April 3, 2025
Yesterday I arrived in Livingston, Zambia at the end of 35 hour transit from Montreal plus the 4 hour drive from home. Sleeping in economy class is more of a dream than dream inducing. However, the nasty surprise that awaited me in Livingston was that my bike did not make the trip with me. This was bad and possibly an early end to an adventure that began 3 months and many dollars ago.
While all I wanted to do was relax, my focus had to be locating the missing bike and getting it to me before the group leaves in three days. Air Canada was polite but could do nothing more than tell me they handed it off to Lufthansa. Lufthansa, was not only hard to get in touch with but when I finally made contact they threw up their hands and passed the ball to AirLink, my final flight. AirLink was at least responsive to an email and by the evening had found my bike in their system and promised delivery to the Livingston airport the next day.
No one of above sufficiently describes the difficulty of doing all of this with a wonky Wi-Fi connection and only a data plan and WhatsApp for telephone access. I wound up having to buy a voice plan that allows voice calls to land lines to complete my mission. Along the way I had some great help for the TdA Group Tour leader Colleen. She really rocks as a leader.
So, around noon today I left for the airport and after some bureaucratic red tape, was able to get my bike. Again a big shout out to Andy, my taxi driver, who knows everybody at the airport and had just the right tools to cut the red tape.
Three hours playing build-a-bike later my aluminum steed is fully restored to assembled and rideable condition and ready for the long journey ahead. Me, I am ready for a beer while looking over the Zambezi River at the mists from Victoria Falls in the distance. Tomorrow I plan to see them a lot closer.
