Sackville to Kigali, Rwanda December 20-21 2023

My trip started early Tuesday morning, leaving Sackville and getting a ride with my roommate to the Moncton airport.  We were off to a flying start when my large hiking bag did not fit in the small overhead compartment.  I attempted to shove my bag into the overhead compartment and failed multiple times.  I put my Tims iced coffee on the floor in front of my seat so I would have another hand to shove it in harder.  At this point, I had people around staring at the ruckus that was my oversized bag.  A man from behind me in the aisle started coughing, trying to get my attention, so I got out of the way and stepped back in front of my seat, completely forgetting that's where I left my iced coffee.  It exploded and went all over the chair, the floor, and my pants.  Now soaking in coffee, I walked up the aisle with a leaking iced coffee in one hand and my oversized bag in the other, trying to find a flight attendant who wanted to take on this mess.  She took the leaking coffee and, pulled my shoes out of the bag's front pocket and made the bag fit inside.  I arrived in Montreal and was immediately greeted by Abi's roommate, Olivia.  She picked me up and drove me to Montreal.  We went for lunch at the Eaton Centre and dinner at a fun little Chinese dive-looking restaurant, which looked quite a bit rougher on the outside than on the inside.  I spent a bunch of time at the mall and just walking around downtown Montreal.  It's a beautiful city but should not be done in December with a raincoat, this was my idea to save space.

I stayed overnight at the Montreal airport.  We hung out at the airport from around noon until 6 PM and caught our first flight to Brussels at 7 PM.  Our next flight was from Brussels to Kigali, for which we had a two-hour layover.  There's a surprising number of Canadians on the flight from Brussels.  Lots of people are coming home for Christmas, supposedly.  We arrived in Kigali around 9:30 PM and were greeted by our guide, Jimmy.  We started to leave the airport when Jimmy made a quick u-turn back into the airport entry.  He was screened before going into the pickup area and had to leave his kicking sticks behind, which we had to pick up.  So Jimmy pulled over on a one-way street and ran up to the walking stick parking lot.  The city is relatively clean; there are so many security checkpoints wherever you go, lots in the airport and even one when we entered a grocery store.  The people have been friendly so far, and I am looking forward to getting started.  

Kigali

Montreal