Aachen to Accra

After four months in Aachen it felt surreal for that portion of the trip to be ending. One last night on the town with Bjorn lasted until 5AM, follwed by a 6AM wake-up to catch the train to Amsterdam. After sleeping through the alarm, taking a rushed shower, finishing the last bit of packing, and sprinting to the train station, I had 5 minutes to spare to say goodbye to Bjorn and catch my 6:19 train. After that hectic start, once the train headed out it seemed like everything was going to work out...

That lasted until the second train transfer. When I got off my train to check the next transfer I found out that the train had been canceled! That created a problem, given that it was 7AM on Sunday and the ticket office was closed until 11AM (which meant I couldn’t get a new plan to the airport). The only help at the station (besides an out of order ticket machine) was a message on the main board that said ‘take the bus’.

I didn’t have many options, because I needed to get to the airport before noon, so I had to call Bjorn and wake him up - and he came to the rescue with a new set of train transfers. That got me to the Amsterdam airport without further problems, but quite a bit later than planned. The next kink in the day came when I tried to check in for my flight and the computer couldn’t find a passenger with my name... after a half hour with the agent we discovered that my ticket was for the next day! (Although my printed itinerary was for the current day.) $200 later they got me on the flight, which was worth it because Uncle Karsten was also on the same flight and I couldn’t imagine waiting another day to see my parents and Julianna. I got to the gate after they had already started preparing for boarding, and met up with Uncle Karsten there. The flight was great, and I even got to change my seat part way through so that we could sit together.

When we landed in Accra I was quite excited for reunions, after two months apart from Julianna, and a year apart from my parents. After I got my passport stamped I headed towards baggage claim, and as I turned the corner - there was Julianna! After a long hug and much happiness, I found out that she had talked her way in to the baggage claim area by making friends with all the people working there. After a couple of months in Africa she had certainly learned how to make things happen :)

We had to wait a long time for the bags to come out, and after an hour we finally gave up on the last bag and decided that it was lost... so Karsten filled out the forms and dealt with the baggage people. Then we were finally on our way and headed out for a reunion my parents! We walked out the doors and I saw my parents right outside behind the cordoned off area and ran out to give them a hug. It was great to see them after such a long time apart, and we were all excited for the next days together.

We wrapped up a long day of travel with a dinner at the airport and then a cab ride to the hotel on the beach. The place was beautiful - right on the beach, we could hear the waves crashing from our room, and most of all, we were ready for a good night’s rest.