I was so tired that I managed to sleep for most of the
flight, before I knew it I had landed in Dar es Salam. The minute I walked off
the plane it finally hit me…the muggy warm, moist air… OMG! I’m in Africa! I
proceeded through the visa queue where you basically pay $100 to some man who
takes your passport and you patiently wait for your name to be called. Once
done its on to baggage claim. My biggest fear was of leaving the airport, the
thought of taxi drivers waiting to prey on a tired foreigner and overcharge
them made me anxious. It’s funny how some fears are made bigger than others. I
made sure to have the hotel send me a driver.
Little did I know there was
another that never even crossed my mind… my luggage not arriving. I watched the bags come out and get carried away
by their owners. I watched and waited until the last bag came out. I walked
over to the pile of bags and searched for mine, it was no where to be found. I
walked over to the counter and saw my name on a paper thinking that the driver
was nearby and had written my name to serve as a sign. The paper certainly
served as a sign but not a good one. The Swiss port rep let me know that my bag
did NOT make on the plane and is still in Zurich, it will be on the next flight
her arriving on 12/27 at 9pm. I watched her lips move and felt the fear wash
over me.
I didn’t have 2 days to wait for my bag; I have a mountain to climb!!!
I tried to explain to her that it’s not possible… the worst thing about being
in trouble in a foreign country is not being able to communicate (my phone was
roaming, there was no Wi-Fi, and my English wasn’t being fully understood). I
NEED MY BAG! I tried not yelling at the girl, it wasn’t her fault. My love of
Swiss Airlines quickly turned into hate. The lady at Zurich lied to me; did she
even check my bag?! I was annoyed and frustrated, tired and hopeless. I
completed the forms, and walked away fuming with anger and filled with
disappointment.
The driver was really nice and tried to offer support and
solutions. Upon checking in my disappointment turned into sadness and tears
flowed down my face… I couldn’t believe this was happening. I tried hard to
repeat in my head “everything happens for a reason” but it’s an uphill battle
sometimes and this was one those times. That’s
the thing about adventures they are not all positive, it’s the highs and lows
that make them an adventure. I checked into my room and immediately went online
to message my brother. Thankful for technology and apple, between face time and
speakerphone we managed to get a hold of Swiss Airlines in Zurich who were not
extremely helpful. Why is it that airlines make it so difficult to resolve
issues? I hate that about travelling, I pay a lot for an airline ticket and
when shit goes bad they are hands off. I was adamant with the rep that I needed
my bag by 12/27 and she kept saying its not possible. NOT POSSIBLE?! The only
thing not possible is her saying it’s not possible. It’s quite simple actually,
Swiss Air you forgot to transfer my bag, I need my bag, there a number of flights
leaving from Zurich on varying airlines, which arrive on 1/26, do what you have
to do and get my bag on one of those flights. MAKE IT POSSIBLE.
Between the technology set up, different accents, and my
anger I don’t know if my message got through completely but it did get her to
look at other airlines. And then the phone hung up, I don’t know if she hung up
on me or it disconnected on her end but she was no longer on the call and no
longer reachable at that number. Talk about customer service! The one person I
could get a hold of from Swiss was at a call center in South Africa and he
could not help with my issue. He told me to call back at 7am. After multiple
efforts of reaching out to Swiss via phone, email, and social media I threw in
the towel, took a shower and headed to bed.
5 hours later I was up and online (way to start a vacation)
and trying to connect with Swiss. It was an hour before I could talk to the
same lady I had talked to last night. No apology for the call getting
disconnected and no sympathy. We finally found a flight on Turkish Airlines
that would get my bag to Kilimanjaro by 2am on 12/27 giving me one day to
prepare for the climb. The flight was leaving in 5 hours, I asked her to get my
bag on that flight and her response was “I’ll try” try… after all this I get an
“I’ll try” that’s the worst answer. I hung up and resolved to cross my fingers
and hope for the best.
I fly to arusha in a couple hours hoping to get my back
and climb a mountain…
