This
plan was conceived in October 2018 when my senior back at uni, HI, contacted me
to ask if I had year-end travel plans as she wanted to join me. I was still
mulling my options and after a lengthy discussion and contacting some travel
agents, we decided in favour of Africa over another country. Believe it or not,
our return air fare and indeed the total cost of our trip was less than
visiting this other country! I drew up the itinerary and after firming it up,
set about with searching for accommodation – those within walking distance of
inter-city bus stations. Air tickets were bought only on 1 December after we
agreed to depart on Thursday, 20 December, instead of Friday, 21 December.
Thursday, 20 December 2018
Dongzhi
Déjà vu
I
left for KLIA late from KL Sentral as I left my watch in the office and my mate
returned to fetch and send it to me. HI was already waiting in the regional
airline lounge so I had some late supper. We then received text messages saying
the gate for our flight to SIN from where we were supposed to catch the
connecting flight to Harare had been changed (twice) and were not amused to
find that our flight had been retimed. We calculated and determined we were
going to cut it real close when we arrived in SIN to go to the transfer desk
and get our boarding passes for the connecting flights (for some reason, we
could not get our Ethiopian Airlines boarding passes at KLIA). I remarked to HI
that this was eerily similar to my delayed flight to Iran on 21 December 2016.
Friday, 21 December 2018
The
Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Men...
The
flight was finally ready for boarding way after the rescheduled ETD. When we
got to the top of the queue, the system could not read our tickets and instead
displayed ‘not allowed to board’. It turned out that there were 18 passengers
(only two of us Malaysians, the rest were African) could not board because
Ethiopian Airlines refused to wait for us. We had to wait for our bags to be
offloaded and we couldn’t rearrange an alternative flight (it was way past
02:00 then) as the Amadeus system was down. Where normally I might have flown
off the handle (pun intended), I took my cue from HI who remained calm and
tried to negotiate for an alternative with the MAB staff. Finally we were told
that we would be given a room at Sama Sama Hotel at the airport and we could go
to the ticketing counter early the following morning to sort out our travel
plans, and then get our bags at Baggage Services. So we wearily made our way to
the hotel and checked in. As I didn’t have any change of clothes, I wrapped
myself in the hotel towel and went to sleep.
I
woke up a mere three hours later and had a shower before performing prayers. We
then made our way to the Ticketing Counter (next to the Transfer Counter) and
stood there for almost two hours. The earliest we could fly out was initially
just after midnight on Sunday, 23 December, before the connecting flight
(EK713) to Harare but we subsequently managed to change our flight to Saturday
evening, flying Emirates. A long layover at Dubai awaited us as we still needed
to catch the same EK713 to Harare but we thought at least we’d be half-way on
our way instead of still being stuck in KL. We also managed to change hotels to
Putrajaya Marriott Hotel. For some reason, it is not usual to put Malaysians
who are experience delayed flights at Hotel Sama Sama.
We
returned to the hotel for breakfast before checking out. After breakfast, we
headed to Baggage Services at level 3 which is near the bag carousels. We were
there for more than an hour but the staff couldn’t locate our bags. We filed
our respective reports and were told to call the Baggage Services not later
than 22:00 to find out the status. I was starting by then to wonder if our trip
was not to be. Still, we decided to make the best out of everything and decided
to go to Marriott and rest.
We
went down to level 1 and a lady approached me asking if we were the two
stranded passengers. We had to wait while she located the company who would be
transporting us to Putrajaya Marriott. The driver showed up about ten minutes
later and it took us 30 minutes to reach the hotel. We checked in and asked for
adjoining rooms, put our meagre belongings in our rooms then went down again
for lunch. I must say that all that waiting and queuing really gave us a good
appetite. After lunch, we headed back to our rooms to work out an alternative
plan to our trip which had now been set back by more than two days. HI found
that there was an Emirates flight from Harare to Lusaka so we decided we would
check at the airport on Saturday if we could check our bags through to Lusaka.
We also tried calling Baggage Services but the two numbers we had were either
engaged or went unanswered. I then contacted my sister and updated her of what
had happened, where I was and if she could come to visit and bring change of
clothes. She said she would come later in the day so I went to rest. I wanted
to sleep as I was knackered but my worry about our trip kept me awake. I also decided to cancel the hotel and Airbnb reservations in Harare and Lusaka respectively. The booking in Livingstone was non-refundable though.
My
sister and family came at 18:30 and we walked around the hotel before going to
my room where I realised I had a missed call from Baggage Services and
Alhamdulillah, they managed to locate our bags (they had gone to Singapore!)
and we would collect them when we returned to the airport the following
afternoon. My sister and family left after an hour and HI and I went to have
dinner.
We
returned to our rooms and I laundered my clothes. I was too exhausted and was
in bed by 23:00.
Saturday,
22 December 2018
After
breakfast, I announced that I wanted to venture to the nearby IOI City Mall and
HI decided to come along. We missed the hotel shuttle so after arranging for
the return trip, we walked to the mall. It was just another unremarkable mall
and I left empty-handed. We came back to the hotel and rested before going for
lunch at 12:45. I never thought I’d say this but I had got quite bored with
hotel buffets by then.
After
prayers, we checked out. We had arranged with the front desk for a 15:00
transport service back to the airport. At the airport, we headed to level 2 and
obtained a security pass. We had to pay RM2 each for the pass. We then went to
the third floor and followed a corridor marked for staff which let out to the
baggage area. We had to undergo a security check before we were allowed
through. It was a brief wait at Baggage Services before we were reunited with
our checked in bags then we joined the arriving passengers to exit the baggage
area. Down we went back to level 2 to return the passes before heading up to
departure level. We then queued at the Emirates ticketing counter to enquire if
we could check our bags through to Lusaka before purchasing our one-way tickets
from Harare to Lusaka. This took a while and we were glad we left the hotel
early.
After
checking in our bags, we went through security check and headed for the Golden
Lounge. I had a quick shower before having my meal. The Caesar salad was
delicious and the wan ton soup noodles were just what I needed. I also
sent a quick WhatsApp message to our Airbnb host in Lusaka telling them that we
were coming after all and if we could stay at their place without booking via
Airbnb all over again. We finished our meal then hurried
to the gate for our 19:10 flight. At last!
The
flight took off later than scheduled but hey, we were finally on our way. I
decided to perform prayers en route instead of waiting until we arrive so went
to perform ablutions.
We
landed in Dubai at 22:45 local time and had to take a bus to the terminal
building. We couldn’t access the Oneworld airport lounge as it was in Terminal
1 and we could not exit Terminal 3 but we managed to find reclining seats in an
area that wasn’t too bright. We then settled in and tried to sleep.
To
be continued
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