August 11/12/13 - Getting to Uganda

From the Uganda site a few weeks before we leave:

Movement by public transport and private vehicles is prohibited. There are limited exceptions to this, including medical transport, cargo, emergency vehicles, essential worker vehicles, and registered tourist vehicles (emphasis mine).

Should we feel special in a good way or bad way?

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Wednesday evening (Aug 11) we took flight to Los Angeles where we are spending the night. 

Leaving Las Vegas

We were up early on Thursday morning and to the airport.  Because the COVID pandemic there are lot of extra checks and paperwork that must be inspected before we can get on a plane for an international trip. They checked that we had our COVID test and our visa’s.  Fortunately, it didn’t take too long.  Because of the length of the trip, we decided to fly Business class which meant separate (and less crowded) ticket counters.

After getting through security we wandered a bit and then found our gate.  We opted to not get breakfast as we figured they would feed us on the plane, which they did.  And the food was very good.  Breakfast was Belgium Berry Waffles and peach yogurt parfait.  Really yummy.

Saw some red rocks on the way to Chicago but no idea where this is.

Our itinerary is Chicago, Brussels, brief stop in Kigali (Rwanda) and finally Entebbe Uganda.  The overall trip took about 24 hours.  Here we are in Chicago, waiting for our flight.

In Brussels they went through all the documents including a unique locator ID for Rwanda (even though we didn’t even get off the plane there).

Business/First gave us significant real estate for the flights. 

Polaris (Business Class) in United

Belgium Airlines

Mary was able to sleep a bit on the flight from Chicago to Brussels and a fair amount on the flight from Brussels to Kigali.  Paul didn’t think he slept much at all. 

At the Entebbe airport we picked up our checked luggage, had to show some documents, went through passport check (where they checked our COVID Tests, visas and such), Customs (nothing to declare so that was easy) and, and just outside the customs control, a COVID check.  Our passports now have lots of little stickers on the back that they apply to show that the various checks have been performed.

We were met by Opio, our transfer driver, who took us to our hotel nearby, the Protea Hotel by Marriott.  

Our hotel in Etebbe

By the time we finished checking in and doing some organizing it was 12:30am local time when we finally got to bed.  We were both pretty tired.