Advertisement
Published: October 20th 2009
Edit Blog Post
First to the bar
Mark and Will on the Guinness at Heathrow Okay...due to a technical blip (we are in Africa...) the following entry below that describes the trials and tribulations of our journey from the UK to Botswana has in fact been published now, AFTER what was in fact episode number two....you'll get the drift...
The first day of our trip to Gaborone, capital of Botswana, proved to be eventful for many reasons, but the team pulled together in the face of adversity and we remain intact, so far.
LONDON
Mark and intrepid Team Leader Will were the first to locate the bar when we reached our team's rallying point at Terminal One at Heathrow, and a couple of Guinesses later they were ready for our outbound flight to Johannesburg, which would be followed by connecting flights to Gaborone which, in theory, included all of our bulky luggage too. However, this was not to be the case as you'll read soon...
JOBURG
On arrival at JoBurg, seven of our team of eight (Veronique was scheduled to take the BA flight while the remaining seven of us were on SAA), Alan made a swift break through Passport Control as if trying to negotiate his way to the nearest Sky TV
Gaborone Airport
The team ponder Team Leader Will's situation as he negotiates the mysterious baggage fees with the nice Customs people at the airport on our arrival News to get the Spurs score, and in doing so failed to be told like the rest of us were that we in fact had to locate the baggage reclaim to grab our bags before connecting to Gaborone. When we were told to do this, it was a big surprise and it was contrary to the information received at Heathrow - the bags were, we were informed then, checked all the way through to Gaborone. Alan became isolated from the rest of the group (he didn't mind!) and we sought to reach the baggage carousel, although we'd only got half-way there when told that the bags WERE definitely checked through already, and that we shouldn't be foolish enough to believe the airport colleague of this new and confident chap who laughed us back to passport control with a cheery pointing of his fingers, co-erced by his co-conspirators in a well-rehearsed routine. It wasn't our last brush with South African airline authorities and the day was only half done.
GABORONE
The connecting flights from JoBurg were uneventful save for the confusion caused by the propellers on Alan's plane (the eight of us were travelling on flights an hour apart from
Brackendene Lodge
The breakfast has won no prizes...but it was mentioned that the 'sausage' somehow resembles a part of a male dog's anatomy in terms of its girth, colour and texture JoBurg), when he nervously enquired about the modern-day reliability of such things as propellers ("what century are we in?" exclaimed Alan), which ought not to be thrust upon the likes of fare-paying volunteers such as him and the rest of us. Alan checked the South African Airlines risk assessment documents and became reasonably satisfied that on a flight of barely an hour between JoBurg and Gabs, even if the propellers failed we'd float down anyway and the engines would eventually do the rest. He continued the flight with his earphones delivering the inimitable dulcet tones of one Enrique Iglesias, incurring the first of many 'tour fines' on this particular trip. The first time he will become aware of this fine will be when he reads this blog!
The eight of us arrived safely in Gaborone, but perhaps not surprisingly one of our many kit bags containing cricket equipment for our trip did not. A missing bag report form was duly completed and lodged with the Botswana airport authorities and we await news of said wheelie bag, which may find its way onto a subsequent flight from London in the next couple of days. However, things never run smoothly in Africa and we were thrown a further googly some time later, to which we played and missed. This one involved the bags that HAD successfully arrived at Gabs, containing many new items that were earmarked as free giveaways for the children in Botswana that we would be coaching. Despite the very obvious and worthy cause that these items represent (tee-shirts in children's sizes and the like), or so we thought, the corrupt officials at Gaborone Airport were insistent that a seemingly random local fee was required from these 'rich English types' who were (in fact) volunteering on behalf of a UK charity here in Botswana, and our leader Will was forced reluctantly to relinquish himself unnecessarily of a substantial amount of cash before clearing Customs. We have a meeting planned when our team visits the British High Commision, so well see who has the last laugh when we demand some Botswana 'Pula' back for our troubles....if not we'll take the stumps and bat that we do still have, and take our toys home! Nerr.
Pilfering of luggage (and other attempts to do so) by airline staff was also evident among the team on our journey south, but bizarrely the only item that was apparently missing among the clearly opened/ruffled contents were some disposable contact lenses in an unmarked case belonging to spectacle wearer of the year Mike G. The SA airport baggage handler who had such light fingers on this occasion would indeed have struck gold, but only if he'd been short-sighted to the tune of -2.50 in each eye. Yeah, good luck and thanks mate.
The accommodation that we have been afforded in sunny Gabs is modest and basic - we are charity workers on a budget after all - although witnessing the splendour of the glamorous four-star Gaborone Sun Hotel for a bite to eat on the first Sunday made us rather envious for a short time. The people that patronised this fancy place were very posh indeed - the type that would definitely get themselves out of the bath if they had to pee. We reminded ourselves that we had budgetary constraints throughout our trip, and we h
Advertisement
Tot: 0.085s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0411s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb