Finally Flying to Uganda
With the bags all packed up thanks to spare bags brought along by the Uganda Team 2023. We were ready to depart for Heathrow.
The bags we stuffed full of Dean Close sports kit, rugby balls, basket balls, computers, projectors, arts and craft equipment and primary school books.The goodbyes were short and sweet, just as goodbyes are as your children get that bit older. Then it was all about having the music on; singing out loud and starting this epic journey.
In Christ Alone was still being sung as we chambered off the bus at Terminal 4.
Almost as if we had called for it, Heathrow hopper then came along immediately and took us straight to the terminal doors. It felt as though, after all the obstacles that had been put in our way recently, this was a moment of serendipity that was well overdue.
The check in was smooth and the only hiccup seemed to be that on the other side of the terminal, there was no McDonalds. Terminal 4 seems to have Tom Ford stores, Burberry shops but is short of fast food outlets and cheap food for hungry teenagers.
This did not dampen the mood and before long we were boarding our flight to Doha. Qatar Airways were so considerate, they had even colour coded all the furniture Dean Close maroon.
The 6 and a bit hours literally flew by with movies and games played on the on board entertainment system and we were perfectly on time as we approached Doha. The desert city seemingly rising from nowhere in the perpetual flatness of the desert landscape. There are so few hills that they seem to have had to make tall buildings just the break up the monotony of stoney nothingness.
The airport was recently voted 2nd best airport and airline in the world 🌎 but I think the voting panel may have been the same ones that gave this country the football World Cup as it just looked like a big continuation of Terminal 4 to me. More Harrods shops, more Tom Ford, more Gucci and with the only obvious difference being a giant Teddy bear piece if art in the middle of the main thoroughfair. Charlie thought it was a Teddy on an electric chair but it turned out to be a note to childhood with the metal section actually being a bacolite table lamp. It was bought by the sheikh's wife at an art fair and is now proudly displayed in the airport.
We said that we would meet by the Teddy bear in 45 minutes to give toilet and Starbucks breaks but after 40 minutes, Tom was on the group chat yelling 'last call, come on let's go!'.
Cue 11 pupils sprinting past the chanel store, with thousands of gucci sunglasses now just a blur. Jamie was running so fast, his rucksack opened and it began scattering his belongings behind him like a movie star trying to stop anyone from chasing him. Thus gave the security guard the chance to tell us to stop running and that the last call display actually just meant, get to the gate.
After hearing stories of past trips stuck for 2 days at their changeover airport, we gave a huge sigh of relief as we got to the gate to see that nobody had actually boarded the plane yet.
As we stepped out into the Qatar Air, the dry desert heat hit us like a wall and the burns from speech day were quickly tingling again. The exposure was short lived and a brief chat to some people from Uganda about what we were doing over in Africa reminded us just how friendly the Ugandad people are. The man that we were talking to had a proud smile on his face when he heard we were heading to near his village.
The flight to Entebbe was just as smooth and a few more games, movies, naps and snacks brought us smoothly down on the runway.
Tom asked politely if it was a grass runway as the lush greenery of Uganda began to unfold its patterns below us. After the baron landscape of Qatar, the lushness of Uganda stood in a stark and proud contrast.
The actual concrete runway was kissed down on by our wheels and we had arrived in the centre of Africa, ready to begin the journey that we have been talking about and planning for so so long.
We quickly got into the airport only to be hit by the longest and slowest visa check line ever known to man or woman. There were 7 queues of people, all with about 100 people in the line and with a rate if visa approval or one every 10 minutes.
If the group weren't prepared for things going more slowly in Uganda, they certainly are now.
A few games created by Niamh, Lydia and Charlie managed to run down some time but in the end it was Katie and Fenella on rubik's cube tuition that worked best whilst Charlie currie analysed the England Rugby squad and others debated over how we could get Alastair on Britain's got challenge. Even Jamie's energy was beginning to run low as the queue dragged on and the heat of the airport crept up.
Genevieve began dreaming of jumping in the pool and whether we could go straight in, fully clothed with ruck sack! And Jess went into survival mode, not thinking about the wait and just letting it happen.
Our bags just continued to roll on and on round the carousel, tantalisingly close but so far.
After just over two hours queueing. Its either 'sitting or standing' was Tom's observation, we made it through to baggage claim.
That is when pur bags were stopped for 'taxes' on imports. Thankfully, Mrs Pitt is a demon at negotiations and she managed to explain that we were donating them to a school and that they were not new laptops. Whilst Mrs Pitt was negotiating this, the rest of us snuck past with the other bags full of laptops and ipads. Phew!
Alex Musoke was there waiting for us and for the next 30mimutes he helped Moses and Williams to get all the bags tied to the roof of our bus.
Then, we drove off and finally entered real Uganda. The smell hits you just as the colours do. There is a rich, baked caramel type smell from the roasted nuts at the side of the streets that permeates the air. The bright colours also shine through and every school child that walks past on the street greets you with a huge smile and big wave. This people and the place really are magical and the magic had finally begun.
Geneviene began taking pictures of everything, whilst other pointed at the roadside stalls and everything that they ould buy for their garden at home. Just as the road began to become real Kampala, the road becomes newer, the links with China become advertised and we move onto the amazing toll road.
Now you could be in any westernised nation in the world and a cross roads junction needed a quick right turn to Speke Resort and a very different version of Uganda was then entered.
After hearing stories of past trips stuck for 2 days at their changeover airport, we gave a huge sigh of relief as we got to the gate to see that nobody had actually boarded the plane yet.
As we stepped out into the Qatar Air, the dry desert heat hit us like a wall and the burns from speech day were quickly tingling again. The exposure was short lived and a brief chat to some people from Uganda about what we were doing over in Africa reminded us just how friendly the Ugandad people are. The man that we were talking to had a proud smile on his face when he heard we were heading to near his village.
The flight to Entebbe was just as smooth and a few more games, movies, naps and snacks brought us smoothly down on the runway.
Tom asked politely if it was a grass runway as the lush greenery of Uganda began to unfold its patterns below us. After the baron landscape of Qatar, the lushness of Uganda stood in a stark and proud contrast.
The actual concrete runway was kissed down on by our wheels and we had arrived in the centre of Africa, ready to begin the journey that we have been talking about and planning for so so long.
We quickly got into the airport only to be hit by the longest and slowest visa check line ever known to man or woman. There were 7 queues of people, all with about 100 people in the line and with a rate if visa approval or one every 10 minutes.
If the group weren't prepared for things going more slowly in Uganda, they certainly are now.
A few games created by Niamh, Lydia and Charlie managed to run down some time but in the end it was Katie and Fenella on rubik's cube tuition that worked best whilst Charlie currie analysed the England Rugby squad and others debated over how we could get Alastair on Britain's got challenge. Even Jamie's energy was beginning to run low as the queue dragged on and the heat of the airport crept up.
Genevieve began dreaming of jumping in the pool and whether we could go straight in, fully clothed with ruck sack! And Jess went into survival mode, not thinking about the wait and just letting it happen.
Our bags just continued to roll on and on round the carousel, tantalisingly close but so far.
After just over two hours queueing. Its either 'sitting or standing' was Tom's observation, we made it through to baggage claim.
That is when pur bags were stopped for 'taxes' on imports. Thankfully, Mrs Pitt is a demon at negotiations and she managed to explain that we were donating them to a school and that they were not new laptops. Whilst Mrs Pitt was negotiating this, the rest of us snuck past with the other bags full of laptops and ipads. Phew!
Alex Musoke was there waiting for us and for the next 30mimutes he helped Moses and Williams to get all the bags tied to the roof of our bus.
Then, we drove off and finally entered real Uganda. The smell hits you just as the colours do. There is a rich, baked caramel type smell from the roasted nuts at the side of the streets that permeates the air. The bright colours also shine through and every school child that walks past on the street greets you with a huge smile and big wave. This people and the place really are magical and the magic had finally begun.
Geneviene began taking pictures of everything, whilst other pointed at the roadside stalls and everything that they ould buy for their garden at home. Just as the road began to become real Kampala, the road becomes newer, the links with China become advertised and we move onto the amazing toll road.
Now you could be in any westernised nation in the world and a cross roads junction needed a quick right turn to Speke Resort and a very different version of Uganda was then entered.
The resort is breathtaking. The rooms are beautiful and thankfully, after our 24 hour journey, the showers are amazing!
We are now heading off for food before we wake for an early morning swim tomorrow and a trip to a traditional tourist market.
What a day and the Uganda part has only just begun!
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