Truly by Magical Unicorn Pony God of Travel standards it wasn't all that bad. Going to Ghana I flew from Albuquerque to Denver to Washington, D.C. and then on to Accra, Ghana. I knew the last flight was going to be late because I got a notification. Unfortunately, even with the late notification, the flight was even later so we all stood there waiting to board for an hour beyond the announced time.
For those affectionados of business class flying, there is quite a wide range of quality between airlines food offerings. United made a big Hoo Ha when it unveiled its special Polaris cabin, seats, and lounges. Initially the food quality took a big jump up. But lately it has become decidedly 'Meh'. In particular, there seems to be a ban on salt. Everything is very bland. And the salt shakers on the individual trays don't seem actually put out any salt. Then there is breakfast. Breakfasts on flights, even business class, tend to be very 'meh' as well. This flight took that to a new level of insipidness with the introduction of the Egg White Bite, little like blobs of tasteless egg whites. Why the airline has decided that we need to be conscious of our egg yolk intake is beyond me.
As we took off late, we of course arrived late. This meant that instead of us being the only flight arriving, that there were four other large international flight arrivals so the small Accra airport was packed. However, as the experienced traveler I am, I got off the plane right away, bounded to the health and passport check-in, got the shortest line and was through in about 15 minutes. Amazing...
....only to wait over an hour for my bags to finally show up.
I was picked up by my people. It was so late we went out to get something to eat. I had some stir-fried noodles that were mercifully full of flavor.
The weekend was mostly about shopping for food and doing food prep for the week. On my agenda this trip is making rounds to various Rotary Clubs to increase the visibility of Theodora and Rotary Club to End Human Trafficking. It has been awhile since I did this and I had forgotten some of the cultural differences.
In the U.S., people like to talk about themselves. In a networking environment, it is not hard to get a conversation going. In Ghana, nobody trusts anybody, so they give out as little information as possible. This leads to your white American asking a bunch of questions and getting one word answers in response. The better technique is to just wait until the meeting is over and you've given your promotional blur. Then those who are interested come over to you.
On Friday, we did have a virtual meeting on the grant where the Muslim Family Counseling Representative put his actual signature on the application, making it official. We're hoping we have everything we need to submit it today, Monday.
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