I wish I could say our vacation went off without a hitch, but I guess that wouldn't make as good of a story. Luck was in our favor while planning this entire trip- we got the last regular hotel room left at our hotel in Victoria Falls AND at our safari lodge, and where there were originally no rooms left at the B&B we are staying at in Cape Town someone called and canceled for the week we will be going allowing us to stay there (it was the cheapest for what you get of anything I found!).
Well, our luck started to change a few weeks ago. I got an email from the Cape Town B&B just asking for arrival times, so I sent a cheery email back sharing our excitement and giving her times as well as our flight information in case things are running behind. I get this response... "I don’t want to alarm you but I suggest you check your flight with Zambezi Airlines. we have heard that there seems to be a problem with some of their flight schedules." Okay, I thought, I will just check online and see what is up. So I go to Zambezi's website and what do I see? A large headline reading "ZAMBEZI AIRLINES SUSPENDS OPERATIONS 01 NOV 2011. We regret that all flights have been suspended until further notice." Ummm... WHAT?! So apparently they had their license suspended for "safety concerns", but really?! Right before we leave? Well, I am so so so thankful that sweet Anne who owns the B&B sent me that email because had she not given me the heads up we would have ended up stranded in the airport with no way to Cape Town. Her email came at the PERFECT time- as in literally on November 1st, the day the airline suspension was announced. We were able to call our travel agent, Rana (who is SO wonderful) and get her help getting us on a new flight with a safer airline. The crazy thing is that we still have gotten no email or any communication from Zambezi to give us a heads up that our flight would not be happening. They also would not respond to Rana's calls or emails regarding a refund, so I had to dispute it with our CC company- wasn't much of a dispute since there was plenty of evidence out there for them, but still a pain....
Okay, so then this past weekend I am taking pictures for one of my dearest friends (Morgan), her husband & their sweet pup. We are at the park, people all around and we only leave sight of the car for a very short period. We return to a shattered window- my purse and camera bag gone! Really? My keys were in my purse (minus my car key which was on me)- so now someone was in possession of my ID with my address and my house keys... great! So after calling the police, and cancelling my credit card (thank God I only had 1 CC, my ID and insurance card in my wallet) I head home to make sure they weren't trying to make a rush trip to our house. I called several locksmiths and after the cheapest one would charge $300, I said screw it! I went to home depot to ask if they could change the locks if I brought them in and they replied with "most of the time, yes." We have Kwikset locks, so I knew this meant yes. So while Kyle is playing golf I undid all of the deadbolts and all of the door knobs (there were 11, total). I bagged them up and then Kyle returned to take them up to home depot while I took pictures of my nephew. When we went to pick up all of our newly changed locks and new keys they only charged us $5 for everything... I love Home Depot!!!
I am thankful that November 18th is finally here, and pray that the "hitches" are over. Our bags are packed, and Paisley is at Camp Lovey's (my sweet aunt & uncles- they are so kind to take her in and spoil her with love and a huge yard to play in!). Although I am a little bummed our trip happened to fall when the 1st Breaking Dawn movie is premiering (I heard it was amazing, and I can't wait to see Edward on the big screen again when I return), I am still so, so excited!!! Happy trails to us......
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