We got Jomo'd

Sorry for the enigmatic title. It was worth it for the three of you who are laughing your pants off right now.

Where to begin? Well, lets just say that it is DEFINITELY a good thing that I did not have blogging capabilities the first few weeks we were here. I'm quite afraid of what would have left these fingers only to be preserved FOREVER in the blogging world. So, we are now nearly unpacked and trying to find our niche in Lilongwe. Nearly every facet of our move went awry, which is pretty par for the course for us. Let me try and piece together the last 3 months. You might want to get comfortable...

We said our goodbyes to Moldova in early June and headed to the Lake to spend some time with my dad. Both Mike and I were surprised at how much we had come to enjoy living in Moldova. Saying goodbye to dear friends is never easy. Lake posts to follow...

Day 1: Monday, June 28, the saga begins. Our routing was as follows: Hibbing MN to MSP to AMS to Nairobi to Lilongwe. Total trip time just over 30 some hours. Don't forget about our 15 year old cat (his 4th international move) and Marge. Surely no trouble on the horizion, right? Leg one, flawless. Margo and Henry board as unaccompanied baggage in Hibbing with no plans to see us until we arrive in Lilongwe. Leg two (MSP to AMS) again, no problems.

Day 2: We arrive in Amsterdam at 6am and don't board our next flight for 13 more hours. No biggie, apparently the State Department will pay for the business class lounge (if you don't take the overnight rest stop, if your travel time is longer than xx hours, if etc, etc, etc). So off I go to the KLM lounge to "buy" some lounge passes for our family to kill the next 13 hours. (me) "I'd like to buy some passes" (KLM lady) "do you have business class boarding passes?" (me) "no, can't I just buy some passes?" (KLM lady, rolling her eyes with disdain at the stupid American lady) "you cannot buy passes (economy class trash), you can only get in with a business class ticket. Goodbye"

After 13 hours of airport floors, we drag our tired selves over to the Kenya Airways flight to Nairobi. The woman checking our passports flags us over to the counter, obviously to give us a complimentary upgrade. (Kenya airways lady) "are you traveling with a dog and a cat?" (me) "yes" (Kenya Airways lady) "Unfortunately Kenya Airways is unable to transport live animals as unaccompanied baggage." (me) "perhaps that should have been mentioned when I CONFIRMED THE PET RESERVATION 2 TIMES on such and such dates with such and such person from KENYA AIRWAYS!!!!" (Kenya Airways lady) "You will have to make other arrangements. We are offloading your bags. Goodbye"

After enough screaming, and a phone call back to said pet confirming Kenya Airways agent (who once again confirmed the pets as unaccompanied baggage), Kenya Airways finally agreed to put us up at a hotel, get us on the next flight (24 hours later), and get the pets to Lilongwe as a cargo shipment. So at midnight we board a bus (with an entire soccer team) to the hotel and manage to get some sleep.

Day 3: Spend as long as we can at the hotel before catching the shuttle back to the airport. Our flight does not board until 9pm. We arrive to the gate early to collect promised seat upgrades "due to the pet confusion." Promised upgrades turn out to be "unavailable". Finally board flight to Nairobi.

Day 4: 6am arrival to Jomo Kenyatta Airport. We never thought we'd see this place again. For those of you who don't know, Jomo Kenyatta Airport has got to be one of the most uncomfortable, most unwelcoming, dirtiest, most horrific airports to have a layover in. Fortunately we only have a 2 hour layover. Except our flight is delayed. 5 hours later we board our flight. (Pilot) "Ladies and gentlemen, yada yada yada..... flying time to Lusaka is 2 hours." LUSAKA?? Huh? Apparently the flight from Nairobi to Lilongwe is only a direct flight on certain days. Like yesterday...the day we were supposed to fly. But not today, today it stops in Lusaka first. Goody. So, 2 hours to Lusaka, another hour or so in Lusaka and maybe another hour to Lilongwe. Thursday, July 1, praise the LORD we have arrived!!

We are met at the airport by our sponsor who suggests that she drive me, the kids and the luggage to our temporary house (I'll get to that) while Mike and the shipping guy from the Embassy waits for the pets. Two hours later Mike and Henry arrive. (me) "where's Margo?" (mike) "they don't know" (me) "what do you mean they don't know?" (mike) "I mean, she's missing" How do you loose a dog? How do you loose a dog that is flying cargo? How do you literally not know what country said dog is in?

Day 5: Margo arrives late in the evening; hungry and really thirsty. No one can tell us where she was. Even Margo's not talking.

I've decided to send this portion out with the rest of the story to follow....