The Voyage

​Just a quick note - we flew from Vancouver BC to Paris and then down to Benin 🇧🇯. Also, I did not take many pictures as you will see from the story below - time was limited when we were not on a plane!

Whew...what a week this has been! Our voyage to Benin began last Wednesday (the 26th) and it is really just today that I have some time to write about everything that has surpassed.

We left our house at about 8 am in a caravan of three cars to get to the Vancouver airport. Why three cars you might be wondering? Well, we had a lot of luggage, 23 pieces to be exact. Now I know what some of you are thinking - 23 bags - what are they going to put in 23 bags??!! We had a lot of things to give away to people here in Benin...used clothes, shoes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc. Then we had things that we are going to use while there, including some kitchen items, my two favorites being my hand pasta-maker and the heavy-duty meat grinder that I found at Goodwill for $10! There was also coffee and spices and toys for the boys (or really any kids that will show up at our house). Per my request, we brought along three Ikea chairs (two Poang and one Poang rocker) for us to put together upon arrival at our house. I am really looking forward to sitting in them!

Waiting to board the plane in Vancouver BC.

Anyhow - We then drove from Lynden up to the Vancouver BC International Airport (in Canada). By leaving Canada we saved around $3000 on our tickets. A very significant chunk of change! We arrived at the airport around 9:30 and thought - wow, we have plenty of time! The luggage was unloaded from the cars and the multitude of bags made their way into the airport. Lucky for us, we had an amazing gate agent with Air France. It took a long long time to get all of our bags checked in, and then there were a few that were “special and fragile” which basically meant that they were in plastic containers or contained electronics that had to go on the big conveyer belt. So we had to take them down to the “special” belt where we had to unpack the bags so that the contents inside could be verified. What process! But, we were told if they did not do it there with us, all of the bags would have been x-rayed and opened without us present - and we all know how that goes when traveling!

I honestly do not remember what time it was when we finally wrapped up everything with the baggage, but it was late enough that we had to quickly say our goodbyes and head through security. Our plane was to board around 1:45.

We loaded up the stroller with the bags and Aden on the front (Ben was in the ergo) and went looking for the security line. The line looked to be a mile long! Time calculations began running though my brain - how would we get through security with enough time to get to our gate on time?? As if someone was reading my mind, an agent with the airport let us know that because we had small children and a stroller we could skip all the way to the front of the line! Woohoo! We quickly found our way there and began the security process. It was quite slightly different compared to the US. At this particular airport where you unload your bags to go through the x-ray machine, they have a conveyer belt underneath the tables that keeps a constant stream of tubs coming from the finished side. The table is divided into four sections and when you get in line, they tell you which number to go to. There was a security person there who let us know what we had to take out of our bags.

We passed through security rather quickly after all of our bags were inspected and headed off to our gate. We got to the gate with enough time remaining for us to catch our breaths a little bit before boarding. I’m not sure if this was true for every gate - but there was a bathroom actually in the boarding area. Very cool!

When we were on board the plane we found out that the gate agent had worked a little magic and we had the middle row of four seats all to ourselves! An absolute miracle when you are traveling with two little ones! Benjamin was very excited, it was his first plane ride - he couldn’t stop touching the TV screens that were on the back of the seats, and Aden was ready to go too!

Paris

Our layover in Paris was the shortest that we have ever had - seriously, we did not even have time to pee! I remember walking by a Starbucks, wishing that I could get one more strong cup of coffee before heading to Benin. Alas, it was not to be. Why was it so short you wonder…here is what happened -

We arrived in Paris early, eight and a half hours after leaving Vancouver BC. But, as is true at airports, when you arrive early your space is usually still occupied by the plane before you. So we had to wait. I wasn’t worried though, we had around two hours in Paris, plenty of time to make our connection. When we finally arrived at our gate, we waited until the majority of people were off the plane. It is so much easier to do that when traveling with two little ones. We picked up all our carry-ons and headed up the jetway.

Now if you have ever flown internationally, you will know that when you leave the plane you go in a different direction then from where you entered the plane. In Paris, we went up the escalator (on which Aden fell and then decided that the stairs were much safer), following the signs that said: “to connecting flights.” When we got to the exit doors we found that they were locked. Puzzled, we went back down and tried to leave from the doors that you would take when you were boarding the plane. Locked. Hmmm. We then tried the elevator, which took us to the tarmac - not the right place to be. Panic started to set in a bit. Another little tidbit - all the hallways and such are glass, so you can see people moving inside the airport, but no one was looking in our direction.

Basically we were trapped. Yep, that’s right. Trapped in what seemed like a glass cage. It was truly one of the most awful experiences that I have ever had. In my head, I saw the minutes counting down before our other flight took off, and there was no one to call, no one else in our “trapped” area. Absolutely crazy. Finally, a woman came up from the jetway that led to the plane we had been on. D’Aquin went over and let her know our situation. Here was her response, “Oh, I thought that everyone had exited the plane and this area, so I locked the doors.” She had locked the doors without even verifying that there were people still in it! Inconceivable! She let us know that she would let us out. Thank goodness!

Aden was following right behind her and was the first one out of the doors. When he got out, he did the arms move like from Home Alone “yes…!!”, it made me laugh and some of the worries started to melt away.

Finally free, we figured out what terminal and gate our flight was leaving from and headed to the train that links the giant Charles de Gaulle airport together. Upon arrival at terminal 2E, we saw that there was a very long line slowly moving through security. Yep, we had to go through security again. I kept looking at my watch. The time we entered the security line was the same time that our flight was supposed to start boarding. Geez. People in line started telling us to move up in line (basically cut in front of people) because we have kids. This practice is very common in Benin, but I felt so uneasy doing it in Paris, I was just waiting for someone to yell that I was a “cutter”. Aden however, felt no qualms about it and headed on forward through everyone.

We made it through security after unpacking and packing our carry-ons and putting Benjamin back into the ergo. After walking through the fancy stores we finally made it to the area where the gates were located. Over the loudspeaker, we heard, “The last call for passengers on flight 604 to Benin.” With passports and boarding passes in hand, we made our way to K39 and boarded the plane. A bus took us from the terminal to our plane where finally we could breathe a sigh of relief. We were sweating, but were so happy that we had made it!

The view from our hotel - The Port of Benin.

In hindsight, everything actually worked out okay. Less time waiting in the terminal and less time waiting on the plane before it took off. But it probably gave me few gray hairs :)

The Last Leg

The last part of our flight was a five or so hour flight that had a quick stop in Niamey, Niger. It was my first time in Niger - so I can say that I have been to another country now! We took off and landed in Cotonou, the economic capital of Benin, around 5:30 pm. It was wonderful and still light outside. We took our time again exiting the plane and had a smooth process through customs. By the way, for those that have been to Benin, customs are very nice now - with actual signs and lines for people to go into. It is very smooth!

From customs, we went to the baggage claim where most of our luggage was already waiting. We had to have quite a few people help us to get it all out of the airport, but we did it! There were only three pieces that did not make it that night, but they arrived the next day. Hooray!! A serious accomplishment with 23 pieces of luggage :) Thanks to Air France for that!

So that was our trip over to Benin. Less than 24 hours. Two amazing little travelers. 23 pieces of luggage. And two very happy parents!

Bienvenue a Cotonou!

The boys playing outside of hotel #2.