It is 10:10am local time, but we just left New York 8 hours ago and it was 9pm. Currently webare flying over the Ivory Coast and should be arriving in Accra on about an hour. Last night, the plane we boarded at JFK at 3pm, yesterday had a problem with the deicer over the left wing ( seeing a pattern here?) and crews worked on it until the realized it was not going to happen in a reasonable time, so the pilot anounced, the crew apologized and the passengers moaned and deplaned onto motion sickness test cabins. Delta called them people movers, but the Ghanaians on board joked that it was taste of travel in Ghana – if there were 100 more people and some chickens packed in. One fellow traveller explained to us that Delta is known for this “taste of West Africa, right here in the states. We were taken back to the terminal and queued while they got another plane, stocked it, cleaned it, fueled it and ran to within minutes of our necessary departure time to avoid hitting the maxmum pilot on-clock time. To assure that we hustled like good cattle, they kept explaining that if we did not board all 42 rows of the 767 in 30 minutes sharp, the flight would have to be cancelled. The slightly bullying tone was quickly disarmed when one of the English teachers from American International School yelled out that the destination is “pronounced uh-CRAH, not ACK-ruh, you nauhghty boy.” at which time a murmur of agreement, and a burst of giggles went out among the passengers.
This same teacher stopped by to give Bob and me her card and to offer their hospitality should we run into any trouble ( particularly medical) while in Ghana, and reminding us that this is a “third world country,” which is a helpful reminder, especially to keep in mind with healthcare needs.
We took off about 9pm, five hours (and a day) late. I never learned to sleep on a plane, and I had a rough time keeping a comfortable position, but I dozed some and with a tiny cup of warmish airplane coffee, I think I’ll start to wake up soon.