Our Journey #2

Time to pick up where I left on with documenting our journey.

Our flight from Montreal to Brussels was pretty uneventful, the one thing that through us for a loop was the time change. We boarded the plane at 7:30 Montreal time which is 5:30 Calgary time and we landed 6 1/2 hours later in Brussels at 8:35 am Brussels time. Our kid feel asleep 1 hour before landing and we had to try and wake them to get off the plane. They were not happy!

In Brussels we had to go through security again and they are picky in Europe it seems. That took some time so by the time we got to our gate it was pretty much time to board. The one big thing that stuck out in my mind at the Brussels airport was how much it stank, the entire airport stank of urine. The flight from Brussel's to Kinshasa was SO LONG and there are no personal tv's on air Brussels............. yeah not fun! 8 1/2 hours later we landed in Kinshasa. Getting off the airplane in Kinshasa is so different then anything I have ever seen, you taken from the tarmac to the airport by bus and then you walk into a room with a couple lines and military personal everywhere. All you papers are very carefully examined and they check to see if you have had yellow fever shots.

My first impression of the city was not a good one, we went through the poor area of Kinshasa and it was crazy. Drivers are insane with zero respect for the road or anyone on it. They also drive down the wrong side of the road and then cause major traffic jams. People are everywhere, standing on the sides of the road, crossing the road and they all have their little shops set up with no electricity. Definitely a completely different life style then anything I am used to.

We spent the rest of the night trying to grasp our surroundings and figure life out. We also had a fantastic supper that included fresh fruit from our fruit trees in the back yard. Dessert consisted of coconut from the backyard!


next post................ pics of our new house and 1 of the backyard, definitely will need to take more pictures to give you the full effect.