Sunday

On our last day in Bangui, we had a morning rain storm to wake us up. It ended quickly and we arrived at the airport at about 7am. Daniel with ICDI was to meet us there to walk us through the process at the airport. And it is a process as we found. We decided to go ahead and get into the initial line before Daniel came. We said goodbye to Bob and joined the near riot line to get into the first door.

Two policemen stood there checking tickets and passports before letting you in. There was no order to this line. There was lots of arguing between some in line and the policeman. At one point, a couple of military troops came out and tried to push the mass of people away from the door. It was push, shove, negotiate, anything it takes to get in front of the person in front of you. We just stood our ground and finally the 5 of us, Vernie, Ray, Steve, Ron, and myself, were let through the door.

Since we checked our luggage on Saturday, we didn't have to wait in the next line where people were checking their bags. So Steve finally determined that we could go around this line and directly to another desk where our boarding passes and passports (again) were checked.

At this desk, an agent decided to take it upon herself to walk us through the next steps of the process. We went by another passport control desk before going into the room where they have the metal detector like every airport. But they don't work here and have not for some years. So every carry on bag get checked by CAR policemen. In my case, the policeman went through my backpack very thoroughly but then waved me on. Interestingly, I could have put anything in my pockets and taken them right through.

We were then taken by our agent into the lounge and to some seats. We were there in record time I'm told. We decided to pool our resources and tip the agent $20 for helping us. Unfortunately, Daniel did not show up.

While waiting in the lounge the flight from Paris arrived. We went up to the observation deck and we were able to talk to the arriving team. There are 13 in this team included the two men that were supposed to be on our team. We said hello to them from the observation deck and then they went on to fill out the obligatory entry form required by most countries.

Before long, the Air France people came in and set up tables to check our bags before boarding. Even thought they had been checked by the CAR police moments before, they had to be checked again. That went pretty quick and we were directed out to the runway where the Airbus 330 waited. At the steps, another CAR agent stopped us and at first would not let us go up into the plane. There was talk between her and the crew a couple of times and finally she let us go. Finally, we were on the plane.

We departed about a half an hour later than scheduled but the flight was only supposed to be around 6 hours. It was a very smooth flight presenting some great views of the Sahara desert.

Arriving in Paris, we actually went up to a terminal gate. First stop is always passport control. Then we went to the baggage claim and waiting at least 30 minutes for our bags. I had approximately 1 hour before my departure for Zurich. I got my bag and said goodbye to the other guys and started walking toward the correct terminal. I didn't get stopped at the customs desk so I was able to get to the correct counter, get my boarding pass, check my bag and get to the gate while it was boarding.

The plane to Zurich was a very small BAE jet that had small seats as close together as possible. I was lucky enough to sit in the middle seat between two French business men who read their newpaper the entire flight. Its was only about an hour and 15 minutes but the crew served drinks and a fair snack.

In Zurich, it was very quick going through passport control and customs. After picking up my suitcase, I was waived through customs. It appeared that they only do spot checks of bags.

I quickly found the Joker bus to the downtown hotels and had to wait until 9pm for him to leave. I got to the Wellenberg Hotel at nearly 9:30pm.

I signed on to their internet service so I could have a high speed connection all week. I will put in some post-trip thoughts tomorrow.