From Minneapolis to Kampala: A Four-Day Journey.

As some of you may already know, arriving to Kampala for Babina and I was no walk in the park. In fact, it was more like we were both very unlucky and that some greater force was deliberately keeping us from reaching that city.

• 1.     Terrible flight to Chicago. Crazy turbulence. Small Plane. Almost cried like a child when we landed safely.
  2.     We land one hour late. Freak out. Run like fools to catch our connection. Find out they switched the terminal to the farthest one away possible that we had already passed.
  3.     Find out we are boarding. Thank God. Get on. Get yelled at by rude hostess for asking for water. Killjoy.
  4.     Pilot says we have technical problem…
  Wait…
  Pilot says it will be 45 more minutes...
  Wait…
  Pilot says we have waited aboard too long and that we should wait outside…
  We get off.
  Wait…
  They tell us the flight will no longer leave because surprisingly, by that time, we had waited for 4hrs and 45mn.
  5.     Rush to the customer service center. Get Vouchers. Go to Hotel. Get food. Sleep. Make it to the flight the next day. Very Cold. Leave 2 hours late.
  6.     Land in Brussels. 20 min before flight leaves in different terminal. Pilot can’t park plane. Finally Park. Run like fools part 2. Evidently miss flight.
  7.     Customer Service stand tells us that because we have “improper documentation”. We cannot be let outside the airport, hence to a hotel. More vouchers. Wandering in airport. “Sleep” in Chapel for 3 hrs.
  
  
  Finally board plane to Entebbe, Uganda, and this is where the disaster ended.  Made it to Kampala on Sunday (left mnpls on Wednesday), and got phones and Internet on Monday.    

The lesson here? Twofold:

NEVER FLY UNITED AIRLINES AND/OR CONNECT IN CHICAGO. IT’S A TRAP. BOTH OF THEM ARE.

Despite the hectic start, Kampala is a charming city, very spread out and busy throughout the day, a lot of traffic. People have been very nice to us and sympathetic. Thank God Babina is a well-connected individual or else our ordeal may have been more chaotic upon arrival to Entebbe (airport town).
She arranged for a motel driver to come pick us up at the airport and we later met up with one of her acquaintances in Kampala, which was delightful. They helped us find a hotel, treated us to lunch, and explained how to get Internet and a phone. Hopefully the rest of the trip goes as smoothly as this.

Here is our Hotel Neighborhood in Kampala: