We are now in WA and I have managed to upload my initial blogs. The first part is a little "administrative"....and captures our trials and tribulations getting here, so you may find it a little boring. But promise more interesting stuff after ....!
January 7
On January 9 we head out to West Africa. My stomach is full of butterflies. Hopefully we have made all the appropriate preparations and won't have any "organizational" problems getting there. There are a myriad of things that can "hang you up" on a trip. First, is making sure your passport expires 6 months after the last day of the trip. Sadly, we learn this through one of our good friends' unfortunate circumstances. Secondly, we may be refused access to a specific country if we don't have the correct medical information, i.e. a yellow fever certificate, as well as insufficient pages in our passport. Allow 2 per country! Also passport photos -- again two per country. On top of that we require valid visas. No problem you say! But, when you get the visas you need to make sure they don't expire before you get to the country you are going to. Some countries issue 60 day visas, some 3 month visas, and yet again some 6 month visas. Depending when you will be in that country, you may have to go for the more expensive visa to ensure it does not expire before you enter and exit the specific country. Try fitting that in with a visit to the States before you go, and you realize why people resort to tranquilizers before they travel - it's not the flight that causes the sinking fear in your gut but getting your passports back from one country, in time to send it and receive it back from the next country.
As if that wasn't enough. Have you considered the struggle to find appropriate emergency medical insurance?Have you read the Insurance Policy and understand the terms and conditions of your coverage. For example: one wrong answer and your whole insurance is null and void. Drastic!! I think we are lulled into a sense of false security when we complete a medical form and pay extortionate amounts for our health insurance. Don't be. Check around. Read the policy. Read the questions carefully - very carefully. Don't accept them at face value. Go to someone who is knowledgeable about travel insurance. The CAA representatives are not. Speak out when you find something unfair. I had the CAA annual plan which I got at the beginning of October. I was told all I had to do before I left for Africa was come into the CAA offices and pay the top-up fee for the appropriate number of days over 30, i.e. 23. No problem. I arrived there on Saturday afternoon only to find out that they have initiated a questionnaire to be completed for the top-up, and the questions are very different. Result - I didn't appear to be eligible for the extra insurance coverage. Panic slowly crept into every muscle in my body as the realization sunk in. I wouldn't be able to go to Africa. The representative was very helpful and said she would phone first thing on Monday morning and get back to me by 11:00 a.m. By the time I reached the car, I knew I couldn't wait until Monday morning. I needed to buy some last minute toileteries, and pack. I needed to know right away whether or not I was going. As we ran some other errands my mind grew darker and darker and by the time I got home my body was loaded with worry and it felt as if I was in the middle of a very dark storm. Ray came to the rescue. He called his buddy who is in the insurance business and by Saturday evening I had insurance. I have to admit to only a very quiet contentment when I was able to go back to the CAA on Monday morning and thank them for their help but I would not need their coverage. Of course they came back and said it would be no problem, I could get coverage but at an extra cost. There are times when a market economy means many extra burdens placed on citizens.
But, I think we are ready. Everything is in place, and we are ready to leave.
Tuesday Jan 8 - p.m.
Check-in.......The on-line check in does not recognize our reference number! Step one - call CheapOAir the booking agent. They put Ray on hold - he holds for 40 minutes and hangs up and calls back. He holds for another 20 minutes to get an agent. Discovers the flights have been changed. Agent needs to 'investigate". Ray frantically searches the web for other flights and finds an appropriate one through Expedia. Agent comes back and says the return flight has been cancelled but he can give us a flight on Mar 2 - one day later - so we accept, but still can't check in. CheapOAir says they can't help we will have to call United. By now we are wondering if CheapOAir is reputable. Could we have been so stupid to be scammed??? Call United. It is an automated line. Give them our details. They recognize the reference number, confirm all flights, but now we are swimming across the Atlantic from Brussels to get to Newark to get our flight to Toronto. Nothing more we can do. Need to get to the Airport early to sort it all out. So, the night before we are due to go, we think we have a flight, but are not sure. Nice!!!
Wednesday Jan 9
We are up early and ready for Cathie when she arrives to drive to the airport. House all wrapped up, and off we go. Get to the airport 3 hours ahead of the flight. Go to the United Desk. Some snitty lady tells us we need to go to Air Canada to check in. I said why would we not have been told that. She says, very snittily, it's on the itinerary. It's definitely not. Air Canada is surprised, but they attempt to help. One hour later, the Air Canada Sherlock Homes discovers the clue - one of the ticket numbers is wrong, bingo, finds the new ticket number and we are checked in! So, then back to United to see if they can provide hiking boots to get us from Brussles to the Atlantic and maybe a small boat or a wet suit to help us with our Atlantic Crossing. First lady tells us it's not their problem and she can't do anything because she is usually in operations. Maybe Ravi can help. We go to Ravi. He looks at us as if we have landed from Mars and gives us a United Airlines Number to call. Ray says: "It's not an automated line is it{?"
"No" the UA rep answers.
We go to find a public telephone. I didnt know they still made them, but we find one and call the 1`.800 number. An automated telephone service. Finally we get to a real person. Ray says he has a problem. The rep hangs up! Ray calls back. After holding the line with sweat creeping slowly down our backs, the rep comes back and says he has sorted it out. I think what happened is that when the return flight was changed, the UA personnell didn't process the change correctly and therefore the information wasn't attached to the new ticket number. Hence the confusion at the Air Canada desk. And of course we couldn't check into United becuase we were supposed to check in with Air Canada. The flight attendant told us they were partners. I said well if you are partners you don't communicate very well. He made some smart comment about it being something like a marriage. Sometimes you talk, sometimes you don't.!! So, now we have an hour to get to the Gate for check in. I guess we were frazzled or something but we walked the length of Terminal 1 once then had to walk all the way back to the other end to find the US customs. Fortunately, they were efficient and we were through. Security, the same. We arrived with time to go to the loo and then line up to board. The flight to Newark was in a small plane and was quick and efficient.
Get to Newark with about 3 hours to wait. Time for lunch at about 3:30. Well, I guess it wasn't our day or something and maybe I should fast forward to German time to get out of it quicker. We ate a lousy meal in a lousy airport restaurant. Walked around the airport and then loaded for our flight to Frankfurt. Everything on time and efficient. Get on the plane and to pay for wine with dinner - no credit card. I guess it is still sittling in the credit card holder in the lousy restaurant in the Newark Airport. There is not much you can do when you are sitting in the middle seat of three on a plane with 400 people in the middle of the sky. I felt trapped. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to deal with my internal chatter. Nowhere to escape the inert body sitting beside me rigid with frustration. It was opportune that that was the moment the skies decided to take their revenge on the human race and hammer the airplane with winds. The plane started to cavort around the airspace, and the captain turned on the "seat belt" sign and revved up the engines making it hard to hear to take us up to the next level to avoid the turbulence. I guess there are forces stronger than us around!! It has been a very long timne since I have experience anything as dramatic in the air. Dinner arrived, and the wine thank goodness; I don't know whether it was the rolicking airplane or the loss of the credit card or the miffed husband sitting beside me, but my hands shook so badly, and all of a sudden my hunger faded as the plane settled down and I didn't do much justice to another rather dried out, sawdust tasting meal.
The saga of the lost credit card continued in Frankfurt when the 24/7 collect call line to Scotiabank had "technical problems". I think we exposed all the cracks in our very organized and controlled Canadian systems". Didn't make it so bad leaving to visit Africa. Sort of prepared us.....I guess!!
When we got to Frankfurt we had the same "check in" problems as in Toronto (we had to check in for the final stage of the journey). But once again an ingenious rep Lufthansa rep sorted it out. The flight rom Frankfurt was about 6 1/2 hours. The crew were fantastic but the flight itself was one of the bumpiest we have had in a long time. It reminded me of one of my earlier journeys to Ghana when we were in a Stratocruiser and went through the biggest storm over the desert. One of the communication cables broke, and there was some other damage done to the plane. We had to land in the middle of the Sahara to repair the plane. We weren't allowed out of the structure, until finally it got so hot, the crew were able to get permission for us to go outside, where of course it was almost as hot but not so claustrtophobic. We were well guarded by soldiers with guns. I think we had landed at an Arabic air base. Fortunately, we didn't have such an adventure this time,
One of the reasons I enjoy travelling is the personal stories you hear. For example. I sat beside a Nigerian woman on the flight into Frankfurt. She had moved to the States 3 years ago to be with her brother. She was a teacher in Nigeria but feels that because she hit the US at the worst time imaginable, she has been unable to find permanent work. She is supply teaching but sometimes wonders where her next few pennies are going to come from. Another brother had died in Nigeria and she was making the long trek back to Nigeria for his funeral. She was lovely. Then on the flight to Accra we met a German mother travelling with two small children to join her husband for a two year contract in Accra. I momentarily sat with the older girl while the mother took the younger girl to the bathroom. She was excited about fulfilling one of her life long dreams.
January 10
We walked out the back end of the 737 on to the tarmac in Accra about 7:30 on Jan 10, 28 hours after we had left home. A shield of heat and humidity hit us in the face when we took our first step down the gangway. We got into a bus which took us the very short distance to the unsophisticated terminal. The walk down the building to the customs hall was decorated with an archway of red ribbon making us feel like royalty when we arrived. Customs and baggage pick up went smoothly. We had our pictures taken and our fingers printed - correction we both had our pictures taken but I alone had my finger prints taken. We couldn't get an answer why but I suspect it may be in an effort against trading women. My biggest fear was that the driver i had arranged to pick us up from the airport wouldn't be there. He was!!! I should have more faith!!
We drove a short distance, maybe 10 or 15 minutes to the hotel. What the infrastructure lacks, the people make up for. We were welcomed warmly at the hotel, and soon had our jeans stripped off and dressed in something cooler. We went out to compound for dinner - because it was late we had a chicken and a beef sandwich which was really a wrap with a crepe. It was delicious. And.....of course a cold beer....or two.
The dining/lounge area is quite eclectic. The owner is Lebanese. His brother has a "special spot" where he sits with his group of friends smoking their water pipes. We are told they are smoking but with flavours added so that it doesn't taste like cigarette - a cooler smoke, we are told. There was another couple there from Holland. Tonight, the Libyan Ambassador came over with a Libyan friend, and the Lebanese crowd was there too. Fortunately, they seemed quite friendly, to each other, and to us, and we had a nice chat with one of the Libyan guys. The dining room manager, whose name is Mali, is lovely - very mannerly with the typical Ghanaian smile. He told us his life story and how he ended up here. Very high principles. Showed us his three beautiful kids. Very lovely.
We didn't do much at all today. We got to bed last night around midnight, just after and flaked out till about midday. Ray was up at 9 and had a shower. I slept like a log. We got up and made a 5 minute walk down the street to the supermarket. What an amazing array of foods. So well stocked with food from every part of the world. The shelves were packed with goods. We watched a particular white woman doing her shopping with her "maid". An interesting relationship where both women looked bored with each other, themselves, and their life. Shoppers were mixed - white - black - and probably Middle Eastern. Ghana has always had ties wtih people from North Africa. As a kid I remember all the "traders" being Syrian who were also the shop owners at that time. Interestingly, we haven't seen any hint of Chinese money at this point. We are told the Libyans are investing heavily in Ghana and the Lebanese have been here for years.
Later we went for a walk around Osu the district we are staying in. The best way to describe the scene is that of a market walking down the side of the busy main street. We were accosted by all sorts of people, hoping I am sure to make a sale, but able to say "welcome to Ghana" when we didn't buy!! The Ghanaians are truly lovely people. If you can catch the smile, it is big, and warm, with lots of sparkling white teeth and warm, friendly eyes. They have a special handshake which is readily offered.
Anyway, I must go to bed and will try and upload this epistle. Tomorrow at 8 we are off to Aburi Gardens and the Volta Region.
January 7
On January 9 we head out to West Africa. My stomach is full of butterflies. Hopefully we have made all the appropriate preparations and won't have any "organizational" problems getting there. There are a myriad of things that can "hang you up" on a trip. First, is making sure your passport expires 6 months after the last day of the trip. Sadly, we learn this through one of our good friends' unfortunate circumstances. Secondly, we may be refused access to a specific country if we don't have the correct medical information, i.e. a yellow fever certificate, as well as insufficient pages in our passport. Allow 2 per country! Also passport photos -- again two per country. On top of that we require valid visas. No problem you say! But, when you get the visas you need to make sure they don't expire before you get to the country you are going to. Some countries issue 60 day visas, some 3 month visas, and yet again some 6 month visas. Depending when you will be in that country, you may have to go for the more expensive visa to ensure it does not expire before you enter and exit the specific country. Try fitting that in with a visit to the States before you go, and you realize why people resort to tranquilizers before they travel - it's not the flight that causes the sinking fear in your gut but getting your passports back from one country, in time to send it and receive it back from the next country.
As if that wasn't enough. Have you considered the struggle to find appropriate emergency medical insurance?Have you read the Insurance Policy and understand the terms and conditions of your coverage. For example: one wrong answer and your whole insurance is null and void. Drastic!! I think we are lulled into a sense of false security when we complete a medical form and pay extortionate amounts for our health insurance. Don't be. Check around. Read the policy. Read the questions carefully - very carefully. Don't accept them at face value. Go to someone who is knowledgeable about travel insurance. The CAA representatives are not. Speak out when you find something unfair. I had the CAA annual plan which I got at the beginning of October. I was told all I had to do before I left for Africa was come into the CAA offices and pay the top-up fee for the appropriate number of days over 30, i.e. 23. No problem. I arrived there on Saturday afternoon only to find out that they have initiated a questionnaire to be completed for the top-up, and the questions are very different. Result - I didn't appear to be eligible for the extra insurance coverage. Panic slowly crept into every muscle in my body as the realization sunk in. I wouldn't be able to go to Africa. The representative was very helpful and said she would phone first thing on Monday morning and get back to me by 11:00 a.m. By the time I reached the car, I knew I couldn't wait until Monday morning. I needed to buy some last minute toileteries, and pack. I needed to know right away whether or not I was going. As we ran some other errands my mind grew darker and darker and by the time I got home my body was loaded with worry and it felt as if I was in the middle of a very dark storm. Ray came to the rescue. He called his buddy who is in the insurance business and by Saturday evening I had insurance. I have to admit to only a very quiet contentment when I was able to go back to the CAA on Monday morning and thank them for their help but I would not need their coverage. Of course they came back and said it would be no problem, I could get coverage but at an extra cost. There are times when a market economy means many extra burdens placed on citizens.
But, I think we are ready. Everything is in place, and we are ready to leave.
Tuesday Jan 8 - p.m.
Check-in.......The on-line check in does not recognize our reference number! Step one - call CheapOAir the booking agent. They put Ray on hold - he holds for 40 minutes and hangs up and calls back. He holds for another 20 minutes to get an agent. Discovers the flights have been changed. Agent needs to 'investigate". Ray frantically searches the web for other flights and finds an appropriate one through Expedia. Agent comes back and says the return flight has been cancelled but he can give us a flight on Mar 2 - one day later - so we accept, but still can't check in. CheapOAir says they can't help we will have to call United. By now we are wondering if CheapOAir is reputable. Could we have been so stupid to be scammed??? Call United. It is an automated line. Give them our details. They recognize the reference number, confirm all flights, but now we are swimming across the Atlantic from Brussels to get to Newark to get our flight to Toronto. Nothing more we can do. Need to get to the Airport early to sort it all out. So, the night before we are due to go, we think we have a flight, but are not sure. Nice!!!
Wednesday Jan 9
We are up early and ready for Cathie when she arrives to drive to the airport. House all wrapped up, and off we go. Get to the airport 3 hours ahead of the flight. Go to the United Desk. Some snitty lady tells us we need to go to Air Canada to check in. I said why would we not have been told that. She says, very snittily, it's on the itinerary. It's definitely not. Air Canada is surprised, but they attempt to help. One hour later, the Air Canada Sherlock Homes discovers the clue - one of the ticket numbers is wrong, bingo, finds the new ticket number and we are checked in! So, then back to United to see if they can provide hiking boots to get us from Brussles to the Atlantic and maybe a small boat or a wet suit to help us with our Atlantic Crossing. First lady tells us it's not their problem and she can't do anything because she is usually in operations. Maybe Ravi can help. We go to Ravi. He looks at us as if we have landed from Mars and gives us a United Airlines Number to call. Ray says: "It's not an automated line is it{?"
"No" the UA rep answers.
We go to find a public telephone. I didnt know they still made them, but we find one and call the 1`.800 number. An automated telephone service. Finally we get to a real person. Ray says he has a problem. The rep hangs up! Ray calls back. After holding the line with sweat creeping slowly down our backs, the rep comes back and says he has sorted it out. I think what happened is that when the return flight was changed, the UA personnell didn't process the change correctly and therefore the information wasn't attached to the new ticket number. Hence the confusion at the Air Canada desk. And of course we couldn't check into United becuase we were supposed to check in with Air Canada. The flight attendant told us they were partners. I said well if you are partners you don't communicate very well. He made some smart comment about it being something like a marriage. Sometimes you talk, sometimes you don't.!! So, now we have an hour to get to the Gate for check in. I guess we were frazzled or something but we walked the length of Terminal 1 once then had to walk all the way back to the other end to find the US customs. Fortunately, they were efficient and we were through. Security, the same. We arrived with time to go to the loo and then line up to board. The flight to Newark was in a small plane and was quick and efficient.
Get to Newark with about 3 hours to wait. Time for lunch at about 3:30. Well, I guess it wasn't our day or something and maybe I should fast forward to German time to get out of it quicker. We ate a lousy meal in a lousy airport restaurant. Walked around the airport and then loaded for our flight to Frankfurt. Everything on time and efficient. Get on the plane and to pay for wine with dinner - no credit card. I guess it is still sittling in the credit card holder in the lousy restaurant in the Newark Airport. There is not much you can do when you are sitting in the middle seat of three on a plane with 400 people in the middle of the sky. I felt trapped. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to deal with my internal chatter. Nowhere to escape the inert body sitting beside me rigid with frustration. It was opportune that that was the moment the skies decided to take their revenge on the human race and hammer the airplane with winds. The plane started to cavort around the airspace, and the captain turned on the "seat belt" sign and revved up the engines making it hard to hear to take us up to the next level to avoid the turbulence. I guess there are forces stronger than us around!! It has been a very long timne since I have experience anything as dramatic in the air. Dinner arrived, and the wine thank goodness; I don't know whether it was the rolicking airplane or the loss of the credit card or the miffed husband sitting beside me, but my hands shook so badly, and all of a sudden my hunger faded as the plane settled down and I didn't do much justice to another rather dried out, sawdust tasting meal.
The saga of the lost credit card continued in Frankfurt when the 24/7 collect call line to Scotiabank had "technical problems". I think we exposed all the cracks in our very organized and controlled Canadian systems". Didn't make it so bad leaving to visit Africa. Sort of prepared us.....I guess!!
When we got to Frankfurt we had the same "check in" problems as in Toronto (we had to check in for the final stage of the journey). But once again an ingenious rep Lufthansa rep sorted it out. The flight rom Frankfurt was about 6 1/2 hours. The crew were fantastic but the flight itself was one of the bumpiest we have had in a long time. It reminded me of one of my earlier journeys to Ghana when we were in a Stratocruiser and went through the biggest storm over the desert. One of the communication cables broke, and there was some other damage done to the plane. We had to land in the middle of the Sahara to repair the plane. We weren't allowed out of the structure, until finally it got so hot, the crew were able to get permission for us to go outside, where of course it was almost as hot but not so claustrtophobic. We were well guarded by soldiers with guns. I think we had landed at an Arabic air base. Fortunately, we didn't have such an adventure this time,
One of the reasons I enjoy travelling is the personal stories you hear. For example. I sat beside a Nigerian woman on the flight into Frankfurt. She had moved to the States 3 years ago to be with her brother. She was a teacher in Nigeria but feels that because she hit the US at the worst time imaginable, she has been unable to find permanent work. She is supply teaching but sometimes wonders where her next few pennies are going to come from. Another brother had died in Nigeria and she was making the long trek back to Nigeria for his funeral. She was lovely. Then on the flight to Accra we met a German mother travelling with two small children to join her husband for a two year contract in Accra. I momentarily sat with the older girl while the mother took the younger girl to the bathroom. She was excited about fulfilling one of her life long dreams.
January 10
We walked out the back end of the 737 on to the tarmac in Accra about 7:30 on Jan 10, 28 hours after we had left home. A shield of heat and humidity hit us in the face when we took our first step down the gangway. We got into a bus which took us the very short distance to the unsophisticated terminal. The walk down the building to the customs hall was decorated with an archway of red ribbon making us feel like royalty when we arrived. Customs and baggage pick up went smoothly. We had our pictures taken and our fingers printed - correction we both had our pictures taken but I alone had my finger prints taken. We couldn't get an answer why but I suspect it may be in an effort against trading women. My biggest fear was that the driver i had arranged to pick us up from the airport wouldn't be there. He was!!! I should have more faith!!
We drove a short distance, maybe 10 or 15 minutes to the hotel. What the infrastructure lacks, the people make up for. We were welcomed warmly at the hotel, and soon had our jeans stripped off and dressed in something cooler. We went out to compound for dinner - because it was late we had a chicken and a beef sandwich which was really a wrap with a crepe. It was delicious. And.....of course a cold beer....or two.
The dining/lounge area is quite eclectic. The owner is Lebanese. His brother has a "special spot" where he sits with his group of friends smoking their water pipes. We are told they are smoking but with flavours added so that it doesn't taste like cigarette - a cooler smoke, we are told. There was another couple there from Holland. Tonight, the Libyan Ambassador came over with a Libyan friend, and the Lebanese crowd was there too. Fortunately, they seemed quite friendly, to each other, and to us, and we had a nice chat with one of the Libyan guys. The dining room manager, whose name is Mali, is lovely - very mannerly with the typical Ghanaian smile. He told us his life story and how he ended up here. Very high principles. Showed us his three beautiful kids. Very lovely.
We didn't do much at all today. We got to bed last night around midnight, just after and flaked out till about midday. Ray was up at 9 and had a shower. I slept like a log. We got up and made a 5 minute walk down the street to the supermarket. What an amazing array of foods. So well stocked with food from every part of the world. The shelves were packed with goods. We watched a particular white woman doing her shopping with her "maid". An interesting relationship where both women looked bored with each other, themselves, and their life. Shoppers were mixed - white - black - and probably Middle Eastern. Ghana has always had ties wtih people from North Africa. As a kid I remember all the "traders" being Syrian who were also the shop owners at that time. Interestingly, we haven't seen any hint of Chinese money at this point. We are told the Libyans are investing heavily in Ghana and the Lebanese have been here for years.
Later we went for a walk around Osu the district we are staying in. The best way to describe the scene is that of a market walking down the side of the busy main street. We were accosted by all sorts of people, hoping I am sure to make a sale, but able to say "welcome to Ghana" when we didn't buy!! The Ghanaians are truly lovely people. If you can catch the smile, it is big, and warm, with lots of sparkling white teeth and warm, friendly eyes. They have a special handshake which is readily offered.
Anyway, I must go to bed and will try and upload this epistle. Tomorrow at 8 we are off to Aburi Gardens and the Volta Region.
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