Day 0 – The journey

Where shall I start when it comes to the journey to Rwanda ….

Firstly all 4 Uni lads managed to pull themselves out of bed at an early hour that they didn’t know was still in existence – surely a good start and a positive sign for the day ahead … right?

The drive to Manchester was what can only be described as sluggish due to some slow driving from Alex (traffic) but they did make it to the correct car park at the airport and this is when the first disaster nearly happened.

First Alex managed to hold the bus for a minute or two as he ran across the car park as he had left his trainers in his car which was not actually the biggest issue they would have with the bus – after making it to the terminal they got off the bus but for Lewis to come to the realisation that his wallet had not left the bus with him which led to him charging across the car park with what can only be described as the speed of a lightning bolt (he believes so anyway) as he made it to the middle of the road waving the bus down, the driver simply smiled and waved at him as he drove by. DISASTER! Luckily after the bus completed its route about 10-15 minutes later a young child handed a relieved Lewis his wallet.

This is where Rob (project Leader) and the Uni lads combined ready for the flight to Istanbul which went without any real problems and a lot of sleeping from the project leader Rob.

In Istanbul instead of worrying about the location of Chris and Andrew and what time they would be arriving the travelling party found a bar and relaxed with a cold beer.

Luckily the remaining 2 (Chris + Andrew) caught up with the rest of the team whilst boarding the plane which was cut close for time.

For the second time in the journey James was handed the gift of sitting on his own this time sandwiched between two non-English speaking strangers – Just like on the first flight the food was really nice especially the chicken which ran out before reaching Andrew and Chris which was a real loss for them.

Another close call then came when paying for our visas to entry the country when Dan and Lewis didn’t have the form and were led to believe that they may not be able to apply for a visa there and then before a composed Rob got a website up showing that they could apply on entry which was confirmed when reaching the desk – another close call right? Surely that was it for one day!

Then the real disaster struck after paying for our visas and going to the bag collection point where we discovered that Chris and Andrews bags had not made it onto the plane during their short transfer time in Istanbul which Chris did in fact state he would be very impressed with Turkish airlines if their bags had made it onto the plane. After being told that their bags should arrive at the airport at the same time the next day the team went out to the carpark and met Eric and Eddie for the transfer to the accommodation.

Well that was an Eventful day for the team who needed to get some rest in before representing their country in a cricket match the following day (Saturday)