We have resigned ourselves to the fact that we will never get our bags back. It’s a harsh reality when, for a change, I had a lot of favorite items in that oversized duffle bag. Yesterday late afternoon, we each made a list of everything we could recall in the bags to complete the forms for Ethiopian Air, our first of two such tasks.
We spent no less than two hours mulling over what we’d packed and determining “estimated values” for each item. Of course, we grouped the items, such as “pants,” dress (dressy) shirts,” swimwear,” etc., making the task a little less time-consuming than piece by piece.
We completed a separate list for each of us. Now, as I write here today, Tom is filling out the forms for both of us by hand, line by line, referencing all the documentation we’ve saved in an envelope.
Yesterday morning, I was on hold with the insurance company for the claim we’ve yet to file through our Venture X credit card, where we originally booked the flights using accumulated rewards points from prior use of the card. As it turns out, the insurance for lost bags provided by credit cards is often handled by a separate insurance company, contracted with the credit card companies.
The insurance company in this case is also impossible to reach, whereby the credit card company itself is easy to reach. There is nothing the credit card company can do to expedite this process. Once we inform them of the loss and receive a reference number, it’s out of their hands.
Surely, during the holiday season with millions of travelers, there are more missing bags now than ever. Plus, many companies laid off staff during the pandemic and most likely haven’t rehired sufficient staff to handle this season’s workload. We’re anticipating this could take months to resolve.
I was sent a link days ago when I reached someone, but now it’s not working, and I tried re-using the previously sent link to start the process over again. Frustrating, to say the least. Over the past few weeks, we’ve had some WiFi issues since the holidaymakers started arriving for the holidays.
Today, we completed the forms required by Ethiopian Air to file a claim but their form has no email address to send the completed form.
Last night for the first time in about ten days we could stream an episode of Yellowstone on my laptop. Every other night, the signal would be lost every 15 seconds, preventing us from watching anything, making the evenings long and tedious since neither of us reads books anymore, and often we’re in the dark due to load shedding.
Of course, I’ve been in frequent contact with the WiFi provider and thanked them this morning for whatever they’ve done to fix the issue. Although we have many plans over the holidays, except for Christmas Day when we’ll be on our own, it is still relaxing to watch a movie or TV series when we wander off to bed. Last night, after watching the one episode of Yellowstone, we started watching the Netflix series on Harry and Meghan and will continue until we’ve seen all the episodes. Interesting.
This morning, I contacted the same law firm we’ve used on two occasions in the past in Cape Town, requesting they start the process for us to file an extension for our upcoming March 9, 2023 visa expiration. We won’t want to fly anywhere right now after all the money we’ve recently lost with the Seychelle fiasco. I’ve already sent them the requested preliminary documents, but many more will follow in the coming weeks. Plus, doing so, will require two trips to the immigration office in Nelspruit over the next few months to get this process completed.
Also, I am making some Christmas/birthday cookies for Tom this morning. There were only a few options with the ingredients we had on hand. However, when he requested his favorite chocolate cookies, I was thrilled to find I had enough supplies to make a double batch. Right now, the dough is chilling in the refrigerator. I have to hurry and get these done when load shedding is starting up again in less than two hours, and the oven is electric.
Tomorrow is Tom’s 70th birthday. As mentioned, we’ll be celebrating with Louise and Danie tomorrow night at Jabula. His birthday’s close proximity to Christmas Eve (one day) makes celebrating with multiple friends difficult although, in 2018, Rita and Gerhard gave him a surprise birthday party (see the post here) for ten of us. It was a fantastic evening we’ll always remember and appreciate.
That’s it for today, folks! Have a lovely day and be well.
Photo from one year ago today, December 22, 2021:
