Airport Trouble

Just as I had been told that there was no hot water in the shower I also quickly realized that it as not needed and it was the most refreshing shower ever...that was until I broke the shower head. Not a good look on my first day.

But before I regal you with more tells of my first day, allow me to back it up to Sunday afternoon-United Airlines tried to play my life. "Where's your visa?" the woman at the check in counter asked flipping through my passport. "Oh I don't need one," I informed her confidently. A concerning frown began to form on her face. "Who told you that?" The next several minutes consisted of her making several phone calls and me frantically trying to make calls but realizing my phone can't make international calls while my family reorganized my suitcase because the bag was about seven pounds overweight. They told me that you can only stay three months without a Visa although the return date on my ticket is set for June. They also told me that when my United flight landed in DC, the connecting flight to Dakar with South African Airlines could stop me from boarding if they so chose. Needless to say she really scared me.

Then once I got on the United flight, it started to rain for about 30 minutes and I thought I'd never leave, Visa or no Visa. When we finally did leave, the pilot was flying haphazardly through the sky--the plane swerved up and down in the air and again I thought I wouldn't make it regardless of the Visa situation. "Make sure your seatbelts are fastened," The pilot instructed over the intercom. "I'm taking some shortcuts so we'll get their on time." Who knew there were backroads in the sky. Whatever he did we made it to DC only five minutes late and I found out that South African Airlines didn't really care about the Visa or how long I was staying. They gave my boarding pass with no questions asked.

The flight that I took to Dakar was an airbus. Its final destination was Johannesburg; Dakar was just a stop along the way. My seatmate was going to Johannesburg, she is studying zoology and will be voluntering at a Baboon reserve for four months. Not my cup of tea but to each his own. The trip was very enjoyable with the diverse movie selections (Two thumbs up for Little Manhattan) and the awesome music album collections. Gotta love Seal singing, "A Change is Gonna Come" and "Jai Hoi" on the Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack. Makes you wonder if that's what you pay thousands of dollars for. That and all of those choices will keep you from going insane if you're going to South Africa because that's a 20 hour plus flight.

Overall I enjoy South African Airlines. I did however have a problem with this stick figure they had in the background on the tv monitor. It was a person beating a drum with a very large butt. Below is a sketch of the figure which I have perfectly drawn to illustrate my point. I mean really SAA, is that necessary???? Maybe that's just the Howard in me...