A King Sighting

I got my first glimpse of King Mswati III over the weekend at the annual Umhlanga ceremony.  He's the one in the middle with the red something-or-other on his shoulder.  Check out the fancy watch.

The Umhlanga (reed dance) ceremony is one where thousands of Swazi "maidens" celebrate the Queen Mother in a week-long event that culminates in two days of  traditional dancing.  The King has been known to pick a new wife at or near the event, but doesn't seem to have done so this time.

A Quick (probably boring) Travel Story

I think travel stories are mostly annoying, but I'll use this to vent, even if no one else finds it interesting:


Buying flights to anywhere from here is the most frustrating thing about living in Southern Africa. A somewhat short story.

For my last trip to Botswana, I booked my flight over the phone because the internet is so difficult to use and the South African Airways web site is designed for people with fast internet.  The woman tells me that for my return trip, I can either leave at 10:25 a.m. to Johannesburg and get a 3:15 flight to Swaziland, OR I can leave at 11:00 a.m. and get a 5:15 flight to swaziland.  I ask if I can get the 11:00 flight AND the 3:15 flight, and she says no.  I give up, and book the first option.

I paid a $20 US change fee for this since I was changing a flight from a few weeks ago that I didn't take.

I look on the internet, and find out there's also a 12:40 flight to Swaziland, that I would likely be able to make if things are on time.

I land in Johannesburg for the return trip, and things are on time.  I landed at at 11, and was still booked on the 3:15 flight back to Swaziland.  I figure there might be seats on the 12:40 and maybe I can get home early.  I go to the ticket counter in the international transfers terminal and ask if they can switch me.  


First I get sent from the South African Airways counter to the "Airlink" counter for some reason, even though
I booked my flight with SAA and they are the same company basically. My fault, I should have guessed that.

Then I get back in line, wait my turn again and ask to change my flight.  The woman looks at me a little confused, like this doesn't happen often, and tells me that it will cost me something, but she doesn't know how much.  Either another 20 bucks (US) change fee or 60 bucks for an "upgrade".  Then she says that she can't find out how much, because the ticket has to be processed, and they only have 10 minutes to complete it because the flight booking closes 1 hour before takeoff.  She goes to find out from someone in the back if they can do it, but that someone is not there.  Don't know when he or she will be back.  Meanwhile, the clock is ticking and it's getting harder for me to get on the flight.  She says I can leave her the $20 and by the
time I get to the gate it will be done and "you can get a receipt in Swaziland" or I'm out of luck.   I demurred, and went to the gate to try my luck there.

No luck there, "the flight is full" which it wasn't, and I had to wait in the airport for 3 more hours.



Pretty standard stuff.  I'm back to Botswana next week, so we'll see what fun that brings.