A Leisurly Week-end Trip?

One week-end me and one of my American friends here (We will just call him "Joe" - mostly because that is his name) took a week-end break in Ghana. Now we both have been working for a long stretch and thought that the week-end away would do us both some good.

So here is what happened: As I was planning this trip, several things started piling up to cause stress for me. First of all my unit was having a "Board of Selection" a process by which UN Police are chosen for leadership positions. Now I have empowered many people on my team to be able to handle this "Board", but I still like to make sure all is lined up and propared to go. So I over-prepared I think for this Board.

Then something else happened. Instead of the usual 757 that the UN flies to Ghana, they sent out a message that only the Dash-7 would be available. OK so we go from hundreds of seats to 48. Add this to people leaving the mission for holiday travel, and I figured we would get scratched from the flight - it is a first come (first to apply for the flight) first serve basis.

After stressing over are we going to get to go - I called our "MOVCON" and confirmed that "Joe" and I were on the flight manifest. (What they didn't tell me was that we were the last two names on the list).

So we arrive at the airport that the fight takes off from and the airport isnt even open yet. When the doors opened some UN folks from what I will call uncivilized* nations all rushed to the door cutting in front of us. *An uncivilized nation is one that has not developed enough that the people stand in lines (ques for you British types) while waiting for service. Being that we were on the manifest, we decided that we did not need to worry and saw no need to jerk people out of line by their necks politely tell them to move to the back of the line.

Now let me tell you about the Dash-7. This aircraft was designed to be a Short Take Off and Landing (STOL) aircraft from the ground up. It only needs 500 meters of runway to take off. That is around 1625 feet. There were only 113 of these made. Ours was serial number 31. That means it cannot quite take off from an aircraft carrier without catapult assistance. It does not have a large payload though, and despite "MOVCON" putting out rules about weight of luggage it seems many people decided "they don't apply to me."

Here is what started to piss me off annoy me. "MOVCON" was letting people check their ginormous check bags/crates/boxes - many weighing ove 50 kilos (110 pounds). This is after the message was sent to everyone taking the flight that: As usual, baggage allowance will be strictly limited to a total of 15kgs per passenger and cargo uplift to/from Accra will not be possible.

So, they were taking luggage - and because of the weight - kicking off passengers. They only took 24 passengers (which left me and "Joe" out, not because we were at the end of the list, but because we were civilized and did not act like idiots by cutting the line. I find this almost typical "UN-thinking" - there are rules, but not for everyone, and luggage is more important than people - At least that is what the message seems to be.

So we get cut from the flight, but they tell us we can get another flight in the afternoon. We deceided to go ahead and go, even though now the two days will more be like one. Also instead of under two hours, the flight ended up being 4 hours , oh did I forget to tell you that "Joe" hates to fly?

We ended up making the trip, even got a little shopping done, and ended up relaxing by the pool at night with the live band of Africans that were playing traditional Mexican Folk songs. It would have been ok, but they did that rather poorly, yet somehow it was almost more entertaining because they were bad.

We flew back on the Dash-7 and made it back safe and sound. I needed the day off to relax from the preparation for the day off!!

Y'all stay safe!!