Ok, many of you have read my ferry stories and honestly it wasn’t too bad today but I want to share with you what an “airport pick up” looks like. So, praise God this evening after two days of driving and flying 4 visitors from West Cabarrus Church should be arriving here in The Gambia (you see the word should don’t you). They will fly in to the Banjul airport which is about 30 minutes from our guest house in the city and many hours (less than 50 miles) from our compound in the village. The pick up run started at 5:45 am (for an arrival of 6:30 pm). I left my house, had a smooth drive to the ferry port and a less than 2 hour wait for the ferry. I am currently very slowly floating across the river on the recently “fixed” ferry.
Once I arrive on the other side I will stop at 10-12 stores to pay bills and get groceries (buying my groceries for the next six weeks). I am praying I can arrive at our guest house near the airport in time for a nap before we have to leave at 4pm to drive to the airport. 4 visitors and lots of luggage, especially packages for us will take a lot of space so two cars have to go for the pickup. We will have to fight commute traffic on our way there which means lots of taxi vans and people jumping off and on them, some cows in the road and donkey carts to dodge.
We hope to arrive by 6pm to be there and assist with any customs or luggage issues. Then we load up the cars, pay the porters and drive the 30 minutes back to the guest house (hopefully with all the people and all the luggage) stopping for a quick dinner on the way. I am sure they will all get a good night’s sleep tonight before we head to the village Sunday (cannot make it from my house to the airport and back in one day). Enjoy your easy access airports, cell phone lots, uber, paved roads and bridges the next time you go pick someone up at the airport.
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