Atlanta

They say that a journey begins as soon as you make a decision to take a certain path.

I completely believe this. Your headspace changes once you commit. So while I sit here in Atlanta, in my 36th hour of being awake, my head is already in Haiti (and to be honest, has probably been there more than anywhere else in the last 6 months)

Yes, 36 hours. Probably should have started packing before 2am rolled around last night, but that was just the way that particular cookie crumbled. So - 5 heavy bags later, off we were to the airport (ok, I'll admit it, I snuck a quick 30min power nap at 5:30am :)
Thankfully, the nice fella at the Continental counter took pity on my tired soul and helped me rework my bags so that I only had to pay $303 in excess baggage vs $450. Painful, but thankful that he allowed me to check so many.

Connected through Newark and landed in Hotlanta around 2:30pm. Got picked up by one of the guys and went to meet with some of the team that's local to Atlanta. We repacked some items and got some details on who is leaving Atlanta when. We go in 2 waves: 1 group leaves tomorrow for Ft Lauderdale, overnights, then flies to Port au Prince Sunday AM. Our group leaves Atlanta Sunday AM, connects in Miami to pickup a couple more ppl, and we land in Port au Prince 40 min after group 1.

A few hours ago I received a message on Twitter that a contact at the HUEH General Hospital in PauP is in need of tents for her TB patients - they were released from the hospital without any, and TB can spread like wildfire, so they need to remain in quarantene for a number of days. It will be great to meet her in person after all this time and be able to hand deliver some to her.

Time to turn in. Tomorrow will be spent meeting up with the rest of the team as they arrive and going over final details.

Going to head upstairs to enjoy one of my last nights on a real bed for awhile.

Future posts will be much shorter as this is my last opportunity at a computer. You can all breathe a sigh of relief now :)

Much love,
Mely