From the moment the plane gets ready to depart for Freetown, you know you've never experienced anything quite like this. It seems as though the vast majority of the flight passengers were suspiciously able to bypass the "1 carry-on suitcase + 1 handbag allowance" because the overhead compartments are busting at the seams with plastic-wrapped containers. It is doubtful that their contents are even legal according to international travel regulations...but this is Africa. The person sitting next to you not only lugged four over-sized luggage bags on the plane, but they also ignored their assigned seating placement because they preferred an alternate seat by the window. They get away with their seat thievery by pretending to not understand. The plane takes off at midnight...
When the wheels touch down in Freetown four hours later, half of the flight passengers remain seated en-route to Monrovia. You climb clumsily over their laps in order to begin the long disembarkation process. From your extensive (or even non-extensive) flight experience, you expect there to be a bus or ramp awaiting at the exit to guide you to passport control. There is neither. You walk the distance from the plane to the passport control entrance where a chaotic mob awaits.
There's a man arbitrarily handing out customs forms from the center of the chaos. Why didn't they give this to you on the plane you ask? That would be far too logical. You grab one, and fill it out as quickly as possible in order to secure a place in line. If you've planned ahead, someone in-country has already purchased your visa and e-mailed you a copy. If you do not have a copy of your visa...you may have been better off staying on the plane en-route to Monrovia.
You stand in line with just four people in front of you and think to yourself that this wont take very long. Little do you know a handful of people will find their way in front of you, some way or another, leaving you toward the end of the line instead. You can watch your luggage trickle in to the right while you wait. It suspiciously flips over and over with each rotation of the baggage carousel, but at least it's not piled in the larger stack of luggage that is so high it gets kicked into a wall. You can also observe a handful of locals who were able to bribe their way through security in order to meet their friends directly at passport control.
Finally, you make it to the front of the line. The customs official finalizes the visa process by fingerprinting you and taking your picture. You may or may not be asked forcefully to fill out and sign the second portion of your customs form, in spite of the fact that it is marked "for official use only". After all of this, he stamps your passport and you walk away.
The next checkpoint guy asks you to produce your yellow card. You are prepared and have all of the required vaccinations and more documented properly within your yellow immunization record book: Typhoid, yellow fever, rabies, Hep A, and Hep B. You also are carrying a months worth of anti-malaria pills. Strangely, the checkpoint guy could care less that you took such careful precautions. All he wants to see is that you merely own a yellow vaccination card, and then he pushes you to move on. Perhaps on another day he may be more diligent in checking your specific vaccination records. Perhaps not. Either way, you walk away feeling relieved that the arrival process is nearly over since you can see all of your luggage straight ahead.
The baggage officials are so rough that you discover one of your bags is completely ripped. Nothing is missing; however, so you grab your luggage and walk toward the exit. You stop briefly in order to sweet talk the customs officials, so that they wont dig through all of your luggage. At the airport exit, there is a man making sure that no bags have been stolen by confirming that the numbers on your bags match those taped to your boarding pass. Why don't they do this in every airport?
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| 4:00 AM arrival outside of the Freetown Airport |
You don't realize that you're only half way through the process of getting to Freetown.
To the right of the dirt lot, you line up to buy tickets for the Sea Coach Express water-taxi. This is the most convenient way of reaching mainland Freetown, as driving would take over six hours around the unpaved inlet. If you're fluent in Krio, you will get your ticket much faster.
Attached to your Sea Coach ticket is a raffle ticket. The second half of the raffle ticket is tied to your luggage bags. You check to ensure that the numbers on each raffle ticket are identical just before the Sea Coach officials pile your luggage into a van while you are ushered into a different van. It's a 10 minute drive to the ferry pier and you have no idea when you'll see your luggage again.
The number of passengers + luggage exceeds the amount of space that one water-taxi can hold, so you must wait your turn at the pier. You wait for up to an hour before your number is finally called, and then you are permitted to board the boat. There's a bright orange life jacket ready for you. As for your luggage.... it may or may not be on the same boat as you, it may or may not be rummaged through while on the boat, and it may or may not arrive in Freetown soaking wet.
The ride takes 45 minutes. At the pier in Freetown, your bags are waiting for you (unless they're coming on the next water-taxi, in which case you'll have to wait). You collect the luggage and an official cross-checks the raffle ticket numbers to ensure that they are truly yours. Then, you push your way through screaming porters and walk up a dirt hill to the main road where your chauffeur's car awaits. Make sure they haven't forgotten their keys back on the boat...
You've arrived in Freetown.
-David & Nicole
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