Tuesday night, 22nd & Wednesday 23rd February 2011 at various locations between South Africa, France and Al/ger/ia
Flight and Travel Stats:
· Destination: Oran, Al/ger/ia (via Paris, France and Al/gi/ers, Al/ger/ia
· Airline: Air France (pathetic airline)
· Flight: AF 995 & AF 1554
· Plane: Airbus A380 (awesome machine!) & A319
· Class: Business
· Seat: 72L & 4F
· Runway: 21 (ex JNB) & 08 ex PAR)
· Flying time: Johannesburg to Paris = 10h33min & Paris to Al/gi/ers = 2h50min
· Total travel duration: Depart Durban 15h00 GMT; Arrive Oran 13h00 GMT+1day (=23hrs in transit)
Flying Air France really doesn’t provide a huge amount of entertainment. Trying to decipher French with my limited vocab that I’ve developed is about as much fun as it gets. Flying in the A380 is quite exciting, but, as with most services run by the French, it’s quite a bland experience (Oops, was that very judgmental?). The only bit of intrigue I had on the flight from Joburg to Paris was overhearing the guy behind me phoning what sounded like his numerous girlfriends to bid them farewell before leaving for Russia via France. Casanova!
As I now wing my way from Paris to Al/gi/ers I’m looking out on a wishy-washy bed of pale pink clouds blanketing France as the sun rises, with numerous other airlines criss-crossing the blue sky leaving turbulent vapour trails behind them. I can only hope that our Pilots have learnt well from those “Seconds From Disaster” movies that play themselves over and over on TV about mid-air crashes due to incorrect altitude communications. Anyway, perish the thought, Derek!!
I’m also able to see a waning half-moon in the sky and am reminded that a year ago to the week I was making the same journey to the very same destination but under a full moon. I somehow seemed to time my 2010 trips on full moons during the first quarter last year; January full moon saw me in Morocco, February full moon was in Al/ger/ia, and March full moon was in Thailand & Canada. April full moon was in the Drakensberg. I highlight this for no other reason than that it seemed to be a profound thing at the time that stuck with me. Now a year later it seems like a similar pattern is emerging … but just not on the full moon.
And how the politics of North Africa’s Arab States has been disturbed of late. At the best of times Al/ger/ia has offered little attraction as a travel destination, neither for Business nor pleasure purposes. And at this time that appeal isn’t necessarily enhanced. Although I am confident – and am assured – that from a safety point of view things are cautiously stable. So needless to say that this little trip (8 days) is likely to be a bit of an adventure as much as it will be a challenge to land a critical project for Unilever in the Region. Needless to say it will be good to see some of my work colleagues here again, although due to tight travel restrictions to the Country / in this Region we are running with a skeleton staff, so my Moroccan friends will not be here. Although I will be joined by my Supply Chain colleague, Seha, from Singapore, and Processing colleague Suman from India. So that will be good.
Anyway, let me not launch with too long an intro to my trip; at this stage the info is “data” only, nothing too exciting. Best I spare my battery for the 6hr lay-over in Al/gi/ers in case I need to work. Hopefully it won’t be spent dodging picketing political revellers.
PS I am being a little cautious about what country & city names I use here since I will be publishing this on the Web and am not too eager to have my destination explicitly available when being searched. Call me over-cautious. So excuse the phonetic spelling of my destination J
22h45 (21h45 GMT), Wednesday 23rd February, Sheraton Hotel, O/ran, Al/ger/ia
Quick update…and probably the last for a short while.
All’s quiet on the ground. The arrival in the country was uneventful and, surprisingly, actually the smoothest I’ve ever had when visiting here – this being my 4th visit.
Security checks have been effortless; airport transfers smooth; airport check-ins quite friendly; it’s bizarre and COMPLETELY foreign to me for this country. But I’m loving being surprised. I'm also thinking that my feeble attempts at trying to become familiar with some French in recent months has helped more than I realised. The bummer is these people can switch to Arabic easily and then I'm poked!!
Maybe it’s like going to a movie. Sometimes you hear so much negativity about a movie only to end up going yourself (when starved of anything to do) and you discover that actually the movie is a winner.
Well, this Country still doesn’t rate as a prime holiday destination – not close – but I am pleasantly surprised.
And furthermore, the guys at the Factory seem prepared for a change. Ok, this is based on what I’ve been TOLD; I wasn’t able to get into the Factory this evening to SEE for myself. So tomorrow’s events could unfold very differently. But for now I’m just enjoying being surprised whilst also trying to subconsciously do some contingency planning.
It’s great to have Seha and Suman here for support and backup and as extra eyes, so my load is made easier. But still the confidence of success is pretty high. People are buoyant and optimistic. The hotel is pretty decent, the food was fine. The bed is firm. Hopefully sleep will be sweet.
And HOPEFULLY when I report back again it won’t be from a world that’s “crumbled” around us and where the wheels have fallen off the bus!!
I see on CNN that there is still significant tension in some of the neighbouring countries. And at the same time it’s terribly sad to see the devastation following Christchurch’s earthquake. Life seems cruel sometimes, whether through man or nature.
But God remains good. Wow!
Bye.
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