Let the countdown begin! It's four days left and I'm headed to West Africa. Got all my shots, picked up my Malaria and Cipro prescriptions, and sort-of started packing.
Though I have, with time, gotten much better at pre-packing and arrival times at airports, if you know anything about me, I don't plan ahead very well. In fact, those of you that have traveled with me know I tend to pack ten minutes before I'm headed to the airport, only to get to the airport 20 minutes before the flight leaves (I think I have only missed one flight ever because I was late, thank you very much).
The only reason I'm mostly packed four days before departure is because I have to give a list to one of our directors as to what is in the suitcases for customs purposes. For the last week or so, my living room has looked like one of those underground plastic surgery clinics in South America, minus the meds and needles. The local ambulance companies and individuals in the medical field have been quite generous with giving us miscellaneous medical stuff, so we've divided all the supplies into each of our suitcases. Now all of the supplies are packed in a big, ugly, cheap red suitcase I bought at an outlet store and am giving to the people of Ghana once we leave. Now all I have left to pack are personal items which I might not have gotten around to buying yet...like towels, bedding for the hotels, sunscreen, bug spray, meds for God knows what I might contract over there.
I bought mosquito repellent clothing. That was different. They smell a tad funny, but I'm not going over there to pick up a date so whatever keeps the bugs away I'm fine with. I'm making a trip to Walmart on Monday, so I should be all set. I also went to the grocery store to stock up on Vitamin water, protein bars and pre-packed tuna cans. I'm still counting on getting the travelers bug so I can lose a few pounds.
All in all, everything is going smoothly so far. The one issue I've had is with the "travel agency" we are signed up with. Long story short, it's been a lot of "who's on first" action going on. I have gotten a phone call from one agent, who speaks very broken English, asking me for the credit card number for my flight, only to have her call me five minutes later asking for the number again, not remembering she called prior. The agency said they found us a deal on a flight, but I and another nurse found the same flight, same airline, etc. cheaper on another website. Oops.
They forgot to email me my itinerary. That was another three phone calls. Then there were multiple calls about my passport and Visa fees. I drank a lot of wine the night I had to mail out my passport to these people. But I have just heard that our director has our passports in hand safely and ready to go. Good. Good riddens "travel agency".
I received an email from one of the directors yesterday, telling us where our lodging is going to be. Sounds like we won't exactly be roughing it. The first hotel is located in Cape Coast, near the beach, complete with air conditioning, small fridges, and even Internet access. Most likely I'll try to shoot out an update from there.
We'll spend two days in Cape Coast getting training on what we will be doing and information on the general Ghanaian culture and proper etiquette, if there is any. From there it's off to Angona Swerdu to the government hospital and the clinics where we will be working. Sounds like the setup for lodging there is a suite layout with bedrooms and a common room. They have air conditioning as well. The last two days will be spent in Accra, the capital. It's wind-down time before heading back to the states. I believe there is a business center at that hotel so that's when another update will probably be sent. Then it's back to the States.
Though they mostly speak English, I should probably start looking at that page of language translations I got over a month ago at our meeting and start learning how to say the important phrases, like "Do you take credit cards?", "Where is the bathroom?", and my personal favorite phrase, which I have learned in over 10 different languages:
"Two beers please."