Hi faithful readers,
I like to make positive or at least funny remarks about people on my travels. I like to comment favourably on countries I travel in or to as well. My experiences are however are genuine and I refuse to hide or lie about them. I only name places and organisations for the sake of context and people I will seldom, if ever, refer to by name.
At this stage, United States of America readership for the week outstrips South Africa a factor of 2. Come-on locals! I know we are only less than 70 milllion souls in our country but that should not be an excuse. For now we are still ahead in the overall readership stakes but the #USA is catching up rapidly!
I like to make positive or at least funny remarks about people on my travels. I like to comment favourably on countries I travel in or to as well. My experiences are however are genuine and I refuse to hide or lie about them. I only name places and organisations for the sake of context and people I will seldom, if ever, refer to by name.
At this stage, United States of America readership for the week outstrips South Africa a factor of 2. Come-on locals! I know we are only less than 70 milllion souls in our country but that should not be an excuse. For now we are still ahead in the overall readership stakes but the #USA is catching up rapidly!
Before I tell of my flight from Cape Town to Abuja via #Johannesburg and #Lagos, allow me give a bit of background. We made the decision to attend a small #satellite conference in #Abuja and considered a request from the organisors to bring a model small satellite representing #SUNSAT with us.
After checking with export and clearing agents, it became clear that we needed two weeks more than we had at our disposal. Someone came up with the brilliant idea to dismantle the model, so we could take it as hold luggage on the airplane with us. At the time I enthusiastically supported the idea and we promised the organisers we'll bring the model.
When the day of departure arrived, we encountered our first problem at check-in for the flight to Johannesburg from Cape Town International!!
The dismantled model sections were too large to fit on the automatic baggage handling system and the baggage handlers refused to take the offending sections on-board. After a long discussion with the baggage handling supervisor centering on the risks of denting national pride if we were to arrive in Abuja without the model, the officials relented and accommodated our unusual baggage request. So we successfully passed the first stage of our journey.
At OR Tambo International airport, we received our luggage in good time and did not think that there would be further problems.
This opptimism evaporated when we tried to check in for the flight to Lagos, Nigeria.Again, size of the items were in question. I pointed out that the items travelled with us from CapeTown on a flight of the same carrier, so there should essentially not be further issues, but the baggage handlers became deaf! Same story as at Cape Town International - if the items do not fit on the automatic baggage loading system, they will not be allowed on-board!
Eventually, I found someone in the coomand chain who was willing to make a decision. The decision was: If I was willing to pay a few baggage handlers to physically move the offending pieces of luggage to the plane, the goods will be loaded. I was pointed to two baggage handlers and instructed to meet them in one of the corridors leading to the baggage section. I amoured myself with sufficient cash and, after informing my fellow travelers of the requirements, marched forth to meet the objects of obstruction and potential resolution. When I reached the two baggage handlers I found them well-informed of the problem and what was required in terms of resolution. I handed over ZAR 50 (the requested amount) to each and shook hands on the deal.
Back at the check-in, we handed the precious pieces of the model satellite to baggage handlers and carried on checking in. Our hope was nested in the baggage handlers' honesty and prayer because we had no other aussurance. The flight to Lagos was therefore rather nervy but we landed safely and waited for our luggage to arrive like others around us. I could see our luggage on the tarmac together with large pieces which I presumed to belong to other passengers.
My fellow travellers were getting impatient with non-arrival of our luggage and prompted me to facilitate the process. I noticed other passengers looking anxiously at luggage on the tarmac at Murtala Muhammad International. I was at a loss of how to proceed when I saw one of the 'anxious ones' speaking to a gentleman and handing him some cash. I immediately went over and asked the 'anxious one' about what she had done and was assured that, because our luggage was too large to fit on the automatic baggage system, it required a further cash injection to get to the luggage collection hall. When I wanted to know about guarantees of success, she simply shrugged her shoulders. I therefore waited to see the outcome of her brave action before approaching the same gentleman. When her trust was rewarded with the delivery of her outsized luggage to the hall, I had no hesitation to accost the same gentleman and striking a deal with him.
The deal involved getting our luggage to us and arranging a minibus taxi to take us and our luggage to our hotel in Lagos, pick-up by taxi the next morning and hassle-free loading of our outsize luggage onto a flight to Abuja (in those days local and international flights all departed from the same terminal). This cost me US$ 50 in total, which I thought was a good bargain.
So when the taxi driver wanted to negotiate further with us for the transport of our luggage, I just called the gentleman with whom I had a deal and, with a few words in one of the local languages between him and the taxi driver, we were on our way without further payment or hassles.
The night's rest in Lagos was peaceful and we were picked up on time by our taxi the next morning. Together with our precious luggage we checked in on a local flight to Abuja and our luggage was taken care of as per my US$ 50 agreement with the gentleman of the previous evening.
The flight to Abuja proceeded without incident and our luggage did not require further smoothing exercises to get to us, courtesy of the conference organisers whom we phoned the previous night to tell of our travails.
Thus we had a successful conference in Abuja and made the organisers proud when we assembled the #SUNSAT model in the conference exhibition hall. The conference organisers offered to arrange the return of the model by normal commercial transit and, with our experiences front of mind, we gladly accepted.
"All's well that ends well" as the saying goes and this post could easily have substituted the post on an eventful international flight (http://expectmeagain.blogspot.com/2014/03/an-eventful-international-flight.html)
but it escaped my mind at the time and furthermore involved a mix of local and international flights.
The other reason that made me hesitate to post this incident was the possibility that it would add to the suspicion of bribery that is supposed to be endemic in the developing world. In my opinion however the incidents in this post explains only what happens when one expects people to go out of their way to accommodate requests for which their systems do not cater i.e. extra work and therefore extra payment. So, no bribery took place!!
In the next two posts I plan next to talk about our local road travels to the #PanoramaRoute in Eastern Mpumalanga province in the first month of 2014. I also would like to enlighten local and international readership about our (myself, my daughter and the good wife) visit to the Cradle of Humankind in #Gauteng province (Sterkfontein Caves and #Maropeng) around the same time.
After checking with export and clearing agents, it became clear that we needed two weeks more than we had at our disposal. Someone came up with the brilliant idea to dismantle the model, so we could take it as hold luggage on the airplane with us. At the time I enthusiastically supported the idea and we promised the organisers we'll bring the model.
When the day of departure arrived, we encountered our first problem at check-in for the flight to Johannesburg from Cape Town International!!
The dismantled model sections were too large to fit on the automatic baggage handling system and the baggage handlers refused to take the offending sections on-board. After a long discussion with the baggage handling supervisor centering on the risks of denting national pride if we were to arrive in Abuja without the model, the officials relented and accommodated our unusual baggage request. So we successfully passed the first stage of our journey.
At OR Tambo International airport, we received our luggage in good time and did not think that there would be further problems.
This opptimism evaporated when we tried to check in for the flight to Lagos, Nigeria.Again, size of the items were in question. I pointed out that the items travelled with us from CapeTown on a flight of the same carrier, so there should essentially not be further issues, but the baggage handlers became deaf! Same story as at Cape Town International - if the items do not fit on the automatic baggage loading system, they will not be allowed on-board!
Eventually, I found someone in the coomand chain who was willing to make a decision. The decision was: If I was willing to pay a few baggage handlers to physically move the offending pieces of luggage to the plane, the goods will be loaded. I was pointed to two baggage handlers and instructed to meet them in one of the corridors leading to the baggage section. I amoured myself with sufficient cash and, after informing my fellow travelers of the requirements, marched forth to meet the objects of obstruction and potential resolution. When I reached the two baggage handlers I found them well-informed of the problem and what was required in terms of resolution. I handed over ZAR 50 (the requested amount) to each and shook hands on the deal.
Back at the check-in, we handed the precious pieces of the model satellite to baggage handlers and carried on checking in. Our hope was nested in the baggage handlers' honesty and prayer because we had no other aussurance. The flight to Lagos was therefore rather nervy but we landed safely and waited for our luggage to arrive like others around us. I could see our luggage on the tarmac together with large pieces which I presumed to belong to other passengers.
My fellow travellers were getting impatient with non-arrival of our luggage and prompted me to facilitate the process. I noticed other passengers looking anxiously at luggage on the tarmac at Murtala Muhammad International. I was at a loss of how to proceed when I saw one of the 'anxious ones' speaking to a gentleman and handing him some cash. I immediately went over and asked the 'anxious one' about what she had done and was assured that, because our luggage was too large to fit on the automatic baggage system, it required a further cash injection to get to the luggage collection hall. When I wanted to know about guarantees of success, she simply shrugged her shoulders. I therefore waited to see the outcome of her brave action before approaching the same gentleman. When her trust was rewarded with the delivery of her outsized luggage to the hall, I had no hesitation to accost the same gentleman and striking a deal with him.
The deal involved getting our luggage to us and arranging a minibus taxi to take us and our luggage to our hotel in Lagos, pick-up by taxi the next morning and hassle-free loading of our outsize luggage onto a flight to Abuja (in those days local and international flights all departed from the same terminal). This cost me US$ 50 in total, which I thought was a good bargain.
So when the taxi driver wanted to negotiate further with us for the transport of our luggage, I just called the gentleman with whom I had a deal and, with a few words in one of the local languages between him and the taxi driver, we were on our way without further payment or hassles.
The night's rest in Lagos was peaceful and we were picked up on time by our taxi the next morning. Together with our precious luggage we checked in on a local flight to Abuja and our luggage was taken care of as per my US$ 50 agreement with the gentleman of the previous evening.
The flight to Abuja proceeded without incident and our luggage did not require further smoothing exercises to get to us, courtesy of the conference organisers whom we phoned the previous night to tell of our travails.
Thus we had a successful conference in Abuja and made the organisers proud when we assembled the #SUNSAT model in the conference exhibition hall. The conference organisers offered to arrange the return of the model by normal commercial transit and, with our experiences front of mind, we gladly accepted.
"All's well that ends well" as the saying goes and this post could easily have substituted the post on an eventful international flight (http://expectmeagain.blogspot.com/2014/03/an-eventful-international-flight.html)
but it escaped my mind at the time and furthermore involved a mix of local and international flights.
The other reason that made me hesitate to post this incident was the possibility that it would add to the suspicion of bribery that is supposed to be endemic in the developing world. In my opinion however the incidents in this post explains only what happens when one expects people to go out of their way to accommodate requests for which their systems do not cater i.e. extra work and therefore extra payment. So, no bribery took place!!
In the next two posts I plan next to talk about our local road travels to the #PanoramaRoute in Eastern Mpumalanga province in the first month of 2014. I also would like to enlighten local and international readership about our (myself, my daughter and the good wife) visit to the Cradle of Humankind in #Gauteng province (Sterkfontein Caves and #Maropeng) around the same time.
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