Just downing a final cup of coffee before Tim arrives and we head over to Heathrow! Next time you hear from us, all being well, we should be there! Not encouraging gambling, but anyone want to bet on how long it takes us to get from the airport to Freetown via the ferry? Any advance on 6 hours?!
Ferry to Freetown
More or less packed and just under the weight limit (luggage not me) Feeling a tad nervous to be honest but mixed with great excitement and the need to know that Jesus promised never to leave us wherever we are!
This has been a good week getting ready and I am grateful for all the support of those around me. Thanks!
Today is a day for frantic packing and last minute arrangements. Took my first Malarone tablet today. Malarone is an anti-malarial pill which we need need to take daily now until after a week of being back. Malaria is a significant problem in Sierra Leone causing many fatalities. A number of our Leonian friends have had it, and suffer from recurrent ‘shakes’ or fever. I think that the siting of our hotel will be in a relatively mosquito free area – it is the mosquitoes that pass the disease on through their bites – but I don’t want to take any risks. I also have a plug in mosquito deterrent device for night-time. Enough for now – time to get back to throwing things in a suitcase!
The first week of our visit will be mainly taken up with their denomination Conference at which I am giving a talk on Tuesday. I’ve just received the programme from Reuben, click on the pictures to see what’s going on:
The revised – although I am sure by no means final – timetable has been added to the site. You can see it here.
I note that all of a sudden the weather is returning to its usual pattern of hot and humid followed by hot and humid!
Ordered my travel money this morning. The official currency of Sierra Leone is the Leone with £1 = approx. Le5,800. The Leone is a closed currency, you can’t obtain them, or take them out of the country. Although we could take British Pounds, it works best for us to take US Dollars with us.
How much to take? I always find this a difficult decision to make – I don’t want to take too much and yet running out would be a nightmare. The accommodation isn’t cheap. We’re paying $144 for a twin room. There is cheaper, but not so conducive to the nature and intensity of our visit. On top of that we shall have to pay for transport, a car and its driver, most days. We shall need to get a 4×4 for the days when the tracks aren’t so good. The cost of this may vary, but depending on the price of petrol it may be around $50-60 a day. We shall also have to buy food and water (we buy bottled water, that way we know it is clean and suitable for UK stomachs – there’s nothing worse that an upset tum on a busy day!)
Thanks to all the Church family for a great send off this morning. your prayers and support are a great blessing and encouragement – and some of you are even reading the blog!!
It just hit me that in a weeks time we will have already checked in at Heathrow and be passing a couple of hours in the departure area… Suddenly it feels like there is an awful lot to do in the time that is left!
Had an email from Reuben yesterday with an updated itinerary. I think we have agreed to travel from Lungi to Freetown on the ferry. It has also been arranged that Francis who helps the Friends of Sierra Leone with their building projects will be our driver when needed. It will be good to finally meet him. I shall try and post the updated itinerary later.
In an earlier post (Sierra Leone Travel Guide) I mentioned the Bradt travel guide to Sierra Leone. They have very generously allowed us to reproduce some information from the guide in our Voice magazine and have offered all readers of Voice to receive 25% off this guide and others that they make. The site can be found here: www.bradtguides.com and the code to enter to receive the discount is ‘Voice’. A big thank you to them for this!
Rain in Sierra Leone
In an idle moment last night I hit the red button on my T.V. and looked up the weather in Freetown. Much to my surprise it predicted heavy rain over the first half of the week! This caught me by surprise as this is the dry season. the weather in Sierra Leone comes in two varieties – hot and dry and hot and wet. I have a sneaky feeling that global warming is beginning to affect this, with the seasons shifting.
If you want to check out the weather forecast, you can see it here:
BBC Weather 5-Day Forecast for Freetown, Sierra Leone
And to discover more about the climate and seasons go here: