Back "Home" from Home
Well, here I am, back in Cameroon. How do I feel? Well believe it or not, I am happy to be back. Not happy to have left SA but glad to be back and get cracking again on this project.
My time home was good and yes, being back here does fill me with some lonliness as the important people in my life are still in South Africa.
The trip back wasn't the greatest. I left Cape Town at 19:40 which seemed like a pretty decent time, however, getting to Johannesburg was a different situation. I never thought that Johannesburg International actually shuts down ... yes, I was there just before 10am and after sorting my ticket out and being forced to send my carry on suitcase down to the plane (I was allowed my laptop thankfully) I was fortunate enough to be on a flight to Kenya that was FULLY booked. Anyway, after going through passport control just after 10pm you are walking in a ghost town, well the feeling anyway.
You see, all the shops close, coffee shops, food shops, the only one that was open was the electronic shop, which was good because I needed a plug convertor for Kenya or else my laptop wouldn't last. Nothing happens, I think there were two flights out of Johannesburg International after 11pm or so ...
So needless to say nothing to do till the flight left. I tried to sleep on the plane but this time I didn't have much luck so the next 4 hours was crazy, it just seemed to drag on forever. When we finally landed in Kenya, I just followed the rush of travellers in the direction of Nairobi Java Lounge. As you will see in the pics below, this is pretty much where everyone goes when they want to sit down for a while and have some coffee.
Now sadly, I have to admit that I haven't had any of the coffee there yet, but I think I will one of these days, yes I have gone off coffee and every time I decide to have a cup it leaves a very horrible taste in my mouth but the smell of them making the coffee ... out of this world. I will have to buy some of that coffee and bring it home for others to try.
After my coffee "smell" break I decided to see if any shops had opened yet, well all that I found were some people making the floor their bed, and everyone just sitting around patiently waiting for thier next flight. I am sure I have mentioned this before but apparently if you go anywhere in Africa, most of the flights stop at Nairobi, so you have a lot of travellers sleeping on the floor or just sitting around. As you can see in the pics below ....
By this time I had been ambling around for about 2 hours, the lay over was 6 hours. I couldn't walk, talk or think straight anymore, all I wanted was to get some sleep. So as much as I wanted to hold onto all my $'s I decided to go to the first class lounge and sleep on the couch. So with 4 hours left before I had to start boarding this sounded like a good idea but then the lounge wanted $40 as I was there for 4 hours and not 3 hours so after telling them I will only stay the 3 hours they let me stay and this is where I slept like a baby. 3 hours later I was ready to go even though there was still an hour or so before I could board.
Well needless to say I finally got to Cameroon. With anticipation I went to go and pick up my luggage and will wonders ever cease ... the very first suitcase to come out was the one I was forced to hand in at JHB international. I wasn't so lucky with my other one. My heart sank when the conveyor belt came to a stop but then the other conveyor belt started and after a few minutes my other suitcase came out of there. It was pretty funny watching people running between the two conveyor belts as their luggage came out here and there.
And no matter how much you tell the porters that you don't need assistance they turn a deaf ear, even after I picked up my own luggage, they will come and take it away from you and whether you want them to or not.
Oh well ... another day in Cameroon.
My time home was good and yes, being back here does fill me with some lonliness as the important people in my life are still in South Africa.
The trip back wasn't the greatest. I left Cape Town at 19:40 which seemed like a pretty decent time, however, getting to Johannesburg was a different situation. I never thought that Johannesburg International actually shuts down ... yes, I was there just before 10am and after sorting my ticket out and being forced to send my carry on suitcase down to the plane (I was allowed my laptop thankfully) I was fortunate enough to be on a flight to Kenya that was FULLY booked. Anyway, after going through passport control just after 10pm you are walking in a ghost town, well the feeling anyway.
You see, all the shops close, coffee shops, food shops, the only one that was open was the electronic shop, which was good because I needed a plug convertor for Kenya or else my laptop wouldn't last. Nothing happens, I think there were two flights out of Johannesburg International after 11pm or so ...
So needless to say nothing to do till the flight left. I tried to sleep on the plane but this time I didn't have much luck so the next 4 hours was crazy, it just seemed to drag on forever. When we finally landed in Kenya, I just followed the rush of travellers in the direction of Nairobi Java Lounge. As you will see in the pics below, this is pretty much where everyone goes when they want to sit down for a while and have some coffee.
Now sadly, I have to admit that I haven't had any of the coffee there yet, but I think I will one of these days, yes I have gone off coffee and every time I decide to have a cup it leaves a very horrible taste in my mouth but the smell of them making the coffee ... out of this world. I will have to buy some of that coffee and bring it home for others to try.
After my coffee "smell" break I decided to see if any shops had opened yet, well all that I found were some people making the floor their bed, and everyone just sitting around patiently waiting for thier next flight. I am sure I have mentioned this before but apparently if you go anywhere in Africa, most of the flights stop at Nairobi, so you have a lot of travellers sleeping on the floor or just sitting around. As you can see in the pics below ....
By this time I had been ambling around for about 2 hours, the lay over was 6 hours. I couldn't walk, talk or think straight anymore, all I wanted was to get some sleep. So as much as I wanted to hold onto all my $'s I decided to go to the first class lounge and sleep on the couch. So with 4 hours left before I had to start boarding this sounded like a good idea but then the lounge wanted $40 as I was there for 4 hours and not 3 hours so after telling them I will only stay the 3 hours they let me stay and this is where I slept like a baby. 3 hours later I was ready to go even though there was still an hour or so before I could board.
Well needless to say I finally got to Cameroon. With anticipation I went to go and pick up my luggage and will wonders ever cease ... the very first suitcase to come out was the one I was forced to hand in at JHB international. I wasn't so lucky with my other one. My heart sank when the conveyor belt came to a stop but then the other conveyor belt started and after a few minutes my other suitcase came out of there. It was pretty funny watching people running between the two conveyor belts as their luggage came out here and there.
And no matter how much you tell the porters that you don't need assistance they turn a deaf ear, even after I picked up my own luggage, they will come and take it away from you and whether you want them to or not.
Oh well ... another day in Cameroon.
posted by Ashley at 3:20 PM
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