We arrived in Accura, Ghana without incident. The flight was scheduled to be 10 hours and 48 minutes but we arrive in about 10 hours. The only bumpy ride was from Atlanta to JFK in New York. So, if memory serves, we left St. Cloud at 9:05 and got to the MSP airport about 10:20. We spent a while rearranging candy and t-shirts that Chuks brought into our luggage so that every bag weighed between 49.5 and 52 pounds, most weighted 51. I think Jeff got scolded a bit for heavy bags, but all went through with "heavy" tags attached but no extra charges. I have never noticed before but there are scales right inside the airport by the Delta entrance. We were quite a sight with 4 people, each with two carry-ons and two to check so a total of 16 bags. The Delta people were very nice and we got our boarding passes without incident except we thought our flight was MSP to Atlanta to Accura. In reality it was MSP to Atlanta to JFK to Accura. The Accura flight originates in Atlanta but stops in JFK to change planes, go figure why it is considered to start in Atlanta. Chuks spent some time at the Delta desk because he thought his ticket was directly from Atlanta to Accura and he wanted to make sure we were all on the same flights.
Once our bags were tagged, security was a breeze, no one in front of us at all. Chuks lost a very small knife that was part of some kit that he had carried through security before, but everything else was easy. We had plenty to time to before our flight so we ate at a restaurant with pizza and panini on the menu.
Flight to Atlanta left a bit late and we had to wait a few more minutes for our gate. Originally we had about 1 hour to make the connection and naturally it was at a different terminal, a bit of walking and a train ride away. As we are hurrying along, Chuks and I lost Jeff and Sue. They had decided this was the best time for a bathroom break. We went along and they finally caught us with us.
The flight to JFK was a bit bumpy at times and but we arrived on time. We had a couple of hours there so the bus ride around the airport getting from one terminal to another was not stressful. Too bad it was dark by now, otherwise we would have seen the entire airport from the bus, at least it seemed like that long a ride in the dark.
The flight to Accura was longer than I had expected. I had not looked at its length, but it went fine. We had two meals and a snack of wonderful airline food. Not terrible, but nothing I would care to have again. Most things were spicier than I expected. I wonder if that is a precursor of food in Ghana. We got in almost an hour early and the yellow card health check, customs, security were a breeze. The only issue was we were so early our ride was not there. After some phone calls from Chuks, we took two taxis to our hotel, Knust Guest House. Lots of men standing around willing to help you with your bags, load them in taxis, etc and then being fairly insistent for a tip. Chuks says no and since we have not changed any money, no tip.
On the ride to the hotel I saw some scenes from movies. Women with large baskets balanced on their heads, people coming up to your car at traffic stops either selling something or simply asking for money, including people in wheel chairs and on low wheeled boards. Also saw a three wheeled truck with a huge load of something. It could have been a scene from an Indiana Jones movie. It is quite warm, mid 80s and not terribly humid but sunny.
The hotel is nice, clean, fairly simple. Chuks had mentioned that the bed would be queen sized, not quite! I took a quick shower and lots of hot water, great. I noticed I have a switch for the hot water heater which was off. I may have to turn it on for future showers. I have air conditioning in the room, it sprinklers little drops of water at me from time to time but the room is cool. I also have a small refrigerator. Chuks went to get some bottle water. I have not seen any shopping area, there is a little convenience store near the hotel where Chuks was going to get Sim cards for Jeff and Sue, but it was closed. Apparently the places to change money are also closed, so we will not spend much today and change money tomorrow.
I have wifi access in my room which is why I can write this blog. The TV seems to only have soccer football) on but I don't expect to be watching TV much. We are meeting in about 15 minutes to have dinner. Our first appointment is at 10:00 am tomorrow at the University of Ghana in Accura.
I am wearing one of the new shirts you got me, Marcia. It feels very comfortable. I will take and post some pictures. There seem to be lots of walls around everywhere. Chuks says it is very safe here, just take normal precautions. We are about a 30 minute walk from the beach and I guess we are going there tomorrow evening.
I will see if I can post this. By the way, my screen name is "John," I will see if I can change that.
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