Thursday, April 28, 2011

Back in Botswana

I can't believe it was only 6 months ago that I left Botswana but I am back again! I will be winter soon which will be nice. I prefer it when it is cold here. Everything is green, I have never been here when there has been a lot of rain. It will be easier to spot the lions that is for sure. Of couse I didnt' have an easy time of getting here.

It took me a while to pack all of my bags. I finally finished the morning I was to leave. My mom took me to the airport. Carrie from work was outside smoking, she was flying to Jo'burg on my same flight. She helped me get my bags to the check-in area while my mom went to park the car. I got to the check-in counter and that is where my trouble began. Last year when Claudia was coming to BW they didn't let her on the plane because he ticket was for over 90 days. Once we get here we get a resident VISA and it doesn't matter but the airline wouldn't allow her to fly. Well they started doing the same to me because my ticket was for over 90 days. I tried to explain to them the situation, I wouldnt be in Botswana the whole time and I would be going in and out of the country and I would get a resident permit so the time didn't matter. She had to go talk to a supervisor. They said no. I was trying to call work and they ticket agent said she would fix it for me and she gave me a fake ticket with an earlier ticket return date. Then my bags were overweight. She let them throught without charging me which was nice but she forgot to but Gaborone as the final destination which I didn't notice until I was sitting down. I had to go back to the counter but she was at lunch. I went to someonelse and she wasn't very happy and was saying things about my overweight bags blah blah blah. A supervisor fixed it all and I just had to worry about my bags not getting on the plane in Jo'burg because they were overweight.

This was the worst of my travels. It was all good from here. I got upgraded to 1st class from San Diego to Atlanta which was great! Then from Atlanta to Jo'burg I got a whole row to myself. It was so nice to strech out, I even slept for awhile which I normally don't do. I didn't even have a backache. I made my connection to Gabs and my bags arrived! I was so happy. I did have a bit of concern in customs in BW. I thought they werent' going to let me in because I had just been here for over 90 days 6 months ago. it took a long time and he finally said I can't give you 90 days, you have a balance of 85. That worked since I was going to get a resident permit anyway and the day don't matter after that point. Takao was there to pick me up and we went to Nando's where I got stips and rice...yum! and then into Squaremart so I could get some whispers of summer.