Phil’s trip to Africa, day 2 & 3, Aug 21st & 22nd, 2016: Travel & rest

Day 2: Sunday was more air travel, and no sleep.  After a 1-hour flight to Atlanta, 8 hours to Paris, and 6 hours more from Paris to Abuja, I was worn out.  Counting layovers and an hour for customs in Nigeria, that adds up to 24 hours of non-stop travel.  I rarely sleep on airplanes, and this weekend was no exception.  After a short ride to the hotel and a quick supper, it was lights out for me.

Day 3: Slept late (8 AM is late for me), however, my body is still on Eastern Daylight Time and not happy about the lost night of sleep.  Nigeria is 5 hours ahead of the eastern part of Kentucky.  There has been a slight change of plans, for which I am grateful.  I did not travel to Ado-Ekiti today. Due to activities at the school, we were asked to come tomorrow instead.  So today I went to the Winrock office in Abuja, met the folks there, and worked at some email, which I am hopelessly behind on.  If you are reading this and I owe you an email reply, I apologize.  I am trying to catch up, but do not hesitate to email me again and write SECOND TRY in the subject line.

Tomorrow is the last travel day.  I will be accompanied by John Iruaga, the Nigeria Winrock International assistant director, who will be my guide.  Ado-Ekiti is a little over 400 miles from Abuja.  Since the roads in the countryside are not the most modern, we will fly the first leg of the trip – a one hour flight and 3 hour drive to avoid a full day in the car.  Once there, I will then meet the staff at the center and take a quick tour of the facilities.

I look forward to the trip, not only to meeting new people, and seeing the place where I will be working, but to getting my first look at the African countryside.

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