Important Items

Here are some VERY important things you should or shouldn't do when traveling.

#1. Never, never, never throw away your boarding passes because you may have to prove that you were actually on the airplane. Having the itinerary from the travel agent isn't enough. Having a copy of the paper ticket showing all destinations isn't enough. No NO NO NO...you must MUST MUST have the boarding pass. So we got cheated out of several thousand miles from our flight to Africa last year.

#2. Don't put anything of value into a suitcase because that suitcase might end up staying in the country you just left. Yes, we still have a suitcase in Africa--either in Namibia or South Africa. If the suitcase had been empty having the airline lose it wouldn't have been such a big problem. As it was Aaron had to buy a whole bunch of underwear, and other assorted clothes. And guess what South Africa Airlines wants to prove we were on the flight. A COPY OF THE TICKET!!! And guess where our ticket info is? In Rapid City, SD. I called United today and the man who was so nice to me didn't seem to understand that I wasn't trying to get them to give me the airmiles (we'd been rejected twice because I didn't keep the aforementioned boarding passes but just wanted to know if they might still have the ticket info I sent them.) Sooooo.....

#3. Make a copy of your ticket info, make copies of EVERYTHING and probably twice because you might have to mail something somewhere or fax it across the Atlantic Ocean, spending money because you hope to get your suitcase back with the clothes you've lost but already bought new ones to replace them.

Do I sound frustrated? I am.

And in just over 5 months we'll get back on a SAA jet and fly to Africa again. And believe you me...I will NOT throw any boarding passes away until I know we've been credited with the airmiles.