the arrival

we finally landed. hours later then anticipated in the dark, dark night. total travel time (with a 3 hour stop in london), 20 hours. there were mistakes by the airline, confused passengers, a missing passenger, and missing luggage....namely mine (and that of a woman from the World Bank we got to know).

the air was crisp yet warm and we were anxious but it was too dark to see anything but the little airport. Lungi airport, similar to other airports in developing countries....boxy, basic, equipment lagged behind quite a number of years. it's size i'd equate to about double the size of one of those huge, fancy car washes (with less amenities).

Lungi airport is on a peninsula. transport options to Freetown: helicopter and ferry. there we were, in Sierra Leone, a helicopter ride away from Freetown.

• helicopter ride about 10 minutes = US $50
• ferry ride about 40 minutes then a taxi ride another 15 = 1st class (air conditioned) $5000 leones + $15000 leones taxi ($20 leones, about US $7).
  

another option used to be the hovercraft but it broke down, and driving which do to a lack of paved roads takes about 4 hours. It was too late for the ferry so helicopter it was.

as for my luggage, i'd go all but one full day with out it but that's for another post...