in JFK and woah. That airport is a monster. I get my boarding pass for Ghana and the attendants tell me to take a shuttle to my terminal. So, me and fifty or so other people hop on a bus and go to Terminal 4, the newly opened section. It's around 5:30pm and my flight doesn't take off for another five hours. I figured I would have Netflix here, surely I could pass the time with a few episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, in order to get internet you had to purchase it, and I'm not about that lifestyle. So instead, I looked at my life and knew that I had about 3GB of data on my phone that was going to last me the entire month. I just used data for five hours, knowing that I wouldn't need it until August. In between walking around from boredom and browsing Facebook from boredom, I started The Life of Pi and I'm about half-way through it now. Starving, I literally inhaled dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, costing me a pretty penny. Stupid airport restaurants.
After dinner, I sit down at the gate and continue reading. A ton of people for that flight were at the fate with me at that point, and an attendant announced a gate change. Everyone grumbled at the same time, and herded to the other gate as one mass. Just getting settled in there, another gate change was announced and the grumbling became significantly louder, including my own. We all moved there and soon enough, the plane was boarding.
This was the biggest plane I've ever been on. My parents made me wait until my visa was approved to buy a plane ticket, which was until about a week before I was scheduled to leave. This gave me two seat options, both in the middle row and in the middle seat of that row. I always wondered what it would be like to be a sardine, and I was about to find out. I created a rough seating diagram for you in case you're still confused.
I board quickly, ensuring that I could squeeze my backpack under the seat before the plane got too crowded. I sit and mentally prepare myself for a 10.5 hour flight without any freedom. A man sits to my right, and a boy around twelve sits to my left. I sensed the man to my right didn't want to be there, mostly because I overheard him asking the flight attendant if there were any open seats in Economy Comfort. He left promptly after and the flight became significantly more enjoyable. I moved to the right for aisle access and propped my backpack in the middle seat. We take off at 11:00pm and I was ready to go to sleep. However, the flight crew wasn't because they gave out customs forms and announced that they were going to be serving a hot dinner. Great. Had I known they were going to serve food at midnight, maybe I wouldn't have spent $20 at Buffalo Wild Wings.
This is where I get sassy, mostly out of fatigue, but also because I appreciate good cooking. The hot dinner rolls around and from the get-go, something smells off. There was definitely beef in it, I could smell it from a mile away (I don't eat beef for people that don't know). I got nervous. The mention of food made me hungry, and there were too many people talking to even consider going to sleep (which I will talk about in a minute, hold your horses). I see the flight attendant mouthing "chicken or beef" down the aisle and I am calmed, for a little while. She gets to me and I choose the chicken. It comes in a plastic-sealed square of sorts, there's a few chunks of fruit, a cold squash and celery thing, and a roll. I open the seal and see rice with small bits of chicken covered in a sauce. Initially, I thought it was fried rice, but upon further, cautious, investigation the sauce on top tasted like chili or tacos. Taco chicken fried rice? Interesting. Considering that no menu was provided at any point, every passenger approached their meal as timidly as mine. It was a pretty bad meal, and I think a lot of that is due to the extreme mystery behind it.
After that challenge, I tried to fall asleep. It was around 1:00am. I woke up at 3:30am or so completely restless. Sleeping on a plane is not very fun for an extended period of time, especially during a red eye. I couldn't fall asleep again, even though I was exhausted. I found a pen and filled out my customs forms, played some Tetris, and read some more. It was around 4:45 or 5:00 that I fell back asleep. I dreamt that my friends wanted to hang out, but I was too tired to do that. I fell asleep in my dream, that's how tired I was. I was awakened not much later by the rustling of the cabin; breakfast was going to be served soon. I prayed for oatmeal or yogurt, something that they wouldn't ruin.
 |
| It's virtually impossible to mess up oatmeal. [ashleydietrich.com] |
How wrong I was. Breakfast comes around and is given in a rectangular dish. Four or five chunks of fruit and a hot half moon-shaped pastry of sorts. I had no idea what it was, but the smell was all too familiar. I opened the plastic package and the smell became significantly stronger. I asked what it was and the lady said "some sort of meat pie." Oh. Oh no. I opened it, and the color was too familiar. It smelled and looked exactly what I had eaten just six hours: breakfast was taco chicken fried rice meat pie. No, this couldn't be real. I took a reluctant bite, only to confirm my thoughts. They added hot sauce to mask the flavor. I can handle spice, please trust me on that, but this was too much for 6:00am. Especially considering that I ate the same meal, just not in to-go form.
Egads. After that hell breakfast, I continued reading. I would have fallen asleep, but two girls sitting kitty corner to me befriended each other quickly and made it known to the entire plane. I usually don't complain about people, but this was bad. It was their first time to Ghana and they were anthropology majors (put that picture in your head). Their conversation reminded me too much of the infamous Gap Yah video on YouTube. My eyes couldn't stop rolling, it was uncontrollable.
Not soon enough, the plane landed in Accra. The plane moved fast, scraping half an hour off the flight time. The plane was deboarding on both ends, so I stepped outside and instantly regretted wearing a sweater and black pants. The humidity struck me first, then the sheer heat. It's a lot different than Syracuse, where weather can change in the blink of an eye. I grabbed my checked bag and met my fellow AIESECers for a pickup. We hopped in a taxi and drove to the AIESEC house in Ghana. Here are my first impressions of Ghana, I'm just going to spitfire them off as I saw them.
1. The dirt is red. It's pretty cool, everything's red or green. Looks like Christmas. It also reminds me of the red sand beaches on PEI. Most roofs are also red.
 |
| [wiki] |
3. Sidewalks by the airport are brick.
4. I saw a pack of goats near a dresser on the side of the road. Don't know what that's all about.
5. People are on the side of the road selling anything you could possible imagine. Women have huge baskets on their head filled with toiletries and bottled water, men come up to the car and try to sell you maps, nightstands, shoes, etc. Anything is for sale.
6. I saw a chicken for the first time today chilling next to the AIESEC house. I hope to become friends with her.
7. My hair is slowly curling due to the humidity. It's going full-on Jungle Hair on me. Alas.
8. Everyone is really friendly here, I think it's going to be a great time.
No comments:
Post a Comment