Alls Well That Ends Well With Travel Musings

FINISHING UP THE THEODORA TRIP

By Wednesday of last week, I had pretty much recovered as had my two participants so we had a productive last couple of days. I am particularly pleased with the new manager, how she is coming along and how she is integrating with our team. 

On the last day in the office, I did testimonial videos from the new manager and our senior local manager (who is on volunteer status since I can afford to pay her yet). I was blown away by comments they had made earlier concerning how much our women had accomplished. But I was not prepared for the things they were saying on camera. Part of it was how impressed they were with the project as a whole and who they had bought into the vision. Part, was their comments that our people were doing things beyond what they've seen from professional workers with degrees. The newest manager had this to say.

"I had come into the group expecting to be schooling the participants in various business skills. Instead, I was the one who needed schooling! The women were so proficient with various apps I didn't even know about. They were working with ease with their American clients. Some were out doing virtual business development calls. When you consider none of these understood anything about office environment, virtual work or American business a year and a half ago, it is amazing!"

TRAVEL

I am in the middle of the long schlepp home. 

Does it make me a bad person when I say that I really enjoy all the perks that go along with flying business class, having airline status, and having taken advantage of the government programs for navigating security and the like faster? It probably does. I am sure I will be consigned to part of hell where I have to travel by broken down developing country bus for the rest of eternity. But in the meantime, I am enjoying being practically the only person in the Accra airport going through the First Class line for Passport control and Security and the additional security to get on the U.S. bound flight. 

And now due to the fact that facial recognition is ubiquitous in our government, when you arrive and have Global Entry, you just have your picture taken, now showing of passport or questions asked, and you are given your slip of paper to pass through. 

On to the not so great, having to transfer through Dulles International in Washington, D.C. Flying through Dulles internationally is a royal pain. After you arrive you have to bus from your arrival terminal to the main terminal to go through all the enter country stuff. Then you have to schlepp through a huge terminal that is mostly closed (it is early in the morning) to go through security again and then take a buss back to the terminal you started from. There is nothing open in that terminal to eat. Only one of the three airline clubs is open and it is one that is far from you gate. I have four hours so it's not like I don't have time but it is annoying.