The hotel has a van that could take us to the airport, so I arranged for that. This hotel is only about 15 minutes from the airport, so it is an easy trip. We met again for breakfast, then I finished packing my bags and went down to settle the bill and get ready to leave.

They have built a nice new airport in Kumasi in the last few years. As you can imagine, it is much nicer than the old one I’ve flown in and out of a time or two. But new facilities or not, some things never change…

As I was getting my boarding pass and checking in my bags, the lady told me my bag weight 1 kg too much, so I needed to remove something. I took out a 3-ring binder and she said that was now fine, and I can put the binder in my backpack. First of all, there really isn’t room in my backpack, so I ended up just carrying it through security and onto the plane, but secondly, isn’t that still the same amount of weight on the plane? The only thing that changed was a binder went from one back to the seatback pocket in front of me. The small Embraer plane made the trip down to Accra quickly and smoothly, and within 30 minutes we were deplaned and into what is now the domestic airport shortly after 1 pm.

I have so many memories of this airport, and so much has changed. When I first came to Ghana this building was THE airport. The very large “Awkwaaba” sign that was painted above the door going into the arrivals hall is still the same, but almost everything else has changed.

The hall was dingy with dirty paint and it was stiflingly hot. The customs and Immigration stations were at the end of the hall, and after having your passport and visa checked two or maybe three times, we could walk around another wall into the baggage claim room. I remember the baggage carrousel looking and sounding like a tired piece of machinery that at any moment might come to a grinding halt and spill a few bolts out on the floor as its final act.

But today we entered into a bright and clean arrival hall with a/c units pumping refreshingly cool air. The Customs and Immigration stations are gone, as is the wall that divided them from baggage claim. Since currently only domestic flights come in here, there is no need for immigration agents. A much newer and nicer carrousel started up, and in short order both of us had collected our luggage.

On the way out we saw new Customs and Immigration stations being installed. When we asked, we were told they are planning to make this airport international once again, but only for flights from Africa, primarily neighboring countries. Perhaps air traffic is growing so much that they need to expand!

The zig-zag walkway down to the exit is still the same, and walking out into the heat and humidity still feels the same. We have to transit from this airport to the brand new international airport less than half a mile away. It is shiny, has lots of glass and is very modern. Rather than carry out bags that far through car and truck traffic, we paid what translated into a $3 taxi fare for the short trip over.

I knew we would have extra time to kill at this point, but when scheduling travel one has to take the flights and times that are available. I’d always rather have to sit for a few hours than to come running in stressing about getting checked in and through security before the boarding gate closes! I have missed flights before, and it is no fun. Most of the time I missed them because my incoming flight was delayed because of weather or other issues. One time it was because the time was listed in the military 24-hour time, and I misunderstood when I needed to be there. But at least I arrived just in time to watch the plane I was supposed to be on taking off…

No one was at the check-in desk, so we went up to the new food court to grab something to eat. They have power outlets so we can charge our phones and computers, and we talked and worked a little waiting for the check-in counter to open.

They were finally open a little later than we’d been told, but that’s OK. As it turned out, our challenges with airline decisions that made no sense wasn’t over.

According to the Africa World Airlines official website, checked bags can weigh no more than 23kg (about 50 lbs). After an airline official checked our passports and Nigerian entrance visas (the first of at least 6 times they would be checked before we boarded the plane) we got up to the check-in desk.

Mr. Horchak was first, and his checked bag weight 19kg, but the lady told him it was too heavy, and he needed to take something out. He told her it was under the weight they allowed, but she insisted, and told him if he didn’t take something out his bag would not fly today, but go out tomorrow. So, with the same logic as earlier, because the exact same amount of weight was going to be on the plane, he took out a small travel bag and one dress shoe and she said that was good.

I now have two bags to check, and both were well under the weight maximums at 12kg and 15kg. But she put them both on together and told me I was 1kg over the limit when they are together (her math must be worse than mine is sometimes…) and I must remove an item. So I removed a glass gift I’d received in Elmina, and she said the weight was good. I needed a bag to carry it in, and since I always put a Walmart bag around my shoes to keep any dirt off my clothes, I took one shoe out of a bag and used that bag to carry the box with the glass gift. Shaking our heads at the lack of logic, we went on over to Emigration and security, where the saga continued.

Mr. Horchak had no problem with the passport check and getting it stamped, but when he went through the security scanner he realized the small travel bag he had been asked to remove contained a small Leatherman type took and an old pocket knife he carried in case he needed it. The Leatherman had been a gift from his wife because a previous one had been confiscated at an airport security check. Guess what happened to both of these? You got it, he is once again sans a Leatherman…

When I got up to passport control I apparently drew the short straw, and got a lady who was having a bad day and freely sharing it with everyone who passed through. First she demanded I take my passport out of the small protective holder I have it in. Then loudly complained about the thin plastic cover one of the visa services had put on, wondering why I would put so much on my passport to make her life harder.

Then, while holding my boarding pass and looking at it she asked where I was going. I said that as the boarding pass confirmed, I was heading to Lagos. She nearly exploded! She began to lecture me about how rude I was, and that I could be barred from the plane for talking to an airport official in that manner! I just stood there in stunned silence until she finished, stamped my passport and brusquely flopped it down on the counter. Kinda makes one wish he could give her husband a heads-up that when she gets home tonight, he would be wise to walk softly…

We waited at the gate, but we didn’t board quite on time. And once onboard the captain announced they were having some issues with luggage. Oh no, we both sure hoped that didn’t mean our bags wouldn’t fly with us!

We finally took off about a half our late for our 1 hour flight. I managed to get a message to Hakeem Oladmeji, a member in Lagos who was going to meet us at the airport of our new arrival time before I had to shut the phone off.

An hour’s flight time and an hour’s time change meant we landed 2 hours later local time than when we left. (But when I fly the other way we fly for an hour and land at the same time we took off, so I guess it evens itself out). Passport control and baggage claim were quick and efficient, and we were both quite happy to get our luggage! Hakeem was waiting with his car, and we were at our hotel shortly.

Tired from the long day of travel, at nearly 9 pm neither of us felt like trying to eat a late dinner. I have some snacks as does Mr. Horchak, so we checked into our rooms agreeing to met for breakfast in the morning.