A couple of hours ago, I stepped out of a plane and into a warm world with a bright blue sky--summer in Namibia. Glorious. It was a long trip, as usual, but with some movies, a few meals, and a wonder pill called Ambien, it goes fairly fast.
When I arrived in Jo-berg, I noticed that we were about 20 minutes late. I tore through the airport, but that still took almost 45 minutes. Long hallways, even longer lines, miles of stores--and finally I got to my gate with just enough time to spare to sit on the bus for 2 minutes before it took me out to my plane.
And of course you travelers out there no what that means. BAGS.
Yes, when I got to Windhoek, made it through the long immigration lines, and moved to the baggage pickup room, there were no bags for Barb. Since I lost BOTH of them (I have a backpack) it has to be that they didn't make it between planes in Johannesberg. More long lines filling out lost luggage forms. But hey--this isn't my first time to the amusement park. I can't even remember all the times I have lost luggage, so I took it all in stride, took inventory of what I had (very little), and made do. They'll find those bags, and probably have to drive all the way out to Harnas with them in a day or two--about 3 1/2 hours from the airport--but I assume I'll get my stuff back eventually.
The guy next to me in line wasn't so philosophical. It was either his first time ever losing luggage or he was smuggling something in to the country that he was afraid someone would find, but he was practically crying, screaming, and swearing all at the same time. I wanted to give him some valium and say "chill" but he probably would have hit me.
The transport driver waited all throughout this mess and drove me to my guesthouse--Uzuri Guesthouse, if any of you want to look it up (since I don't know where my camera is right now and I can't post a picture). He's studying wildlife conservation and during the drive to town we bonded over our mutual love of cheetahs.
This afternoon I'm going to walk into town and pick up a couple of t-shirts since I've been wearing these clothes for a loooong while now, and I'm not sure when I'll get my others. My safari pants have zip-off legs, though, so I have an automatic pair of shorts. No sandals, though--just my boots for now.
So I'm here--sort of. I have my computer--obviously--but I don't have my plug adapter, so once the power goes, I'm done. But all will work out, I'm sure of it. Meanwhile, I'm just glad to be here, basking in summer sun and heat and looking forward to seeing my animal friends tomorrow.
Cheers to all--especially those who aren't feeling so well these days. I'm thinking of you. --bb
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
YAY....you're back! :) All is right in the world, now that you are (almost) in Harnas again, and beginning once more to blog about your time there. Keeping my fingers crossed that your stuff finds its way to you very soon.....
ReplyDeleteHi, dear Bobbie, glad that you made it to UZURI;
ReplyDeleteSay Hallo to Lolita, the dogs and my cats, ..
If you need additional cloth, we have a big bag (a blue Australian - like Paper - bag) full of shirts, trousers, etc. take what you need, all clean (of course) - even Willis shirts :-)))
It's under the bench in their television room....
Good luck, LOVE, Cornelia + Willi
Good morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favour:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Namibia? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Namibia in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and a original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com, where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
"Received first blog entry...a-ok"
ReplyDeleteThat's from my Dad, he really enjoyed hearing this. Hope you're having a great time, sorry about your bags!