Gastro Gnome - Eat Better Wherever

First ever guided hunt - South Africa

x2

I had a huge debacle last year and sent them a .zip file of jpgs of reciepts and a spreadsheet. Ubers, hotels, meals, covid tests, yada yada was reimbursed for every cent. Took like 3 weeks.

When I read this, I couldn’t help but think of the lyrics from Alice’s Restaurant:

“Obie came in with the twenty seven eight-by-ten color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back
of each one…”

At least you did not experience a “typical case of American blind justice.” 😀

@npaden, I look forward to the rest of the story and photos.
 
My parents and their friends just did a South Africa hunt in June after buying one at the Montana Wild Sheep Banquet- they too switched outfits and had a great time...Once they got there. They flew United through Newark, and had their flight cancelled, losing 5 days of their trip. Once they did get there, their bags didn't show for several more days. Glad to see United is still United, and represents one of the worst customer experiences in travel.

Good luck on your hunt! I hope you and your son both take a couple great Kudus, as well as any other bucket list animals, and lots of photos of the family experience!
 
My parents and their friends just did a South Africa hunt in June after buying one at the Montana Wild Sheep Banquet- they too switched outfits and had a great time...Once they got there. They flew United through Newark, and had their flight cancelled, losing 5 days of their trip. Once they did get there, their bags didn't show for several more days. Glad to see United is still United, and represents one of the worst customer experiences in travel.

Good luck on your hunt! I hope you and your son both take a couple great Kudus, as well as any other bucket list animals, and lots of photos of the family experience!
I swore off United in 1996 and have flown one trip with them since and that was due to United being the only non-stop available. Spoke with a Sr. V.P. as escalated the issue and basically United did not care though was agreeing there was shared fault in the situation and that United caused the first domino to tumble. I had United not just cancel my frequent flyer account but remove me as a customer in their tracking system. I used to fly 20 or more roundtrips a year with United. Never had an issue until I did and was done at that point. Southwest and Alaska Air are my go-to choices domestically. Heck, Southwest will put miles in my account without a peep from me when a flight leg is delayed past a certain point or send a free ticket. I don't need First Class or a meal flying across three or fewer time zones so Southwest works for me.
 
I just saw on the news that 57% of flights at Pearson in Toronto have been delayed since first of June. I'm getting nervous!
 
I swore off United in 1996 and have flown one trip with them since and that was due to United being the only non-stop available. Spoke with a Sr. V.P. as escalated the issue and basically United did not care though was agreeing there was shared fault in the situation and that United caused the first domino to tumble. I had United not just cancel my frequent flyer account but remove me as a customer in their tracking system. I used to fly 20 or more roundtrips a year with United. Never had an issue until I did and was done at that point. Southwest and Alaska Air are my go-to choices domestically. Heck, Southwest will put miles in my account without a peep from me when a flight leg is delayed past a certain point or send a free ticket. I don't need First Class or a meal flying across three or fewer time zones so Southwest works for me.
I avoid them unless their flights are the only ones available to get to a destination. I'm guessing since my parents and the OP both used United, they offer the only/best option for getting to and from Jo-burg. Hopefully the OPs trip is only on the up and up from the initial delays!
 
I avoid them unless their flights are the only ones available to get to a destination. I'm guessing since my parents and the OP both used United, they offer the only/best option for getting to and from Jo-burg. Hopefully the OPs trip is only on the up and up from the initial delays!
The other direct flight there from the US is on Delta flying out of Atlanta (I only know because I’m planning a trip there next June.)
 
We flew Delta on our trip end of April. Booked early got great seats then things went south. Flights and connections changed kind of thing, seats changed. Catherine was saving everything and included the phrase in her conversations “this conversation will be recorded”. We sent a packet to the AGs office when we were told our orriginal flight had indeed been cancelled but we could have the same flight as the original flight and seats for twice as much money. We ended up getting to Joburg on time, getting home still cost us five days and our trip to Krueger and we had to go through London to Seattle. Night mare. But not as bad as united.
 
I keep clicking this thread hoping there's a hunt update from SA, yet the airline beeatchfest continues. I mean, I love a good air travel horror story and have some good ones of my own, but, c'mon boys...

OP, I hope you've not been posting updates simply because you're having too much of a good time in Africa! (And not stuck in the belly of the air travel time suck machine.)
 
I keep clicking this thread hoping there's a hunt update from SA, yet the airline beeatchfest continues. I mean, I love a good air travel horror story and have some good ones of my own, but, c'mon boys...

OP, I hope you've not been posting updates simply because you're having too much of a good time in Africa! (And not stuck in the belly of the air travel time suck machine.)
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Hunt Talk blacks out any traffic from South Africa. Too many problems with spammers and scammers. We shouldn't expect to hear from OP until he's on his way back.

All these horror stories about airlines are scaring me shitless. I'm flying out for Africa at the end of August and returning Labor Day weekend. My gun keeping up with me is the big concern. From here to Joberg I will have no way of determining if it's made it onto connecting flights in Toronto and Stutgart. On my return the Twilight Zone is only Joberg to Toronto with shorter (but still several hours) layover in Zurich. I will hang out in Toronto airport till the gun arrives even if it means staying overnight. I'm retired and traveling alone so getting held over isn't a terrible big concern as long as I can keep tabs on my rifle. I'm already starting to lose sleep worrying about it.
 
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Hunt Talk blacks out any traffic from South Africa. Too many problems with spammers and scammers. We shouldn't expect to hear from OP until he's on his way back.

All these horror stories about airlines are scaring me shitless. I'm flying out for Africa at the end of August and returning Labor Day weekend. My gun keeping up with me is the big concern. From here to Joberg I will have no way of determining if it's made it onto connecting flights in Toronto and Stutgart. On my return the Twilight Zone is only Joberg to Toronto with shorter (but still several hours) layover in Zurich. I will hang out in Toronto airport till the gun arrives even if it means staying overnight. I'm retired and traveling alone so getting held over isn't a terrible big concern as long as I can keep tabs on my rifle. I'm already starting to lose sleep worrying about it.
You can put an Apple AirTag in your checked items including the gun case.
 
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Hunt Talk blacks out any traffic from South Africa. Too many problems with spammers and scammers. We shouldn't expect to hear from OP until he's on his way back.

All these horror stories about airlines are scaring me shitless. I'm flying out for Africa at the end of August and returning Labor Day weekend. My gun keeping up with me is the big concern. From here to Joberg I will have no way of determining if it's made it onto connecting flights in Toronto and Stutgart. On my return the Twilight Zone is only Joberg to Toronto with shorter (but still several hours) layover in Zurich. I will hang out in Toronto airport till the gun arrives even if it means staying overnight. I'm retired and traveling alone so getting held over isn't a terrible big concern as long as I can keep tabs on my rifle. I'm already starting to lose sleep worrying about it.
It’s true, I was in South Africa just last week and this site would not work Unless you use a VPN, which I do. I am presently in the southern Indian Ocean and a lot of sites require circumventing the system via VPN.
 
OP is safely in South Africa and hunting. I’ll let him post pictures and details when he can, but it looks like quite the adventure! He’s keeping notes and will update the thread upon his return.
 
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OP is safely in South Africa and hunting. I’ll let him post pictures and details when he can, but it looks like quite the adventure! He’s keeping notes and will update the thread upon his return.
This seems to be the workaround if do not have a VPN handy...OP will need to send email or use DropBox to get pictures to buddy who then posts the OP's pictures and the OP's recap so a Live hunt.

Otherwise, a multi-day dead zone develops in when OP can post content.
 
This seems to be the workaround if do not have a VPN handy...OP will need to send email or use DropBox to get pictures to buddy who then posts the OP's pictures and the OP's recap so a Live hunt.

Otherwise, a multi-day dead zone develops in when OP can post content.
I was thinking about this for my upcoming African trip. Unfortunately, it seems I don't have any friends on this site that I communicate with via email. Guess I could get my daughter join Hunt Talk and have her regurgitate my email messages to her. Maybe not. I think it's a better idea if she and I live separate lives on the net. Or maybe I could just be more friendly? 🤔

What is a VPN?
 
This seems to be the workaround if do not have a VPN handy...OP will need to send email or use DropBox to get pictures to buddy who then posts the OP's pictures and the OP's recap so a Live hunt.

Otherwise, a multi-day dead zone develops in when OP can post content.
We’re just going to have to live with the dead zone. He sent me a few texts and pics before going to sleep, but I think if I posted much more than I did that it would just detract from the fully detailed story.
 
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