Kids’ Doc in Jos

We’re starting our return trip to Nigeria in just a few hours. We’ve had a great time with our kids and grandkids–I ought to chronicle some of the events but right now I’m too tired. For much of the past three weeks we’ve been shopping online and in stores, tracking orders, changing reservations, packing, repacking, trying to get approval for excess baggage, researching baggage regulations, all this not only for what we need (want) to take with us, but for what others have asked us to bring for them, everything from 5/16″ light duty staples to computers. We’ve finally packed the last items, fished our car title out of the trash barrel outside, made sure our carry-ons are only a few pounds over the limit and contain no dangerous items like shampoo, and are ready for bed.

We’re having to leave one box behind because Lufthansa wouldn’t approve quite enough pieces, and we’re having to try to get an earlier flight (9:30 am instead of 2:00 pm) from Charlotte to DC because the later flight is using a smaller plane and won’t have room for our boxes (only 6 excess pieces, but apparently that’s a significant number on the 40-some passenger plane). It could have been worse, though, because last night I understood we only had clearance to bring 4 extra boxes.

I’m dreading the long trip a little, mainly knowing we’re going to be so tired, but at least we’re used to it. It will be 48 hours from when we leave here to when we get home Sunday morning, if all goes well. Barb has some audio books set up on her book reader, including Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas. I’m planning to read the rest of Paul in Fresh Perspective by N. T. Wright, and for something different, I’m bringing Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco.

See you in Jos!

This entry was posted on Friday, February 22nd, 2008 at 4:55 am and is filed under Mike's jottings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.