The Adventure BEGINS !! Feb.6 & 7
Bags packed a year ago and re-packed on Super Bowl Sunday are now ready for the long trip to Les Anglais with much needed supplies for the village.
The team is starting to arrive with their large 50-lb suitcases and their roll-aboards and backpacks.
Jim Shaw, team leader is handing out sheets containing activity and meeting schedules, work and school project and ladies tea assignments and current luggage content lists.
Afterwards Jim asks everyone to grab their large suitcases and proceed to the American Airlines ticket agent. It's quite a sight! This circus train of 50-lb (elephant) bags are paraded up to the astonished looks of the ticket agents. Jim gives his credit card to one and it flip-flops between two agents as they process this massive amount of luggage. Four pieces turn out to be around 52-54 lbs. each. Jim has to re-adjust some of the contents with some of the remaining pieces still to be check-in. They graciously allow some overage and the process, thankfully, finished, so that we can return to grab our roll-aboards and backpacks and proceed to the gate.
Nine of us are flying on American and Bob & Cindy Jackson are flying on Delta. They will meet up with us later in Miami.
"Risen from the ashes, we landed in Phoenix." (Jim Shaw)
Here's the gate marquee information for our next leg to Miami :
I checked my e-mail while at the gate and found this State Dept. communique :
Security Alert: U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince, Haiti (February 6, 2020)
Events: A planned protest is scheduled to start at approximately 10:00 a.m. on Friday, February 7, 2020. The protest route is: Place Dessalines (Champs de Mars), Rue Capois, Avenue John Brown (Lalue), Avenue Martin Luther King, Carrefour Aeroport, Autoroute de Delmas, Delmas 32, Bourdon, Avenue John Brown, Turgea, Lamartiniere, Ministry of Justice, Rue Magany, Place de Constituition (Champs de Mars). The route will affect downtown Port-au-Prince up to Petionville.
Thankfully, the airport is not close to downtown. Earlier in the week Jim was informed by RMI that they plan to fly us from Port Au Prince to Les Cayes.
Instead of a 6+ hour bumpy van ride over the mountains, we'll have an enjoyable 45-minute flight. Our luggage will be driven over the mountains by RMI drivers.
I hope to take pictures during the flight.
On the flight to Miami, the dreaded 'red-eye', half of the teams roll-aboards would not fit in the overhead bins due to the full flight. They were checked through.
Here we are at approx. 5:30am at gate D26 in Miami.
But, the team is excited! Jan and Lynda and Austin, the first-timers, are anxious to see, in person, what RMI's training manual and Jim Shaw described in the January orientation sessions ; the people, the culture, and the language.
Here I am at gate D26 writing this post. Hope to share more pictures and text of our adventure. Keep us in your prayers.
Tim Kitch is attaching a special group marking yellow-green rope to each bag.
Jim Shaw, team leader is handing out sheets containing activity and meeting schedules, work and school project and ladies tea assignments and current luggage content lists.
Afterwards Jim asks everyone to grab their large suitcases and proceed to the American Airlines ticket agent. It's quite a sight! This circus train of 50-lb (elephant) bags are paraded up to the astonished looks of the ticket agents. Jim gives his credit card to one and it flip-flops between two agents as they process this massive amount of luggage. Four pieces turn out to be around 52-54 lbs. each. Jim has to re-adjust some of the contents with some of the remaining pieces still to be check-in. They graciously allow some overage and the process, thankfully, finished, so that we can return to grab our roll-aboards and backpacks and proceed to the gate.
Here's Jim with a 'shell-shocked' look coming back from the ticket counter!
Nine of us are flying on American and Bob & Cindy Jackson are flying on Delta. They will meet up with us later in Miami.
"Risen from the ashes, we landed in Phoenix." (Jim Shaw)
Here's the gate marquee information for our next leg to Miami :
I checked my e-mail while at the gate and found this State Dept. communique :
Security Alert: U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince, Haiti (February 6, 2020)
Events: A planned protest is scheduled to start at approximately 10:00 a.m. on Friday, February 7, 2020. The protest route is: Place Dessalines (Champs de Mars), Rue Capois, Avenue John Brown (Lalue), Avenue Martin Luther King, Carrefour Aeroport, Autoroute de Delmas, Delmas 32, Bourdon, Avenue John Brown, Turgea, Lamartiniere, Ministry of Justice, Rue Magany, Place de Constituition (Champs de Mars). The route will affect downtown Port-au-Prince up to Petionville.
Thankfully, the airport is not close to downtown. Earlier in the week Jim was informed by RMI that they plan to fly us from Port Au Prince to Les Cayes.
Instead of a 6+ hour bumpy van ride over the mountains, we'll have an enjoyable 45-minute flight. Our luggage will be driven over the mountains by RMI drivers.
I hope to take pictures during the flight.
On the flight to Miami, the dreaded 'red-eye', half of the teams roll-aboards would not fit in the overhead bins due to the full flight. They were checked through.
Here we are at approx. 5:30am at gate D26 in Miami.
tired-looking group, eh? .. waiting for the Jacksons
But, the team is excited! Jan and Lynda and Austin, the first-timers, are anxious to see, in person, what RMI's training manual and Jim Shaw described in the January orientation sessions ; the people, the culture, and the language.
Here I am at gate D26 writing this post. Hope to share more pictures and text of our adventure. Keep us in your prayers.
Flying to Les Cayes! What a view you'll have flying over the countryside!
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