Woe
Rouzeh advised me to stay in the Protea hotel on Cairo road, where wireless internet is free and plentiful. However, at, as it turned out, more than 190USD a night, a bit above budget. My contact in Lusaka, Zambia, wanted to book me into the Silverline lodge, still hefty at 112USD per night. I myself asked if I could be booked into the Chachacha backpackers, reasonable at only 20 euros per night for a double, with, internet available in the lobby.
I assumed I was going to end up at Chachacha. I ended up at Silverline. Skype is working, yeah, but I can’t access any website. While virtually drowning in work, my hours are being stolen from me.
Then, to make things more in line with other long hauls, my luggage didn’t arrive in one piece. One of the pockets of the luggage I checked in was open when I picked the bag from the luggage belt. At the bottom of the pocket I’d stashed a bunch of electronics, cables, adapters, small stuff. On top of that, dirty laundry.
All the dirty laundry was still there, all the electronics was gone.
While notifying the lost luggage counter, one attendant showed up with -most- of the stuff that had disappeared from the bag, found in the luggage compartment of the plain. Most, but not all, as if the goods had just fallen from my bag. Unlikely, as a small bag which had also gone missing had itself been opened and emptied.
My first impression of Lusaka is of a South African provincial town. But I don’t think Zambians would appreciate that too much. All South African fast food stores have their branches, the roads are decent and empty.
Prices, on the other hand, seem surprisingly steep.