12:15AM I went to sleep.
7:30AM I woke to get a ride to Tomoca coffee. He had no idea where it was and dropped me off 200 meter away from the hotel. He told me to walk to the left for 2 kilometers. I asked another person and there was one right across from the street.
8AM I had a double macchiato and then came back from cafe au lait. To be honest, I was not that impressed. I was going to get a cake from another coffee next door but they didn't take credit card.
10AM I left for the airport. They had WiFi all over the airport this time, a welcoming change since 2 years ago. The rest looked the same, even the semi-portable bathrooms. I had a conversation with a French teacher working in Burundi. I asked about my DR Congo visa. She said that it expired on 3/8, which will keep me worried for several days. We departed at around 1PM.
1PM The flight was bumpy and the plane squeaked every time we hit turbulence. I asked for chicken since Ethiopian Airlines had the best chicken I had on a flight. They gave everyone pasta until the last few rows. I then went to business class to ask for chicken. The nice lady from the business class fixed me a plate from business class. It is basically what you get in the economy tray in a China plate.
2:22PM We landed.
3:00PM I got out with customs stamping the old, invalid passport. He didn't even seem to know the other one was canceled. I didn't get a good price as Valentine, the French lady who lived in Burundi suggested. She said I should be able to get to the bar on the lake, Bora Bora for 1 USD. The taxis here wanted at least 20,000 BIF, which is around 8 USD one way. By the way, the exchange rate is 2,560 BIF per USD, much more than the bank rate at 1,761.
3:30PM I finally got an elderly gentleman to give me a ride. He was going to do it himself but then let his friend give me a lift. I got to Bora Bora at 3:45PM. I spent 10 minutes there. There were some locals there in addition to some Indian visitors. I then walked back to the street and looked for a tuk-tuk. I found a guy on motorcycle who wanted 5,000 BIF. I offered 1 USD and he took it. We got to front of the airport and I had to walk the rest of the way since there was police there. Once I got in at 4:30PM, I tried to trade for my small cash souvenir. I offered 1 USD for the 2000 BIF one lady had but she just gave it to me.
5:30PM I boarded the plane for 6PM departure to Kigali, Rwanda.
7PM I arrived at Kigali, Rwanda and asked about adding my mileage in addition to the situation with visa requirement for Central Africa Republic. The March 2018 IATA manual isn't clear with visa even though it seems like it is needed. They weren't able to add miles and told me to do it in Johannesburg. I talked a lady who knew about DR Congo to read my visa and then invited her to the Pearl Lounge. It wasn't impressive at all. It just had some old iPads sitting around. I was thinking at this point to get the visa dates changed in Maputo. I might have to pay a handsome amount.
10:30PM I left for Johannesburg. I'm getting pretty tired. This is my 3rd flight for the day and then I have 6 hours before the next one to Maputo.
7:30AM I woke to get a ride to Tomoca coffee. He had no idea where it was and dropped me off 200 meter away from the hotel. He told me to walk to the left for 2 kilometers. I asked another person and there was one right across from the street.
8AM I had a double macchiato and then came back from cafe au lait. To be honest, I was not that impressed. I was going to get a cake from another coffee next door but they didn't take credit card.
10AM I left for the airport. They had WiFi all over the airport this time, a welcoming change since 2 years ago. The rest looked the same, even the semi-portable bathrooms. I had a conversation with a French teacher working in Burundi. I asked about my DR Congo visa. She said that it expired on 3/8, which will keep me worried for several days. We departed at around 1PM.
1PM The flight was bumpy and the plane squeaked every time we hit turbulence. I asked for chicken since Ethiopian Airlines had the best chicken I had on a flight. They gave everyone pasta until the last few rows. I then went to business class to ask for chicken. The nice lady from the business class fixed me a plate from business class. It is basically what you get in the economy tray in a China plate.
2:22PM We landed.
3:00PM I got out with customs stamping the old, invalid passport. He didn't even seem to know the other one was canceled. I didn't get a good price as Valentine, the French lady who lived in Burundi suggested. She said I should be able to get to the bar on the lake, Bora Bora for 1 USD. The taxis here wanted at least 20,000 BIF, which is around 8 USD one way. By the way, the exchange rate is 2,560 BIF per USD, much more than the bank rate at 1,761.
3:30PM I finally got an elderly gentleman to give me a ride. He was going to do it himself but then let his friend give me a lift. I got to Bora Bora at 3:45PM. I spent 10 minutes there. There were some locals there in addition to some Indian visitors. I then walked back to the street and looked for a tuk-tuk. I found a guy on motorcycle who wanted 5,000 BIF. I offered 1 USD and he took it. We got to front of the airport and I had to walk the rest of the way since there was police there. Once I got in at 4:30PM, I tried to trade for my small cash souvenir. I offered 1 USD for the 2000 BIF one lady had but she just gave it to me.
5:30PM I boarded the plane for 6PM departure to Kigali, Rwanda.
7PM I arrived at Kigali, Rwanda and asked about adding my mileage in addition to the situation with visa requirement for Central Africa Republic. The March 2018 IATA manual isn't clear with visa even though it seems like it is needed. They weren't able to add miles and told me to do it in Johannesburg. I talked a lady who knew about DR Congo to read my visa and then invited her to the Pearl Lounge. It wasn't impressive at all. It just had some old iPads sitting around. I was thinking at this point to get the visa dates changed in Maputo. I might have to pay a handsome amount.
10:30PM I left for Johannesburg. I'm getting pretty tired. This is my 3rd flight for the day and then I have 6 hours before the next one to Maputo.
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