Trip to daddy's homeland: Nassau to Guyana. Pt. 1

2:26:00 AM Thalya M 0 Comments

Guyana here we come.

Timehri, Stabroek, koker, Linden, channa, roti. These are just a few words I hear when my father speaks about his country. So it was an exciting time for me when the day finally came for us to travel to Guyana. Our trip began around 4 am. My sleeping time, but I didn't mind at all this time. We got to the airport in time, but had to wait for quite a while in the line. Then my daddy tried to talk to the supervisor because our flight time was closing in and she refused to speak to him. Our trip had three legs, Nassau to Miami, Miami to Trinidad and finally Trinidad to Guyana. Let me get right to it, we missed our flight to Miami. All simply because the supervisor didn't check us in, then she went on to put us on a Ft. Lauderdale flight. No remorse and blamed us for it all. We had to get to Miami on our own. Thank God for family, my cousin who lives in the Lauderdale area got us at the airport and drove us to Miami. By this time our connecting flight was on its way to Trinidad. I was hungry, tired and frustrated. My daddy probably was also but he kept going pushing four suitcases through what seemed like all of the airport. Mommy was frustrated and tired also. The folks at Miami whilst wondering why we were put on a Ft. Lauderdale flight tried to get us on a flight to Trinidad but that would have been difficult for us so they finally settled with putting us up for the night. They gave us meal vouchers also. I didn't care where the hotel was, once it had a comfortable bed and a tub...maybe even just the bed. The hotel shuttle took us there, it was called Le Chateau Bleau in Coral Gables, Miami. The bed was very comfortable and that's all I remember of that night, not even what I had for dinner. I prayed that the next day would be better. We all slept late since our checking in time was 1 pm. Some more cousins came by to check up on us. I had fun even though it was a short visit.

Our flight getting ready to board bound for Guyana.

We got to the airport early to make sure nothing unusual happened again. Checked in with the airline...Caribbean Airline, of course my first time with them. We had enough time so we went over to say thank you to the good folks who made sure we were alright. All was well to this point. TSA security checks had long lines. It was a slow process but we finally made it through with no worries. We boarded when they made the first call since am still in the category of 'passengers travelling with young children' even if that didn't work, my mom chose seats closer to the front of the aircraft. My excitement was building even more. The flight was very pleasant, they gave us earphones, blankets drinks and what I liked the most was lunch, I was impressed. I'm not a big eater but by this time I was hungry and I had to taste the food, it was quite good for a makeshift restaurant 22,000 ft above the earth. My mommy had all of hers, washed it down with cranberry juice and went back to sleep shortly thereafter. My daddy kept my company. We played all kinds of games on my Kindle, he might have even been bored but didn't show it at all. We stopped over in Trinidad for a bit before continuing. The captain's voice eventually told us that we were approaching Cheddi Jagan International Airport, in Guyana and I prepared for the landing, it wasn't very smooth, in fact it felt like we dropped the last 10 feet but I was happy to finally land. I was in Guyana, it was night but we were finally there. Immigration scrutinized my daddy'd documents, not even our's but it wasn't too long. Baggage collection and clearance was fast since we went to the one person that was doing nothing else. All the taxis were yellow. We inquired about who was going where and loaded all the luggage and was on our way. Mommy had a scare almost right away when the driver started driving on the opposite side trying to overtake and was only a few feet from the vehicle in front. Daddy told her not to worry about it. We took a bit over 20 minutes to get to the hotel, the Pegasus. My uncles and more cousins came to greet us and to make sure we were well. The language is English, but it sounded a bit different, I had to listen carefully. The desk clerk sounded even more like she was speaking a different language, I really had to listen to her, my daddy's English is easier to understand, I had to adjust quickly. The hotel room was pretty small but we were family so we're accustomed to sharing. The view was lighted by the moon over the ocean with waves splashing. It was past bed time but I was on vacation so some TV time wasn't gonna hurt. Sleep came naturally some time later in the night. I'll leave this as the first part and continue my trip once I get some rest after all the flying. Peace.