Our trip to the UK went well, and we managed to see most of our family and a few friends as well, sorry to those we did not get to see.
Sean’s Dr appointments went okay, the tests for his diabetes showed there has been no damage done to his eyes etc. which is good news. However, the condition of one of his hands has deteriorated quite a lot over the last 6 months so he has been put on the waiting list for an operation, so we could be back in England fairly soon.
The New frontiers conference in Brighton was very good, with some great teaching, Sean had flu for half of it, so unfortunately we did miss quite a lot though.
The journey back to Zimbabwe is a whole story in itself. (It’s quite long, so get comfortable!)
We arrived at Gatwick 3 hours before the flight (usually sufficient!), with all our luggage, including two rugs that were given to us as Christmas presents. We were next in the queue to check in, when the Air Zimbabwe staff stopped us and told us the flight was now full! We asked how this could be, when we booked our tickets in January, but the explanation was ‘it just is’. There were also another 50 or so people behind us who also could not get on.
We weren’t worried too much as this is quite usual with Air Zim, and they put us up for a night in the Hilton Hotel. However, the next day all the Zimbabweans were asked to leave the hotel as Air Zim had not paid them! So we all went to the Air Zim desk at the terminal to ask what we should do now, and they decided to put us on any flight they could find to Africa! We were put with a group of 7 others and told to get to Heathrow and fly to Zambia, and we would be able to get a connecting flight to Harare from there.
So we all wait at the bus stop for the coach to Heathrow. When the bus comes the rest of our group get on, but Sean and I are unable to as the coach is full, this was a bit problem because the 9 of us were all traveling on one shared ticket! So they left without us, shouting out the windows that they would meet us at the check in desk. Another coach came along quite soon, but broke down half way to Heathrow! By this time we were beginning to think it was going to be a long day, and a sense of humour was defiantly required! We finally got to Heathrow only to discover that we were not actually guaranteed a place on the flight so had to wait until everyone else had checked in. One at a time, we heard the good news that we could board. In our group there was another couple that were farmers, a lady with her young daughter, a lady visiting her fiancé in Zim, a Yugalslav who owns a bakery in Harare, and another lady traveling to Zim for 10 days for work.
After arriving in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, we found out that the next flight to Harare was in 8 hours time, and there was only space for 4 of us! We considered drawing straws, but then decided to choose who would go based on greatest need to get back! The lady with the child, the Yugaslav and the lady visiting her fiancé were chosen, mostly because they were the most upset about being stranded in Zambia! The rest of us settled into the sofas in the departure lounge at Lusaka airport for the long wait. Finally after 9 hours, some space became available on a flight to Johannesburg in South Africa, from where we were reassured we could get on a flight to Harare. Once again, Sean and I were on the waiting list, whilst the other 3 travelling with us managed to get straight on. Fortunately they had space for us and we all traveled to Jo’burg.
Then more problems! One guy didn’t have a visa for South Africa, so went straight thorough to the transit lounge, while the rest of us went thorough customs to collect all the luggage. There we found that our rugs were missing. We still don’t know where they are, but suspect that may have gone back to the UK!
While we were trying to sort this out the other two ladies went to find out if we were booked onto the flight to Zimbabwe. They discovered that the flight had already left, and there was no way we could have made it in time anyway, so it seems that once again we had been put onto any flight without the connections being organized. Well in the end we finally managed to get on another flight, making it by only 2 minutes, after we managed to find the guy waiting for us in the transit lounge, and then lost him again when he went to find coffee. He had the ticket that we were all traveling on!
Well we made it back, minus two rugs and 3 days late, but happy to be home!
