Following are some little things I noticed on the journey from Johannesburg to Haiti. Of course, the big things will be in Haiti itself, but that is a different blog.
1) I’ve come to the conclusion there really isn’t such a thing as a workable sleeping position on an overnight flight. I would find a comfortable position, only to find my head dropped down to some awkward place or a body part aching after about ½ hour. So I’d change positions - ahhh, this feels better, this is the right position. In ½ hour another part of my body would be aching. After about 3 rounds of this, I realized the "ahhh" was just the relief of giving that particular body part a break at the expense of another. And that was with having the seat next to me open. Eish, maybe on the way home I'll find the magic position.
2) Despite what travel agent says, you must collect your baggage at JFK even if connecting to another international flight. Despite what flight attendant says, you must pass through customs even if you are connecting to another international flight. Which normally for a law abiding citizen like me wouldn’t be a problem, but I was carrying highly illegal contraband – biltong. I chatted up the customs agent so he would be distracted from my obvious criminality. In hindsight this is probably exactly what he is trained to notice – nervous chit chat. However, he choose to let me go. You might want to make a note – do not include me on any criminal adventures you may be contemplating as clearly I would give us away in no time.
3) Check-in kiosk for my connecting flight didn’t pull up the Port Au Prince part of my itinerary - just the return flight to Joburg. Made me a bit nervous – glad I had 3 ½ hours between flights. All was better though when the desk ticket agent looked at my passport and saw that we shared the exact same birthday, month, day and year. I took it as a good sign, if not for the whole trip, then at least for the JFK airport part of my journey.
4) As I walked the long journey from one place to another at JFK, I kept feeling like I should recognize someone. After all, I was in my native country. Not one person though! Weird.
5) Security in America is intense. You walk through this machine and hold your hands in a “Hands Up” position and then it x-rays you – right down to your body parts. Then you wait by the TSA agent till she receives a call on her radio telling her what to check. Person in front of me got her left and right forearm patted down. The call for me came through – left forearm and HEAD! Head? Yes, I got my first head pat down. And my right arm felt a little left out.
6) Addiction or Pavlovian response I’m not sure. Every airport in America has a Starbucks, so the minute I touched down – actually before we even took off – I started thinking about a Starbucks Grande Nonfat Chai – my beverage of choice from years ago. Even though my gate for Port Au Prince was 12, I had only a momentary hesitation when I found out the one and only Starbucks was at Gate 47. The walk was worth it - tastes so delicious – just like I remember it.
7) Waiting now at Gate 12. At least 250 people waiting. Only a few white faces sprinkled in amongst the Haitian and Haitian Americans. Creole all around me. I am definitely not going to Kansas.
8) At least 10 elderly passengers have been wheeled up in wheelchairs. There is a story there.
9) Waiting in the gangway to board the plane. AA agent comes pushing someone in a wheelchair down the gangway saying, “excusez moi, s’il vous plait” over and over so she could pass. You should have heard the angry chatter from the waiting line. No idea what folks were saying as it was all in Creole, but they were pissed!!
10) Once on the plane though lovely to see how helpful folks were to one another. Particularly a couple of men who took it upon themselves to help the elderly (and the short) put up their baggage in the overhead bin and find their seats.
11) Hats must be big in Haiti. One lady got on the plane with 6 hats, all nested inside one another, on her head. Another had a sporty little hat on, tag still hanging off the back. An older man had on a very dapper little hat with an identical one just underneath. I had to take a close look at one lady as she looked like she was wearing a covered lampshade on her head, but I realized that it was just protection for the hat underneath.
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