Thor: The Weakest Link

We have safely made it to Rwanda, despite a few "delays" along the way. To the seasoned traveler of DIA, I posit the following question:

How many United Airlines agents does it take to check a bag?

Answer: More than one.

It was a slow morning at DIA as the travel team waited for Christian to check his bag at the United counter. Michael and I tapped our feet and watched as more and more United agents showed up at the kiosk to 'help' Christian check his bag and match it with his reservation. After a half-hour, Michael, Jess, and I ran out of airport topics to complain about and joined Christian and the four other agents at the kiosk.

Despite their frantic typing, the four agents couldn't overcome whatever database glitch they were supposedly trained to deal with. After this slight delay, we made the executive decision to officially and finally start the three-day trip to Rwanda.

With rebel bag in tow, final goodbyes were given, obnoxious tour groups were avoided, and security lines were navigated. We made our way to D.C. and renewed our boarding passes at Dulles. At the gate counter, the Brussels Airlines representative swiped Christian's passport and keyed in his itinery number - only to immediately look up at Christian, pause, and say, "You have five bags checked, sir?" Apparently, the Denver agents registered four phantom bags under Christian's name...

We fueled up on the last American meal we would have for a month before embarking on the eight hour leg across the Atlantic.

Rain, trains, French, Dutch, German, G7 (G8-1) security, and more rain greeted our day-long layover in Brussels. The team elected to save money and explore Brussels by night. By morning, we nearly got stuck in a police cordon, befriended Frenchmen at a local taphouse, and got attacked by drunk tatooed-women.

Christian enjoys a Belgian waffle!

Grand square in Brussels city center

Over the next few days in Kigali, we'll sort out communication, cash, transport, materials, and attend critical meetings with our NGO partners before heading up to Cyanika.