Week II - Day 7

1^st Farewell – 7/30

So this one time, in Uganda….

We woke up early, packed our bags, and called Uber to pick us up and take us to the airport in Entebbe. We said our farewells to the gracious hotel staff, and set out for the 45 minute journey. The ride was very smooth and went by faster than the initial drive we took on our entry.

Once we’d arrived at the airport, we had to walk all of our bags up a hill using push carts because the departure entry had changed from the ground level to the upper level of the airport. We made it to the entry door where passports are checked along with the flight ticket to ensure that one belongs inside the airport. After entering, we then had to put all of our bags on the security belt to have them x-rayed before getting to the airline check-in line. Did I mention that Michael had been blessed with 8 laptops and that we had been carrying them with us the entire time? Anyway, we had to take each laptop out and place it in its separate bin to be checked.

We were questioned about the laptops and the jump-rope and the a few other things but, we cleared the line. Now comes the exciting part…

We get to Air Ethiopia check-in counter and the young lady asked if we had visas to enter South Sudan. Annette Holmes, if you are reading this, now is the time to say, “I thought I asked you about that and you said that you didn’t need a visa.”

Well, I wouldn’t be writing this story if I didn’t have it to share. I told the young lady at the counter that we indeed did not have visas and that it was my understanding that we did not need one to enter South Sudan. She quickly pulled out a book on my smart ass and showed me in black & white that in fact we did need visas and that the only thing she could do was to send us upstairs to ask for permission to enter the country by way of a passport check.

Remember that check-in process just to get to the airline counter? Well, if we both left out, then we would both have to go through unpacking all those laptops again so instead, I chose to go upstairs alone. You know the title of this update was supposed to be “Michael’s Idiot Wife” but, I didn’t want y’all thinking that I was not very smart.

Upstairs, I found Ethiad Airlines but no one is in the office. I was beginning to get frustrated when a man said, “Call the number and see if someone is on site.” So, I called the number and the man waited with me. The first number did not work so, I called the second number. I was able to get in touch with someone but, she was down in cargo and gave me the number to someone else for help. Smart Saree that I am (MIW – Michael's Idiot Wife), I took the number down on my phone and when I called it, I heard a message saying that I’d dialed the wrong number.

So, I called the lady down in cargo again and got the number. This time, when I dialed the number, the person who answered said that I had the wrong number. So I called the lady down in cargo one more time, apologizing profusely for wasting her time, and finally got the right number. It turned out that I was calling Ethiad Airlines when I should have been calling Ethiopian Airlines! By this point, I’m close to tears and feeling really stupid. The man that was helping me, Innocent, continued to assist me by walking me over to Ethiopian Airlines and making sure that I was able to speak with a representative in person before leaving my side.

As I began to share the situation with the Ethiopian Airline representative, she immediately cut me off and said that there was nothing that she could do. I had to go back to Kampala and apply for a visa before Ethiopian Airlines would allow us on a plane.

The 30-minute ordeal left me feeling exhausted, defeated, and really really stupid. With head hung low, I went back down stairs and let Michael know that we would not be traveling to Juba, South Sudan. We then commenced to walk all the luggage back down the ramp to find a taxi to take us to a nearby hotel to wait until Tuesday to take us to Kampala for the visa. Ugh!!!

Thus began our VBI (vacation by idiot) or the first farewell.