The Journey Begins

Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Installment #3 - The Journey Begins!  All has gone smoothly in preparing for departure. Since we have an overnight flight to Europe, we departed the Akron-Canton (CAK) airport in the early evening - 5:35 pm (17:35 for our non-American friends) on our way to Atlanta. We got to the airport in plenty of time thanks to our friends Gary & Peggy Summers. We drove to the Summer's home, picked up Peggy who drove us to the airport and dropped us off.  She took our car back to their home to park it all during our trip. At $7 or $8 a day parking fee for 18 days, this wonderful courtesy will save us $126 to $144 in parking fees! Thanks Gary & Peggy! (Gary normally does this for us, but he was just a bit under the weather and didn't want to risk passing anything on to us. Very kind and thoughtful of him.)
The gate agent checked our passports and also checked to be sure we had our immunization card showing we've had a yellow fever vaccine.  One is not allowed to enter Ghana without proof of a yellow fever immunization. So our immunization card will travel with our passport this entire trip.  
We try to travel quite light when we go to Africa. Schlepping a lot of luggage over ten flights is less than desirable, so we have one suitcase each. Pam carries on a light backpack and I carry on my computer bag. In my bag for this trip I have a spare change of clothes, my Surface computer, an iPad (for pictures and writing this blog) my sermon and Bible Study notes, our portable pharmacy (first aid kit, grapefruit seed extract, anti-malarial drugs, aspirin, an emergency anti-biotic, anti-diarrhea meds, antihistamines, hydrocortisone cream, etc. All this fits in a little zippered bag about 6" wide by 5" tall by 2 inches wide.), computer and phone cables, spare batteries, our water purifier called a steripen, and some snacks - nuts and protein bars. I also have a printout of our itinerary and all our travel and lodging details. 
In Pam's backpack she has hand-sanitizer, disinfectant wet wipes, a spare change of clothes in case luggage does not arrive with us, a bottle of water we can share, tissues (that can double as TP in a pinch!), reading material, her faux pearl necklace and earrings to wear on the high holy days, and a travel pack of essential oils (thieves, peppermint etc.) The oils were a gift from several of the ladies in the Akron-Canton congregation to help make our trip much more fragrant and healthy. Thanks ladies!
Finally for this post, we thought we'd add a little humor. At the gate is a stand that allows you to measure your carry-on bag to be sure it will fit in the overhead bin or under the seat. Since I didn't fit as a carry-on I guess I'll have to be stowed with checked baggage!
We'll lay over in Atlanta for a few hours, get a bite to eat and depart for Europe at about 10:30 pm. 
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