around the world in eighty hours

OK, not eighty, I am exaggerating...it will only take 63 hours to get there.  The story of arranging such travel, however, has played out over several months.

How does one get to Lubango, Angola?  Much to my chagrin, Southwest is not flying direct from Columbus.  Bags would've flown free!  This left me with an origin, a destination, and some loose advice from the hospital's visit coordinator, Norman Henderson.  The advice was as follows:

• When you start looking into flights we strongly recommend that you avoid Angola's capital, Luanda.  It's a zoo and transiting through there will cause you stress, cost, and maybe even danger.
• The best are non-stop flights from Windhoek, Namibia to Lubango on Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings (their schedule could change).

So there it was.  Avoid the capital and catch a thrice-weekly flight from an African country that I had not heard of.  OK, go!

It was essentially time to search the internet and figure it out.  Obviously, I found myself on Google.  I learned that in order to connect through Namibia I had two choices: a direct flight from Germany or an overnight through Johannesburg.  I chose Joburg.  Care to know why?  TURKISH AIRLINES.

Turkish Airlines?  I thought you were going to Africa?  I am, through Istanbul, Turkey.  Way back when (i.e. September 2012), before I had even formally applied for this rotation through Ohio State (!), I booked a flight.  While we are on the topic of Turkish Airlines, check out this unfortunately placed advertisement of theirs!

The task remaining was to arrange the fight from Joburg so as to connect with that three times a week airplane to my final destination...

Have you heard of Kayak?  If not, then you are welcome.  Kayak's international cousin, with whom I became well acquainted, is Vayama.  It was as simple as entering the cities and dates and clicking, "Search."  I found a perfectly timed flight for a good price and booked it the same day as my Turkish ticket.  All was well!  Right?  Wrong.

One of my flights was cancelled.  Did I purchase the travel insurance?  No.  Did I book through a guaranteed broker?  No.  I was pretty sure that my levels of money and stress were headed in opposite directions.  I was put in touch with the Change Department over at Vayama and, much to my surprise, these folks were AMAZING.  Prompt e-mail replies, personal phone calls, and all the information I asked for came without much fuss.  It all was coming to a head as I left for a weekend trip to Baltimore with my buddy Joe.  I had a sense that timing would be of the essence this weekend and so prepared the following cheat sheet.

A good thing too.  As we were driving through the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania, jamming to some vintage Guster, the tunes were interrupted by the sounds of an iPhone.  Sure enough, it was my friends in the Change Department.  Prepared for the worst, I received the following:

• "We have contacted the airline (Air Namibia) for alternate flights but they are unable to provide any other alternate to re-protect your itinerary.  Hence it is only possible to cancel this entire reservation and provide a full refund for this ticket due to involuntary airline schedule change."

Thanks Vayama!  With no protection on my original booking, I gladly accepted the refund and re-booked.  Only three weeks before my trip, I received another schedule change, though this one was, "minor."  All in all, the only remaining question mark is a 55 minute layover on the way there.  Here's hoping!

So, there it is: four countries, five planes, sixty-three hours.  They say the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.  What if that line happens to be 7,232 miles long?  I'll be sure to let you know when I get there!