Oct 5. 2014. One-way ticket

I did not realize how hard saving money was. I just found the air flight that goes directly from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to Lusaka, Zambia, takes only 1 hour and a half. It was also way cheaper than my original air flight. My effort to save the money lasted 3 full days, from Friday to Sunday, but it turned out that I lost my time, additional transaction fee, and energy. The payment method of that airplane company did have problems, so they did not confirm my ticket, and their Sunday flight was already booked. The next flight would be on Monday, but I did want to go Zambia at least on Sunday because my new fellowship would begin on Monday. It was not okay for me to get there one day late only because the airplane ticket is cheap. After long fuss and fret, I finally got another ticket, South African Airways, departing today. It was the exact same flight as my original ticket except the date. I felt my destiny to lay over at Johannesburg, South Africa, was already set. Anyway, I go to Zambia today!

I arrived early at the Dar es Salaam international airport, and tried to find where the South African Airways office was. I could not print my airplane itinerary, so I was a little worry; I just needed a piece of thick actual ticket paper in my hands as early as possible. I asked several airport employees to find the South African Airway booth.

“Inside!”

Inside where? I wished they could explain more where exactly it was. After standing at the random place with big 2 luggage quite a while, and I literally entered inside. Before getting inside, a man who looked from immigration office or police checked my Tanzania visa and asked me the purpose of visit in Tanzania.

“For travel!”

I answered shortly because my Tanzania visa says I am a visitor in Tanzania. I finally found the booth I was eagerly looking for, send my 45kg luggage to Lusaka, and got the one-way ticket: Dar es Salaam to Lusaka. One-way ticket… I always like to make plan ahead, and every activity should be lined-up, but I do not still even know where to go after this December. I want to open and be flexible to find more job opportunity in Africa. That was why I only had the one-way ticket.

This one-way ticket, unfortunately, made some problem when I finally checked my passport and scanned right fingers at the immigration office. The officer glared at me and asked, “Why do you go to Zambia?” The simplest way to answer was travel, so I said, “For travel.”

“Do you have round-trip ticket?”

“No, I only have one-way ticket.”

“Then, I can’t allow you to go because we don’t allow anyone to visit African country here and there without ticket for going back to their country.”

Oh my… every time I passed immigration office, I had a serious problem. In Sierra Leone, the officer urged me to go back to Freetown to get monthly renew stamp, and this time, the officer in Tanzania wanted me to show him a round-trip ticket. He might worry the situation I never return to my country and hide somewhere in Zambia.

“I don’t have that ticket, but I do go back to my country. Everyone is waiting for me in Zambia!” said desperate Charles.

“I don’t care everyone is waiting for you there, and you are not allowed to go.”

Argument time with the immigration officer had just begun again. The situation was “Let me go, let me go!” and “You can’t go, You can’t go!” Some passengers behind me had already changed to other line, and others were still waiting for their order.

“Okay, so should I purchase round trip ticket now?”

I did not mind buying one at that moment. Oh, actually, I did not have any money to buy any other ticket. The officer looked so unhappy about this situation, but he finally let me go. He sealed my one-way ticket with a stamp.

“Thank you so much!”

He did not talk back to me, but I was not offended at all because anyway, I passed the immigration checkpoint!

“Ticket one way! Ticket one way! One way one way one way ticket…! Ticket one way! Ticket one way! 한참을 너에게 가버린 맘…” The 9Muses song, <Ticket>, lingered in my mind. I really like that song. Maybe, I have already got crush on African life, so I cannot even decide when to leave. To be honest, I am a bit fear of my future, and it is too funny that I cannot decide where to return: to South Korea? to the U.S.? Nothing has been decided, but as always, I do focus on my current one-way ticket.

“Zambia, I am coming! Please wait till this evening!”

I got on the airplane. Cool! It is now taking off. My new life in Africa is ready to expand in Zambia.