We regret to inform our readers that from this day forward we will be remaining in Zambia and will not be returning to the States.
Just kidding!
If you read our last blog post, you'll remember that we were unable to fly home to Zambia when we originally planned due to not having my passport when we arrived at the airport. Our second trip to the airport was much smoother. In fact, one of the ladies who works for the airline even came up to me and gave me a hug and said, "I thought you looked familiar!"
Well, we boarded plane in the evening and had a pretty decent flight to Dubai then an overnight stay in a hotel. So, after a second two hour trip to Houston, a fifteen and a half hour flight, and one 12 hour layover later, you can imagine that we were really looking forward to that seven hour flight that would bring us closer to home.
But then...
"Ma'am, you need to come with us down to security."
When my passport had been scanned during the pre-boarding time, a "Baggage ID" notification had popped up, meaning something had been found in a piece of my luggage that wasn't supposed to be there.
So, the three of us made our way down into the catacombs of the airport (you know, that place where dreams of traveling home go to die). Sure enough, all alone on a conveyor belt sat one of our giraffe-print suitcases. As we stood there wondering what on earth could be in that suitcase that would raise an alarm, the security guard pulled out two bullets from a duffel bag that was inside. I'm pretty sure Nicholas turned as white as a ghost.
We were questioned, the airport police were called, and after burying our travel plans, we made the trek back up into the airport and to the police station. It's an unnerving thing to sit in a police station in a foreign country, wishing you could understand Arabic, and wondering what's going to happen to you as phone calls are made to their supervisor's supervisor.
But, everything turned out fine in the end. Nicholas signed a statement that he would never bring bullets into the country again, and we left the police station no worse for wear. We did miss our flight, but were re-ticketed for free (instead of paying $1800 like they originally wanted), and we were able to stay another night at the hotel and board our flight the next day with no problems.
Needless to say, now that we're here in Solwezi we're ready to stay put for a while.
What. A. Trip.