Well, first full day in Lusaka! After all the tooing and froing of departure dates, contracts, farewells....we finally left England on Sunday 31st August and arrived at our very pleasant hotel late Monday afternoon.
We always like to be early for everything, it's just the way we are, so we thought we had plenty of time to get to the airport when the taxi came to pick us up at 4.30pm. What was it Burns said about 'the best laid schemes o' mice and men......'? Wonder if he was thinking about buses breaking down in the middle of the fast lane on the M3 and gigantic tail backs? Suffice it to say I was making plans quietly to myself in the back of the taxi about how to organise our overnight stay at Gatwick which would surely be required but eventually we cleared the offending bus and our driver didn't spare the horses so we did make it in time. A medicinal glass of champagne in the Emirates lounge was much appreciated.
Our first flight was on an airbus A380 which has an upstairs!! It was quite a surreal experience leaning on a bar sipping a kir royale and chatting to other passengers at 40,000 feet! Yes really, a cocktail sort of bar with nibbles and little napkins and everything....so cool.
We didn't have much time to wander around in Dubai airport and we were rather tired by then so I missed out on the shopping experience. As our next plane approached Lusaka airport I was feeling a little apprehensive about the arrival/immigration process as I recalled memories of other arrivals at other (mostly African but not exclusively) airports. My inbred desire for the world to form orderly queues and immigration officials to work at the speed of light has often been a cause of ......well, apprehension. It was something of a surprise therefore, when we entered the immigration hall to find no queues, no form filling, no scowling officials, just a friendly 'welcome to Zambia', another stamp in the passport and that was it, we were in!
We always like to be early for everything, it's just the way we are, so we thought we had plenty of time to get to the airport when the taxi came to pick us up at 4.30pm. What was it Burns said about 'the best laid schemes o' mice and men......'? Wonder if he was thinking about buses breaking down in the middle of the fast lane on the M3 and gigantic tail backs? Suffice it to say I was making plans quietly to myself in the back of the taxi about how to organise our overnight stay at Gatwick which would surely be required but eventually we cleared the offending bus and our driver didn't spare the horses so we did make it in time. A medicinal glass of champagne in the Emirates lounge was much appreciated.
Our first flight was on an airbus A380 which has an upstairs!! It was quite a surreal experience leaning on a bar sipping a kir royale and chatting to other passengers at 40,000 feet! Yes really, a cocktail sort of bar with nibbles and little napkins and everything....so cool.
We didn't have much time to wander around in Dubai airport and we were rather tired by then so I missed out on the shopping experience. As our next plane approached Lusaka airport I was feeling a little apprehensive about the arrival/immigration process as I recalled memories of other arrivals at other (mostly African but not exclusively) airports. My inbred desire for the world to form orderly queues and immigration officials to work at the speed of light has often been a cause of ......well, apprehension. It was something of a surprise therefore, when we entered the immigration hall to find no queues, no form filling, no scowling officials, just a friendly 'welcome to Zambia', another stamp in the passport and that was it, we were in!
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