I spent the last couple of weeks out of the country back in the US. Unfortunately, I managed to catch some type of bug or virus just before I left Sierra Leone and thus, spent the first 6 days of my trip in pretty bad condition and the rest of my trip in recovery mode. Anyway, I got better and flew back last night.
The flight down to Sierra Leone (Flight number BD 0967) serves as a sort of warm up to Sierra Leone itself. The airplane is an old 757, single row, with two cabins (not-so business Business Class and very-economical Economy, although ticket prices are outrageous as its the only flight from London). I remember the first time I l flew Aeroflot to Moscow and thought that that was basic service... this flight takes basic service to whole new level. Its not that things are bad or that things dont work, its just basic. Just like the country itself the airplane is sort of undeveloped, functional, but often times chaotic.
On this particular flight, a 9-year old child basically yelled at his mother the entire flight. She played 'dead' or acted like she was sleeping, clearly indicating that she was either trying to ignore him or was dead. Another dude yelled and screamed as he was escorted onto the plane by UK customs agents who were sending him back to Sierra Leone as his visa expired and was not renewed. Then a group of engineers working for a big mining company, got so drunk that they kissed each flight attendants's hand on the way out of the airplane (please note that only 2 of the 6 flight attendants were women). The food is ofcourse terrible, and the movies are shown on a few small tvs hanging from the ceiling. The airplane itself is plain white on the outside. No logos, no names, no words or letters of any kind. (Actually, you can sort of see the remnants of what looks like Hindi written on the side of the plane indicated that this plane was a cast away of a budget Indian airline...oh joy!)
I did manage to get myself an exit row seat at the front of the rear economy class cabin. Lots of legroom which was great! Except... the bathrooms on this plane are all directly in front of the emergency row and thus, people were loitering around my stretched legs constantly asking me to make room for them. But worse than that, I had to deal with the terrible smells coming out of the bathroom. One old man was especially terrible. He'd come out of the bathroom and leave the door open, smiling as he walked back to his seat. It was almost as if he was proud of the terrible smell he left behind and thus wanted me to suffer as penitence for the extra leg room I was enjoying.
