By Will Harper, Program Advisor

With a large number of volunteers scheduled to travel abroad this summer to the far reaches of the globe, the Consumerist blog has an important cautionary tale I would recommend to anyone who has not yet purchased their plane tickets for their summer adventures to read.

As the blog post details, several students from University of California San Diego were scheduled to go to Ghana with another volunteer organization and they bought their tickets to Ghana for a “bargain” through lastminutefares.net which turned out to be a front for a scammer.

With airfares reaching historic highs to places like Ghana, Nepal and India, everyone is in search of a bargain but the moral of the story is, like so much in life, if it seems to be to good to be true it probably is. My advice is to make sure you go through a trusted internet site/broker or travel agent, buy directly from the airline or book your flights with the Projects Abroad Travel Team (North American or UK). All of you headed to the developing world will have amazing experiences and memories from your time there but getting there and sorting out your plane tickets will be your first hurdle!

Dakar Airport

After reading the T2Impact blog, I was tipped off that Foreign Policy magazine had recently released their list of worst airports in the world and being a frequent traveler I wanted to see if I had been to any.

Here is the full list:

Dakar, Senegal
Delhi - Indira Gandhi
Mineralnye Vody Airport, Russia
Baghdad International, Iraq
Paris - Charles de Gaulle

One airport I am very familiar with is Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport in Dakar, Senegal. I flew in there from Lisbon on my first trip with Projects Abroad and I revisited it when I headed to South Africa as planes make a refueling stop there from New York.

It is definitely nothing like the shining new airports and terminals that are going up around the world but I don’t know if I would call it one of the worst airports in the world. The amenities are lackluster and although Foreign Policy magazine incorrectly states that there are no seats, the ones that are available are metal and quite hard from first hand experience. But in general it is adequate.

In my opinion, the real thing that detracts from a passenger’s time at the Dakar airport is the fact that almost all flights originating from Europe and North America arrive and depart between 11 PM and 3 AM. Consequently all passengers are confused, groggy and slightly discombobulated.

Has anyone else been to the Dakar airport? What is your least favorite airport?

The summer is an extremely busy time here as we have lots of volunteers heading to countries all over globe. Although there are more and more nonstop flights, most volunteers will find themselves changing planes at least once and this can be a daunting task to a first time traveler! Consequently, in a stroke of nepotism here at the Projects Abroad blog, I asked my younger sister, Emma, to send me some advice that I could relay to some of our volunteers who might be changing planes in a big hub airport for the first time. Take it away Emma!

By Emma Harper

As I board my flight on KLM to Amsterdam and onwards to Athens, I am giddy with the thought of my summer working in Greece. All of the nerves that accompany a new start in a new environment are surging through my system. Yet as the plane takes off, I am brought back to reality when the Captain announces that in a mere seven hours, we will land in Amsterdam.

Layovers and connections are by no means the most exciting aspect of traveling. They are often a necessity, especially when the destinations are exotic and the budget is limited. Yet even though airports often have a drab exterior and those mass-produced rows of seating, they can be an exciting place to explore; I almost consider it a bonus adventure. To get the most out of your airport connection (or stay…depending on the length of the layover) it’s good to remember a few simple guidelines:

- Know the Airport: To really explore the area, and make your connection on time, I’ve found it helpful to print out a map of the airport ahead of time or to look at the plans provided in the in-flight magazine. It’s easy to get a quick knowledge of a terminal from one of these maps. When the time comes to depart from the plane, I try to look at the number of the gate I’ve come from to orient myself. My next goal is to find the gate I’m leaving from; I do this by finding the closest monitor so that I can recheck my gate number, and then find my gate using the maps I have and the numerous airport signs and maps that plaster the walls. This is a relatively easy process and many of the airports remind me of kindergarten classrooms – they are extremely contained and have lots of signs with big letters. If all else fails, there are always information booths that are almost always well marked and in very central locations.

- Have Fun: Once I find my gate and recheck the time of departure, I explore! Airports have a lot to offer, whether it’s food or shopping or even an art museum, in the case of Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. My favorite activity is to find a coffee, the comfiest chairs, and then proceed to people watch. But the most important lesson I’ve learned in my travels is that if you look at something like an airport transfer, a seemingly mundane activity, with a positive attitude and an open mind, it becomes an easy and sometimes fun experience. Safe travels!

Reading Will’s blog piece about lost parcels brought to mind lost luggage. Did you know that 5.6 million bags went missing last year? British Airways came top of the tree losing 2.3% of bags. It was interesting to see that Virgin Atlantic, BMI, Ryanair and Easyjet decided not to release any figures!!

One story I remember is of a lady who was queuing up at check in behind a particularly obnoxious character on his way to Melbourne from London. He was being more and more unreasonable with the check in staff over nothing. Eventually he was checked in. The lady in the queue behind walked up and said how impressed she was with how the check in attendant had kept her cool with this idiot. She said the customer service training must be good. The check in attendant said that what kept her calm in these situations was the knowledge that she was sending his bags to Taipei “by accident”. Apparently Taipei is a hole where many bags disappear into. She assured the lady that hers would be taking the direct route to Melbourne. Take care when you are at the check in desk!!

Another occasion was returning to Southampton from Dublin from a careers fair. The display stands I had checked in didn’t arrive so I was filling in the paperwork so they would be delivered on the next day. Two guys from Dublin had come over to a motorbike festival for the weekend and their rucksacks hadn’t turned up. The girl behind the desk was very apologetic and said not to worry they would be on the next flight tomorrow. The guys were asked where they were staying so she could deliver the bags. They replied we are staying in the tent which is in their rucksack!!! With typical Irish good humour they found the whole event rather amusing and we headed off to have a few consoling beers before they looked for a bed and breakfast to stay in.

Any interesting experiences anyone else has had?