Getting to Angola

It seems to take a near-act of God to get into Angola! I had to get notarized police/medical clearances, an additional passport, tons of paperwork, then a Visa that expires if you do not enter Angola within 72 hours of its issue. Not to mention, coordinating a ~40 hour transit, accommodations, and with visa people is a huge pain in the butt!!! 

At the request of my boss I coordinated with the 3rd party visa services company to arrive in Houston on May1st (Sunday), then give them my passport Monday morning, have them issue the visa on Tuesday, then fly out on Tuesday night. However, their plan would be destroyed by an oversight on their behalf. 

I arrived in Houston on Sunday, and had booked my hotel last minute and got something close to downtown. I asked Chelsea to look into getting a rental car for me since downtown Houston is so far from the airport. Come to find out there is a big oil conference in Houston and EVERY single rental car is in use in the Houston area and the only thing available was an Escalade at $150/day, I think Id have a hard time explaining that one... The hotel was ok and I walked to get dinner. Before going to bed I sent the visa service company an email asking if everything was still ok and that I would arrive at 8am. Early the next morning I got an email back from them saying they would be ready. I had a frustrating experience waiting for a cab that never came at 7:45am, or 8am, or 8:15am then I decided to cut my losses and walk.

When I got to the visa place the owner came out and took care of me personally. I asked him if he needed anything else to issue the visa by Tuesday and he said, "Oh, the Angolan consulate is closed today and we cant issue the visa until Thursday." I completely lost it, somehow I started at a high-blood pressure quivering, normal-toned voice and ended up at a fast paced, screaming, snake-bitting tone - It was not my finest hour. After settling down (a little bit), I told him it was common knowledge online that May 1st is Angola's Labour day and that the plan HE advised were bad and would cost us money. In short, all my plans were out the window and I was in Houston with no rental car for another 4 days! Before I left his office many idea's were flying through my head - I could take advantage of this and go back to Bakersfield, visit friends in Ohio, or take a much needed trip to Indiana to visit friends and family. It was almost 11am though, so whatever I decided I would have to move fast. So I told the visa guy my company would be in touch with him and we would issue the visa on Friday then went back to my hotel. 

After talking with Chelsea and my parents in the cab on the way to the airport we decided Indiana would be the best choice. The last key, I needed permission from my boss to leave Houston in case he would want me to do something for them, so while talking to my boss in one hand and using the 3g on my iPad with the other I got my plane tickets 5 minutes before I checked in at the airport. Chelsea and I went to Indiana and had a great time with Mom and Dad, Chuck and Lisa, Travis and Margerate, and Nathan. I'll make another blog about that...

I flew back to Houston Friday with no problems, checked into my hotel in the IAH airport, picked up my passport/visa that was already waiting there, and went down to the pool. Thats how smoothly I wished the first trip was... The next day I got upgraded to first class from Houston to Atlanta, then was able to enter the sky club on my international ticket where they put me in great seats for my 15.5 hour (!!!!!!!!!!!!) flight to Johannesburg! The flight was great and the entertainment just kept coming. Delta recently upgraded their movie/tv systems so there are hundreds of things to watch. Flying into Johannesburg while it was still light was neat, it looked like a flat Santa Fe with stucco and mud brick houses. I got into my hotel Southern Sun popped a couple Tylenol PM, feasted on the biggest lamb shanks Ive ever had, and went to sleep at 8pm. Its not 5 in the morning and Ive been up for 3 hours!!! I have one last flight to Luanda, then hopefully I get picked up at the airport. As you can see, getting here has been crazy!