Arriving in Freetown, Sierra Leone - The Night All the Sky's Stars Fell Down to the Earth

Originally posted June 13, 2020

After a long travel day, we finally touched down in Freetown. I’d gone from my apartment to the train station by bus, Malmo to Copenhagen by train, flew from there to Paris, and then finally to Sierra Leone.

Exhaustion levels were high, but so was my excitement… that mixed with a little bit of fear.

The sun set as our wheels hit the ground, and dusk settled in as many, but not all, of the passengers disembarked. Apparently, this was just one of two stops the plane would be making, and so, as it emptied, the passengers who remained quickly moved upon empty rows to stretch out.

We walked to the airport where everyone was handed a health declaration form. Corona hadn’t quite kicked off yet, but it was definitely beginning to… and Sierra Leone wasn’t taking any chances.

Each passenger was required to wash their hands and have their temperature checked before being allowed inside the airport. It wasn’t the most sophisticated of detection/prevention measures, and, even still, it seemed excessive at the time. In hindsight, I’m shocked none of the airports I’d recently travelled through in Europe were taking similar (or any) preventative measures.

During the month of February, I’d flown through more than my fair share of airports - and between Manchester, Madrid, Copenhagen, and Paris, the only “preventative” measures I’d seen were non-obligatory hand sanitizer dispensers set up just before the security check-point at CPH… and even that wasn’t put in place until the end of the month.

At this point, corona seemed like a far-off problem… a view that would change quite drastically in the coming weeks… but, I’ll get to that later.

ANYWAY - BACK TO THE STORY…

By the time we’d made it through the airport, night had set in completely.

I was nervous to be arriving at night… because I’m nervous arriving in any new city for the first time at night… but I was especially nervous about navigating a new city in a new country on a new to me continent after dark.

I was especially uneasy about the nighttime boat ride from the airport to Freetown… and navigating to our hotel. It was both mine and Esteban’s first time in Sierra Leone, and my first time in Africa, so I guess my nervie-nerves were warranted.

In what was a whirlwind of voices and faces, all offering us a cab, money exchange, or phone service, we made it to the office of the speedboat company.

Across the water is the fastest and (at night) the safest way to get from Lungi Airport to Freetown, but I definitely had my reservations about the trip.

All of the blogs and guides I had read on the internet prior to the trip definitely didn’t help. Among other things, they said something along the lines of “The boats don’t follow safety protocols,” or “There is no safety equipment,” and even “Pick pockets target foreigners.”

These experiences may have been true of someone’s experience before, but they definitely weren’t true for mine… nor do they paint an accurate picture of what one can expect from the journey.

We boarded a bus from the airport that took us to the speed boat terminal by the beach. Aside from the lights from the waiting area and along the pier, it was completely dark… and, save for the sounds of the crashing waves and the buzz of a fan, totally silent.

I hadn’t experienced a silence like that in ages.

We sat outside waiting for the boat to arrive, and enjoyed the sounds of the sea.

I felt my anxiety begin to slip away, and, as it did, it was replaced by sheer excitement - a giddy-ness I’ve never felt before. I was living a dream… A dream I couldn’t believe was finally coming true.

The rumble of a boat engine and the shouts of the staff snapped me back to reality. Our luggage was loaded on and so were we, and just like that, we were off.

Unlike the blogs had all led me to believe, we were each given lifejackets… everything seemed perfectly safe. We sat on the top deck of the boat, where, yes, the ride was a bit bumpier than it would have been if we’d sat inside down below… but the views more than made up for it.

I know what you’re thinking… it was night time. WHAT views? And you’re right. We couldn’t see much in the darkness… except of course a million sparkling stars in the sky… and then, soon, there it was… Freetown.

I’m glad we decided to go ahead to Freetown that night. I’m happy that we didn’t stay the night the the hotel by the airport and wait for dawn to come instead… when it was “safer.” Because if we hadn’t... I wouldn’t have experienced the silence by the peer. I wouldn’t have breathed in the salty sea air or bathed in the light of the moon and stars. And I wouldn’t have seen the way the lights of Freetown kiss the coastline as the city came into sight... as if all those stars in the sky have fallen to the earth.

I was afraid to make this journey, and rightfully so... But I’m so happy I did. It was a lesson in ignoring the devil on your shoulder who reminds you of anything and everything that could go wrong. It was a lesson in being afraid and doing it anyways, because, sometimes, that’s where the magic is… and this - this was definitely magic.

I’m so glad I didn’t miss it.