I’m writing this on Christmas morning from the KIA Lodge
just outside Kilimanjaro airport (and Mt. Kilimanjaro herself). This isn’t getting posted until later
because, well, despite the exorbitant amount of money I’m paying for this hotel
(it’s the only one near the airport – others are an hour and a $50 taxi ride
each way) their internet access is not working.
Which really sucks.
I’m here because I’m supposed to fly to Kigali today on
RwandAir – an overnight at KIA was required since there is no direct way to get
from Dar Es Salaam to Kigali, despite the fact that they are capital cities of
neighboring countries. So I flew from
Zanzi to Dar to Kili and am trying to catch the one flight to Kigali today…
except I don’t have a ticket yet. And
the airport ticket desk won’t open until 2 hours before the flight. So I’m going to show up at 3:30 and hope that
there is a ticket available (likely) and that it is the same price that I tried
to reserve it for two weeks ago (unlikely).
The problem is that RwandAir takes “bookings” online but you can’t pay
online so they ask you to wire money.
But when they sent the email about wiring money they never included bank
information so I could do so, and when I replied asking for the bank info they
never wrote back. Not to any of my three
emails in the last two weeks. And they
don’t answer their phone. So… who knows
if I will get there or not.
Complicating matters, I don’t have a place to stay in Kigali
when I arrive, and I’m getting there after dark. Very few places had websites or email
addresses to book online and when I decided to try for a more upscale one that
did… well I have no internet access to try.
So to recap: Christmas, no airplane ticket, no hotel, no
internet. And the lodge just tried to
charge me an extra $25 “Christmas fee” when I checked out even though it was
not included in my bill when I reserved here.
When I showed them that bill they said it was a mistake. Twice now I’ve been charged for more than
originally billed when I’ve gone to pay because they made a mistake. Why must I pay for their mistakes? Shouldn’t they absorb the cost of their
mistakes? It makes me very wary of all
prices here. Why should I enter into a
contract with you if you reserve the right to charge me more later on?
Oh, and my credit card was declined even though I told
Citibank I’d be traveling in these countries during these dates. Good thing I brought a backup…
Merry Christmas!
