Saturday, July 26, 2008

Namibia and back

My six day trip to Namibia - three days travel, three days there - leaves me with a pile of bitching about travel logistics. But this is the kibbitz, not the bitch, so I'm pre-editing myself and offering only the following highlights:
Delayed flight
Lost bag
Ears clogged like a mofo
No personal TV screens
Hours swallowing and force-yawning to pop ears due to intense paranoia about ear drums exploding.

With that out of the way, one more story: our office has some cars and drivers, and one of the drivers in one of the cars drove me to the airport on Friday. Halfway there he told me he forgot to get the money to pay for the car fee at the airport. We didn't turn around. I figured the fee couldn't be more than a dollar or two so we'd surely be able to cover it. But when we got to the airport, he turned into a blocked lane and told the attendant that I was a diplomat being dropped off. The attendant asked no further questions and let us through. Further on in that lane there was another gate, but another attendant simply lifted the gate for us without question, such was his faith in his colleague's screening process. Ethical or unethical? And should I in the future make more of an effort to dress less diplomatically?

No comments: