Saturday, September 7, 2013

As my temporary residence permit ran out on me I was faced with two choices: Either fill in a pile of forms, write a nice story, photcopy everyone's passport, hand an application in to the Department of Home Affairs, wait and pay lots of money or pay lots of money to an airline and leave the country. This latter seemed the simpler option so I booked a flight with Swiss back home.
Swiss are troubled with credit card fraud in South Africa. Because of this they don't take bookings without physically seeing the credit card. Supposedly their web server tells you this somewhere. I never noticed but an overenthusiastic employee in the Johannesburg office discovered that our credit card had not been verified and tried to get in touch with us. I'm not sure what number she dialed but in the end she sent me an e-mail while I was on the connecting flight to Joburg. When I didn't respond immediately she went ahead and cancelled my booking! A friendly station manager managed to sort the mess out but this is not the kind of treatment I as a Silver Card holder expect from the airline of my home country!
When I got in I left for a weekend above Lake Brienz at the Axalp where I could even snowboard.
Ski resort at Axalp, obove Lake Brienz
Ski resort at Axalp, obove Lake Brienz
Axalp
Axalp
Richard with godson Luis viewing donkey's in Appenzell
Richard with godson Luis viewing donkey's in Appenzell
Farmhouses in snowy Appenzell
Farmhouses in snowy Appenzell