Swiss Cheese

Hello!
So, as many things in life go, my trip to Tanzania has not gone as planned so far. But before you start to cry out of pity for me, let me explain! Because right now I'm sitting in a lovely air conditioned hotel room for which I didn't have to pay a dime and to my right I have 2 meal vouchers for food! Don't fret.
This is what happened. Mama Nej took me to the airport... yesterday it was (my days are already all mixed up, it feels like the same day still). Then I got a really expensive and not that delicious italian sandwich and waited to board the flight. Everything went smoothly, we all got on the airplane and then out of no where (actually out of the northwest to be more precise) a storm hit! It was pouring and thundering and lightning and air control temporarily stopped the departures. So we waited for about 2 and a half hours on the immobile plane before finally taking off. So I knew right away I wasn't going to make my connecting flight. This knowledge was reinforced by the book I am reading "The Geography of Bliss" where the author explains how prompt everything is in Switzerland. At least the disappointment came early!
So we took off around 9:00 pm and everything went well... no crashes or anything. There was one screaming child but it was far away enough that it didn't bother me. I was able to sleep a little... maybe 2 hours? There was a really nice woman from NJ/Connecticut across the aisle and we chatted a bit. She was vacationing in Zurich with her sister for a long weekend. Luckily there was no one in the seat next to me so I was able to spread out a bit.
We landed in Zurich at about 10:20 am (4:20 am US time), 2 hours after our scheduled arrival. It took like 4 minutes to get off the plane and then another 10 to get to terminal E where my flight would have been. It was kinda sad to know that had my first flight been on time, I would have made it to my second flight no problem. But oh well! I went to the transfer desk who sent me to another transfer desk across the airport at which point I met a lovely young man who was able to help me. He told me I had two options:
1. I could take the 9:30 am flight tomorrow morning and either stay in the airport or pay for my own hotel. or
2. I could hop on a 5 pm flight to london, an 8 pm flight to Nairobi, and then some other flight from there to Dar es Salaam which would get me into Dar es Salaam at 9:20 in the morning.
After a few minutes of contemplation I decided to go with option 2 for two reasons: I wouldn't have to stay in the airport overnight or pay for a hotel, and I would be in Dar es Salaam before 3:30 which is when CCS requests us to arrive. Also, I could say I'd been to 5 countries in 36 hours, how cool right?! So the guy went to book the flight and he called someone else who told him that I couldn't do that, I suppose because one or more of the flights was booked. But they also said that they would pay for me to stay in a hotel and take the 9:30 am flight to Dar es Salaam. So they booked me at the Radisson which is surprisingly nice for being booked by the airline. And it's literally right next door, I didn't even have to go outside to get here because there is a tunnel under the street. AND free internet access. But stupid me, I only broughgt the right adapter for Tanzania so I only have as much time as my battery allows. Oh well. I will probably lounge around the room a bit, grab some free dinner at the airport, take a well deserved shower and hit the hay a little early tonight since I basically skipped Thursday night.

It's weird being all alone over hear. Not really scary or depressing, just weird. I don't think I've ever been this far from anyone I know. I'm completely surrounded by strangers! Some of which have been very kind to me along the way.
Looks like I won't be needing the airplane pillow and blanket I stuffed into my backpack in the case of sleeping in the airport. Woohoo!
I guess there were a decent amount of delayed flights because I saw a lot of people FREAKING out. This one lady, clearly American, was supposed to be in Athens and was screaming at the poor airport worker. I feel bad for the airport people that have to deal with frantic assholes all the time. I myself am guilty of some frantic behavior in the France airport last year. But this year I haven't been worked up all that much. After all, they won't let me fly the plane so there's not a whole lot I can do to control what time I get to Tanzania. I already called the program when I was still in Newark and they said they would be there at 8:10 tomorrow night to pick me up. Then there's the 2 hour drive to Bagamoyo.
Now I just need to figure out how to set an alarm or get a wake up call from the front desk. Missing tomorrow's flight would be a very very bad thing. Hopefully I can blog again soon upon my arrival to Tanzania!


This is what a delayed flight looks like.
This is what a free hotel room in Zurich looks like.

This is what my wildest dreams look like (it's a ginormous wine tower in the lobby).
This is what an ominous or perhaps hopeful sign looks like.