getting to kigali

in preparation for big/long trips lindsay and dianna and i have created a tradition of the last supper. it is really just an excuse to go out to eat. so here is my "last supper" at montmarte. it was supper duper yummy. lindsay picked the best meal scallops. i had rockfish with saffron sauce, it was also yummy. dianna got a steak.

please note the beauty of the food and wallet and hands.
turns out dianna is a hand model
lindsay is a wallet model
because she found this one at nordstrom rack
and it is perfect in every way
i am kinda paraphrasing.
and seriously, could that fish be more delectable?

i had chosen to take this crazy flight from dc to atlanta then to johannesburg (that had a surprise stop in dakar senegal) and the from jo'burg to kigali. it made since because i was supposed to be able to upgrade because i have platinum status on delta and all these free upgrades. i had called the airline long before i even booked the ticket to be sure that this upgrade was possible. i was promised over and over so i booked this crazy flight. well of course, it wasn't garunteed like they made it sound. and in the end there were 6 empty seats in business and i was sitting in coach. some of my favorite excuses were: 1) it isn't fair to just upgrade you when people have paid $10k for those tickets (mind you i had the highest class ticket you can have without being in business and i had flown 100k miles last year to get this status and one of the promises that they made to me was that i would get these upgrades if i was loyal to delta, 2) for security reasons you have to clear 24 hours in advance. what do they do in those 24hours? check with the fbi? cia? and without the 24 hours they just can't tell if you are a terrorist? because you know, all the terrorists are too cheap to buy their first class tickets.

this how you can tell you are flying south

you can see here most of my route. i landed for a stop near conakry (near dakar).
then on to jo'burg
later i will fly to kigali

the airport in senegal
i am still figuring out my camera

here are the security inspectors who come on at darkar.
they search every seat
you have to claim all of your stuff
they pull the seat backs and cushions off and search for ... i am not sure what
bombs i guess

when you leave dakar they spray the entire cabin with insecticide
you really feel like you are part of a cattle car
you can seethe mist coming off the can

this is the moon over dakar

take that tom friedman
from here i can tell
the world is NOT flat

this is where diamonds come from
some of them

so i flew for 18hours in the bongo class, only to get to jo'burg 20 minutes after my plane for kigali had already departed. fortunately these two helped me get a free hotel with dinner and breakfast, tickets onward to kigali via entebbe.

so now i am in southern sun airport hotel. happy about having a bed. being able to be horizontal. having a bath and something warm. and really happy i can blog. it is winter here which is funny because all the music and adds are wintery. the food is wintery. i have to say i like everything about summer better. the food, the music, the scenery, everything.

sorry this is a boring post. but seriously, i just spent about 28 hours traveling. it isn't that exciting.