travel drama

I’m Travelling Again: Part 2

I made it to the airport hotel, which was called the Monaco Hotel (I took this as a good sign as I love Monaco the country). The hotel didn’t live up to its namesake but it was clean and dinner was still being served so I was good.

My room at the Monaco Hotel

Here is something about me, for the past couple of months I have been actively looking on the bright side but after missing my flight and not knowing where my luggage was, I allowed myself 30min of woe is me time, then I went downstairs for dessert (there was none, so I just had fruit).

The next morning I woke up early freshened up and booked my taxi to airport even though my flight was at 13h00, I wasn’t taking any chances. Also since my last luggage incident I pack a 2nd outfit in my hand luggage (shoutout to Nomsa). I got to the airport at 10h00 even though the taxi driver was trying to convince me to stay in Sao Paulo longer cause he felt I hadn’t experienced the real Sao Paulo because it was raining 🤷🏾‍♀️

Anyway, I went straight to the the LATM counter but there was no gate info yet coz I was early so I had time for a sit down snack. Closer to the time I went back counter and I ran into a LATAM person on the way there and she gave me my boarding gate number. I still went to their counter and the consultants gave me 2 other gate numbers I thought I was going to explode with anger at the airport 😡. I checked out all three gates turns out the first lady was right. I camped out at the gate for the remainder of the time. All of the announcements were only in Portuguese according to the guy next to me it was because it was a domestic flight (he was my Google translate because I had no network).

A quick hour flight later I landed in Floripa airport where everyone was nice and either attempted to speak English or patiently conversed through Google translate (yep even my network was better here). I got to baggage claim and the only person there worked with another airline but he called someone to help me (A completely different experience to the Sao Paulo airport) . Within 20 minutes I had my luggage . Also the Floripa airport is pretty as far as airports go, its small but airy like I can actually breathe there.

I found my driver easily and I was on my way to my mini sabbatical.

I made it to Mombasa

2000px-Flag_of_Kenya.svg

This past week I took a well deserved break to Mombasa Kenya and here’s how it went. I  didn’t jump at the idea to go initially because you know adulting tends to be a nay-sayer of note; but Johannesburg’s cold winter convinced me to go where it was nice and warm. After I bought my plane ticket I thought that was all the preparation I needed to do because I mean you don’t need a visa to travel to other African countries right.  Kids take note ignorance is not bliss, I was so lax  with my research and I cut it pretty close with vaccinations and medications. Kenya is a yellow fever region therefore you need to get a vaccine and it is advised that this vaccination be done at least 10 days before you leave, but being the *daredevil that I am I got mine 6 days before my trip. *Sidebar I would like to let you know that Google is your friend. After being informed about the need for a vaccination on Saturday night I headed straight to Google to find travel clinics that were open on a Sunday. Lo and behold there was one 2 minutes away from where I live and it was open on Sundays so needless to say I went to bed with a smug “I got this” grin on my face. Woke up the next morning took a walk to the travel clinic and I was told they are out of the yellow fever vaccine and they’d probably get stock sometime during the week *Shock!Horror!Gasp!* I went back to Google and called the other listed clinics with no luck, so I stop calling because I was over hearing no, so I ended up driving to a clinic that Google said is open without even calling ahead. At this point I’m talking to God, the universe and my ancestors simultaneously on some “help a sister out”. I am happy to report that they heard me and I got vaccinated and got my malaria tablets, I was officially clear for take off.

Then things started looking up, the Gautrain station in Sandton let me park my car there for free and on the flight to Nairobi I had a whole row to myself I was literally on cloud nine. When we landed however there was a mess up with my booking and I missed my flight to Mombasa. The airline put me on the next flight( which was 2hours later) with no charge. I was lucky, hella cranky but lucky nonetheless. When I landed at the airport in Mombasa and the first thing I saw was a board with my name on it I knew God,the universe and my ancestors were all looking out for me. It was smooth sailing from then on.