Getting There

48 grueling hours after I left my home in Dayton Ohio, I arrived at the hotel in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe Africa. My sponsor insisted on arranging for tickets and that US-flagged carriers be used. There are no US-flagged carriers that fly into Zimbabwe. So, they lease seats on foreign carriers in order to make the claim of flying into places they physically do not go. The trip went from Dayton to Chicago on United, to Frankfurt Germany on Lufthansa, to Johannesburg South Africa on South African Airlines, and finally to Harare on South African Airlines. There was a lot of time spent sitting in airports. Luckily, one could find a quite corner to curl up in to grab some sleep. (I don’t sleep well on airplanes for some reason.)

On my own money and arrangements, it is possible to make the trip in less than half the time at less than half the cost. What I have done in the past is fly from Dayton to DC on United, then to Addis Ababa (capital of Ethiopia) on Ethiopian Airlines, then to Harare on Ethiopian Airlines. There is no difference at all in level of service and comfort, and there is very little time spent hanging around terminals. In both cases, one can arrive during the business day, which is better all around.