Today it is all about picking Yuhanna and his Queen up from the airport and getting all of my stuff and the shopping goods plus their luggage to the central region. I can clearly remember that transportation from the airport to Elmina 13 years ago was $40. Today it is close to $150, with a van. CRAZY, but reality. So, I’m on the job to secure a van for us. Kofi of course tried, but they flaked out on him. Kofi Kofi Kofi. He likes to talk like, “Oh Dad, that is TOO much!” but when I send him to people to bring their price down; he comes back to me with, “they said that it is their final price, Dad.” I just smile at him and then go to work on them. Anyway, today was all about PATIENCE. We rose at 6am and I told Kofi that he had to finish the little bit of shopping that we did not get done yesterday and find us a van to get us home. AND be back at the Hotel by 12 noon because we have to check out at that time and get to the airport to pick up our peeps by 1:45pm. “OR ELSE, I’m out!!” He left at 8:30am. So, I took advantage of the time in the room to journal and type of notes for our pending meetings this week. I also got on-line a bit but ran out of credits. Skyping eats up the credits very fast, so we have to make the Skype sessions brief and to the point.
It’s getting to 11am and I haven’t heard from Kofi. I called him and he told me that he had no luck with the van and that he is on his way back. At 11:50 I called the front desk and told them to send someone up so that I could check out. At 12:10 Kofi called me and asked if he should bring the stuff upstairs or keep it outside. GOOD JOB SON, he made it. I had him get a taxi and we were off to the airport. I failed to tell you that Esther called me at about 10:45am telling me that she received a call from someone that she couldn’t hear very well. She said the only words she heard were “Kojo…Airport”. GREAT…WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?! She was nervous that their flight came in early and that they were waiting for me at the airport. I told her that the only flight on their airline coming in today will be in at 1:45pm. She felt better. But I didn’t, so I tried to get on-line one more time to see if I could see the schedule. I could not, so I called Kimberly. She navigated and confirmed the time of 1:45pm. Cool.
You remember what the scene is like at the airport. There were only two other times that I sat for sometime outside the airport. Once was waiting for Adrese to arrive on his first trip to Ghana and with Nana Okofo when we were waiting for my flight. It is so interesting to watch these guys hustle people by helping them with their bags and demanding a tip. Some look like they are genuinely there to pick someone up from a flight and then you see the big smile and the chatter mouth talk start up as they grab onto the baggage cart. One after the next I watched this while I was catching up on real life with Kofi. We arrived at shortly before 1pm so we were nice and early. Well, 2pm came and we saw that his flight was delayed for an hour. Wow alright, cool because our DAMN VAN is STILL not here. Yes, I called on a guy that promised to get me a van the day before and his guy was still not here. I had to consider negotiations with a SUV to take us and all of our stuff to Brenu. So, Kofi and I talked more and more. I taught him about these hustlers and he kept asking me more and more questions about what one does once they enter in the airport and travel out. WOW, I travel so much that I forget that Kofi has never travelled outside of Ghana. He has never even seen the inside of the airport. So I took him step by step. In between I had him call our driver until the driver called us and said that he is close and that we “should not call him anymore.” LOL!!
Hey, it is 3:15pm…alright, they should be coming out soon. No Ethiopian Air yet. Check the board and it is delayed AGAIN! Another hour. I’m now getting a bit restless and tired of watching the ‘airport hustle channel’. Finally, we get through the hour and 4:15pm is here and YES Ethiopian Air has landed and people are coming out. We get the driver ready, because he has arrived and has done the serious jig because he was so late. And you know I let him tap dance his butt off with his apologies until finally, I told him that our guests had not arrived. He laughed, but clearly was annoyed with me. LOL!! Anyway, we got caught up with talking and laughing that I wasn’t looking out for Yuhanna and the vultures. One after the next I watched those passengers come out until I saw the flight crew come out. WTH!! Yuhanna WOULD HAVE to be the one held up inside. So we waited, confident that we would see him soon. I watched yet another plane load of passengers come out with their stuff right up to the flight crew of that flight. Wait now…What is going on?! I went up to the security and had them check for Yuhanna for me. He came back and said, “NOONE with the name Edwards had come through Immigration.” NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…What is going on?! I immediately called Aba and he told me that he had reached Yuhanna on his cell while he was in Rwanda. Cool. I will call. Could not get through. I had the information desk page him and his wife. I had security walk the terminal and NO ONE was there. YUHANNA WAS NOT ON THE PLANE. A Brother heard Yuhanna being paged and came over to me and said, “Are you here for Yuhanna?” I was thinking, you got a serious hustle my friend if you have a proposition for me that I will actually stand here and listen to. He proceeded and told me that he too was here to pick up Yuhanna, per Kohain’s orders. GREAT…Two vehicles to pick up Yuhanna and noYuhanna.
All of you can already guess as to what Kojo is about to do given that it is 6pm and I have dedicated my day to waiting for NOONE to get off Ethiopian Air, right? I’m OUT!!!!! I called Kohain and told him that I will put my peeps on this and we will find out Yuhanna’s deal, but I need for him to organize the ride for him from the airport to the Coast. He overstood and we left in a van that was NOT needed in traffic that took us nearly 2 hours just to get out of Accra. We reached home at 10:30 pm and because of pure adrenaline, I stayed up until my call was to come in at 4:30am about Yuhanna’s departure from ETHIOPIA. Yes, Ethiopia. Apparently, they were dealing with some VISA issues and were not allowed on their flight. We had a string of communication linkages going on between Aba, Kimberly, Kohain’s Daughter, Yuhanna’s Daughter, Yuhanna and me about his itinerary. NOONE wanted to take that trip from the Coast to Accra if it was NOT necessary. I was at Ocean Breeze so you know I was not subjecting myself to Accra any time soon. I would’ve called someone from Accra to pick him from the airport if Kohain couldn’t do it. But all in all, it appears as though we are good now. Kimberly was able to speak with Yuhanna and ease his mind that someone will be in Accra for him. I’m good. I can rest now or at least until I have to call Kohain at 7:30am to tell him to get someone up to the airport because Yuhanna is on his way here.
I know that you are thinking that it is the next day so I should just keep going with how this day is going, but you will have to wait for Day 3 Journal entry- Hoooooooome.
“I’m awake, I have worked, and I’ve been blessed. It’s Time to Take Me Home”
Love Family
