Flying

The plane experience was probably the scariest thing for me as I didn't have a parent or my friend Megan to follow and copy like I usually do. After being pushed on the trolley by Emily through Manchester Airport and then leaving her and Dad stood watching me go, it hit me that it was just me and God now. I didn't even feel lonely or scared anymore just excited. I was so tired from lack of sleep that I slept between Manchester and London Heathrow. This was the worst part as I had two hours of dragging round my two pieces of hand luggage which may as well have contained two elephants. Part of my laptop bad strap ripped due to it being so full and heavy.

Once I boarded the plane to Uganda, it all became very real. I had a seat on the back row. It was nothing like the flights to Greece or other holidays that I'm used to. 8 hours, chairs that lie down, constantly being offered free drinks, two meals (African curry with banana in was actually nice), a blanket and headphones and a massive selection of films and TV programs to watch. Maybe I was a bit too excited for this but I have never been on a flight like that and watching Despicable me 2 whilst thousands of feet in the sky isn't something I do every day

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. It was also the first time I've been on a plane where all of the air hostesses are male... Air hosts?

Anyway, I met a girl, Frances who was sat next to me, a free seat between us which was nice, she also happens to have the same flight home as me. I was so grateful for meeting her as she knew what to do when we arrived at the airport, helping me with my ridiculous amount of luggage (Thanks).

My first shock was seeing a security man in the airport stood holding a gun, and apparently this is very normal. I queued for a while for my visa, and panicked thinking my cases had disappeared and finally met Andrew from HopeBuilders with all of my luggage and permission to be in Uganda.