Getting to Haiti - an adventure in itself!!

Oh....the luggage - all the luggage!! Kristina, Mom, Mark, the boys and I all left from the Fargo airport on Sunday morning, June 2nd. We were checking 18 50 pound suitcases filled to the brim with donations and supplies for our mission trip plus we each had a good-sized carry-on as well, so we were loaded down with bags! We ended up having trouble right off the bat with checking in our bags and wound up having to pay "a bit" more than we had anticipated and almost missed our flight! We tried to get through security as fast as we could and some of the tools Mark had packed for the networking job he would be working on didn't "quite" meet guidelines.......so, we were slowed down again, but got it figured out in the end by checking mom's carry-on through with all the extra tools. But, mom didn't have her clothes/toiletries, etc. for our overnight in Ft. Lauderdale....But, we bought her a cute tshirt in the Chicago airport and she was set for PJ's! We made it to Ft. Lauderdale and headed for the hotel (luckily without the 18 checked suitcases as those were checked straight through to Port au Prince!) We gave the cab driver the hotel address and he didn't have any idea where that was or could even think of a hotel in that area........possibly our first indication that the hotel wasn't going to be the greatest place we've ever stayed in! We pulled up and checked in and.......it was pretty sketchy, so luckily we weren't there for too terribly long! We had to be up bright and early to head back to the airport for our early morning flight to Haiti! Once we arrived back at the airport, we were met by Caleb Lucien and his daughter, Charisa! Caleb and his wife Debbie would be our hosts in Pignon, Haiti and Charisa had been at the University of Florida in Tallahassee for her college orientation weekend! We were very excited to be able to travel with them to Haiti and have someone we knew with us in the airport and to help us with our major luggage and transportation out of Port au Prince to Pignon where we would be staying for our time in country.

Caleb had gotten a driver with a van to take all of us back to Pignon. So, the driver began loading all of our bags into the back of the van and on top of the van so we could begin our journey! It was pretty hot and definitely a bustling big city! The boys were pretty excited, yet a little anxious and nervous for what was to come. Fortunately, they had met Caleb before and so it was great to be with a familiar face and to have Charissa with us too!

We were off and ready to leave the airport. First stop was the Servotel Hotel for a quick breakfast. The hotel was close to the airport and set back off the main road a bit with armed guards. The hotel was quite modern and seemed to cater to foreigners. The restaurant was very nice and looked out over a pool! We were pretty surprised and really weren't expecting to see such a nice place in Haiti! The food was delicious and it was nice to sit down to a great meal and great conversation before hitting the bumpy, winding, mountainous road towards Pignon.