Heading into the new year, and I abandoned Nic and JJ to celebrate the season without me. Through Martin I was able to get a free flight (which caused more than a few problems in then end!) to South Africa and spend 2 weeks there with my boyfriend and one of his friends. I was supposed to leave on Friday 23rd, and had a very stressful few hours! All packed and ready for Martin at 11am, I received a phonecall…
‘I’m really sorry Tess but they’ve overbooked the flight and you have no seat. I’ll try and book you a flight for Sunday.’
After being a little upset (as my plan was to fly to Joburg and drive down with Joan and Jerome to Cape Town) arriving on Sunday would mean I would be stuck in Joburg and not see them. 10 minutes later, another phone call…
‘It’s ok, you have a seat on the flight’
So now I’m all excited again, and after calling Joan and telling him I’m not coming, I ring him back and tell him I am! Then I wait at Martin’s house for an hour, only to discover I can’t get on the flight after all!!
The next plan for me is to drive down to Kigali on Saturday, pick up my ticket at the office for a flight on Sunday. Everything seems ok, Joan and Jerome will wait for me so we can all drive down together….
After a night of too much drinking, I spend 4 hours sleeping in the car through Rwanda to Kigali. Arriving at the office….. to find it closed….. Sitting in the car park for three hours after being told the boss would be there in half an hour, he FINALLY arrived. So a few minor hitches but it’s ok…
‘I’d like to pick up my ticket for a flight to Joburg tomorrow please’
‘Oh….I don’t think that’s possible….’
By that time it was quite enough! While the guy looked at his computer, I went outside for a little cry, pulled myself together and went inside. It turned out there was no machine to print off the ticket in the office, he would need to get the ticket sent from Kampala on the evening flight. Being a Saturday, there was no one in the office in Kampala so there was no way I could get my ticket. Realising it was destined for me not to make the trip to South Africa, I took a taxi to the bus station to get a bus. No buses back to Goma today…. So then I had to check into a hotel. Maybe a good thing there was no bus. After I calmed down I spoke to Nicole and Joan, who told me to book another flight and he would give me the money. So back to office to find out how much it would be. I thankfully had just enough money to pay for the hotel, flight and taxi to the airport. So the ticket is booked for Sunday, everything is fine. I walk out of the door, start walking back to the hotel (it’s not far I think). And it starts to rain. I haven’t seen rain that heavy here- it wasn’t even that bad when the wall fell down. Forgetting I have absolutely no sense of direction I got completely lost, soaking wet through and no taxis around to help me. Thankfully I had the good news of my ticket to make me not need to collapse in the street and start crying!!
Sunday came and the flight had no hitches. I arrived in Joburg at midnight on Christmas eve, and met Joan and Jerome at the airport, who also appear to have no sense of direction, as we drove back to the airport 4 times before finding our way out! We had a great time, a little tiring with lots of driving, we went from Joburg – Durban – East London – Cape Town – Joburg. Spending Christmas Day in the car but had a nice evening getting quietly drunk, and New Years Eve in Cape Town was pretty good.
Being back in Joburg before we left for a few days, I had the opportunity to see Liz for a while. Definitely looking back to normal health after the crazy time in hospital, but unfortunately I had to leave her at the airport and not bring her back to Congo for her to see her beloved chimps…..
I arrived back in Goma on Saturday 6th, and the flight had no hitches- with a nice surprise of getting a letter from the office which might allow me to claim back the money I had to spend on a flight! It was nice to have a break but also great to be back, I was missing Nicole and the chimps so much!
‘I’m really sorry Tess but they’ve overbooked the flight and you have no seat. I’ll try and book you a flight for Sunday.’
After being a little upset (as my plan was to fly to Joburg and drive down with Joan and Jerome to Cape Town) arriving on Sunday would mean I would be stuck in Joburg and not see them. 10 minutes later, another phone call…
‘It’s ok, you have a seat on the flight’
So now I’m all excited again, and after calling Joan and telling him I’m not coming, I ring him back and tell him I am! Then I wait at Martin’s house for an hour, only to discover I can’t get on the flight after all!!
The next plan for me is to drive down to Kigali on Saturday, pick up my ticket at the office for a flight on Sunday. Everything seems ok, Joan and Jerome will wait for me so we can all drive down together….
After a night of too much drinking, I spend 4 hours sleeping in the car through Rwanda to Kigali. Arriving at the office….. to find it closed….. Sitting in the car park for three hours after being told the boss would be there in half an hour, he FINALLY arrived. So a few minor hitches but it’s ok…
‘I’d like to pick up my ticket for a flight to Joburg tomorrow please’
‘Oh….I don’t think that’s possible….’
By that time it was quite enough! While the guy looked at his computer, I went outside for a little cry, pulled myself together and went inside. It turned out there was no machine to print off the ticket in the office, he would need to get the ticket sent from Kampala on the evening flight. Being a Saturday, there was no one in the office in Kampala so there was no way I could get my ticket. Realising it was destined for me not to make the trip to South Africa, I took a taxi to the bus station to get a bus. No buses back to Goma today…. So then I had to check into a hotel. Maybe a good thing there was no bus. After I calmed down I spoke to Nicole and Joan, who told me to book another flight and he would give me the money. So back to office to find out how much it would be. I thankfully had just enough money to pay for the hotel, flight and taxi to the airport. So the ticket is booked for Sunday, everything is fine. I walk out of the door, start walking back to the hotel (it’s not far I think). And it starts to rain. I haven’t seen rain that heavy here- it wasn’t even that bad when the wall fell down. Forgetting I have absolutely no sense of direction I got completely lost, soaking wet through and no taxis around to help me. Thankfully I had the good news of my ticket to make me not need to collapse in the street and start crying!!
Sunday came and the flight had no hitches. I arrived in Joburg at midnight on Christmas eve, and met Joan and Jerome at the airport, who also appear to have no sense of direction, as we drove back to the airport 4 times before finding our way out! We had a great time, a little tiring with lots of driving, we went from Joburg – Durban – East London – Cape Town – Joburg. Spending Christmas Day in the car but had a nice evening getting quietly drunk, and New Years Eve in Cape Town was pretty good.
Being back in Joburg before we left for a few days, I had the opportunity to see Liz for a while. Definitely looking back to normal health after the crazy time in hospital, but unfortunately I had to leave her at the airport and not bring her back to Congo for her to see her beloved chimps…..
I arrived back in Goma on Saturday 6th, and the flight had no hitches- with a nice surprise of getting a letter from the office which might allow me to claim back the money I had to spend on a flight! It was nice to have a break but also great to be back, I was missing Nicole and the chimps so much!
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