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| 'no problem' |
Remember when I said in my last post that I was going to wait to book a single room so that it went on my next visa bill because I am travel-budgeting this trip on the fly. Who could have guessed that might go wrong. Everyone but me probably.
I know, I know, this is 100% my own fault. No more single rooms allotted for my trip...
They let me pay for the single supplement and I MIGHT get my own room. If I don't, I'll get a refund. They will let me know next week.
Even if I don't get my own room, I'm sure it will be fine. I will make best friends with whomever I am sharing with and that will be that.
Ok, back to homework. Bah!
August 24
Update on the single room. I got an email today saying "Good news". They were able to get me into a single room. Sorry, potential best friend. Let's be honest, there was just as good of a chance that we would have been mortal enemies by the end. I guess I will have to keep being nice to my Canadian best friends. But I am going to suggest they better consider finding an apartment in a cool foreign location with a guest room if they want to compete.
I got an email from Lakana Hotel, my non-refundable hotel in Nosy Bohara. They weren't cancelling on me, miraculously. They were letting me know they can't process my credit card from Madagascar so I will have to pay when I get there. So, 'non-refundable' gets a bit more flexible... I went back and read some more reviews. I am still in.
But some of the reviews were saying try to get the bungalow at the end of the pier for unobstructed views! Good thinking! I emailed them. They said that it is 'free' (which confused me but I finally figured out they meant available) but it would be an extra $12 night. Sure, why not. I'm burning money anyway. I emailed back! Let's do it!
Did I mention it will be the end of whale season so if they happen to be swimming by, I want an unobstructed view!
Here are some pictures from Lakana Hotel's website:
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| https://www.sainte-marie-hotel.com/en/sainte-marie-activities/sainte-marie-humpback-whales |
Additional good news. I am getting a backpay cheque before I leave so that should lessen a bit of the travel budget issues. I might get back up to $0!
August 26
I woke up this morning to the news talking about Madagascar. That's unusual. I perked up. Is this going to affect my trip? I immediately assumed some sort of political unrest. But no, it was a stampede at a football stadium that resulted in at least 12 fatalities and many more injuries. Tragic yes. But it won't derail my trip. I didn't even know they had such a skookum stadium in Antananarivo.
Later while looking at BBC for information which took me to SKY news which lead me to The Independent which lead me to their article, Madagascar Travel Guide: Everything you need to know before you go. Which lead me to this sentence: Since distances are considerable and many of Madagascar’s rural highways are in a lamentable condition, the best way to cover several regions is to hop around with Air Madagascar. Unfortunately, they’re notoriously unreliable, changing flight times and dates with minimal notice; prepare accordingly.
Excellent. I'm not sure how to prepare more accordingly other than to spend my days in Nosy Bohara looking for a job and an apartment.
August 29
I have too much time on my hands and too much headspace to give to this trip. I may have changed hotels again. I am losing track. I decided to stay in the hotel the tour starts at, the Belvedere, and I booked it as part of the tour. It was only $6 more than Sole. I figured if I found any of my tour mates at the airport, we could share a cab (or I can scam my way onto one of their 'airport transfers' which is considerably more than the estimated cost of a taxi - I wonder if this 'bracket' is long enough to be it's own sentence, outside of a bracket... nah)
It is clearly time to start packing so I have something else to concentrate on.
Packing seems like it will be a new post so I will sign off on this one.
A lemur for closure
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| A Red Ruffed Lemur |
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