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A First Visit to the UK (Part 1)


I embarked at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport on a South African Airways Boeing on 7th September this year bound for Edinburgh via Johannesburg. The main reason for undertaking this trip was to attend the Ninth Pan Commonwealth Forum on Oat TEVETA. n the TVET sector. The journey from Lusaka took 1 hour 45 minutes. My stopover in Johannesburg was 8 hours while that of Dines was 4 hours. What to do with all that time? 

Layover in Johannesburg
Well, for starters we needed to take care of our hunger. The wide selection of meals at the Mugg and Bean restaurant within O R Tambo International Airport ensured that we had meals that were not only filling but also tasted good. After this was done and after chatting a bit, I did a bit of shopping and bought a book on 'Leading Like Madiba' by Martin Kalungu Banda, a renowned Zambian author and academician. Dines proceeded to her boarding gate for her flight using Lufthansa Airlines while I proceeded to the FNB SLOW Lounge to relax and have a meal. The lounge enabled me to relax and have a bit of sleep and assorted bites and drinks. Before I checked out of the lounge to head to the boarding gates, I had a shower which made me feel refreshed and ready to embark on a 10 hour long haul to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. 

Layover in Amsterdam
The flight on a KLM plane (KLM Airlines is the world’s oldest airline!) was good and comfortable. The meals and drinks were fine and so was the choice of entertainment. I started off a bit of reading followed with watching a movie and then listened to some soothing classical music selections (celebrating 100 years of KLM’s existence). The music was so relaxing that it sent me to dreamland joining my neighbour who had gone to sleep immediately we took off. We touched down the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol at 10 00 hours on 8th September. I had a long stopover of 11 hours at the airport. As I was relaxing I heard an announcement that passengers who wanted to join in the Sunday morning service were free to do so in the prayer room upstairs. I used the computer assisted help monitors that gave me proper directions to the prayer room. 

I took my seat and heard some strange music. It did not sound Christian. More of some motivational music. Mmm. What was happening here? The preacher for the day stood to speak. Well it was a woman. Now I started wondering what I had got myself into. I decided to give her a benefit of a doubt, maybe she could like the Lord used a donkey to speak the truth in Old Testament times. Well, her sermon, if it could be called that, was more of a motivational talk. I realised I had stumbled into a Liberal environment where sound exposition of God’s word was not a standard. I immediately left after she finished not wanting any further surprises. 

I thought to myself that I should have found myself a quiet spot and just listen to one of the sermons from Sermonaudio on my phone. That is what I did later and found it profitable to listen to a sermon on the ‘True Grace of God’ from 1 Peter 5:12-14 by Aik Wee Lek of the Blessed Hope Bible Presbyterian Church in Singapore. After that, I had some Starbucks Coffee (I would not mind this franchise coming to Zambia) and a snack. I then found a quite spot to rest. The airport has nice loungers where one can lie and see planes on the runaway and have some good rest. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is one of the best airports I have been to. It’s easy to navigate and everything is well organised and well laid out. 

Around 15 00 I was joined by my colleagues Phyllis Kasonkomona from Luanshya Technical and Business College and Conrad Mwela from Kabwe Institute of Technology. They were also travelling to the same conference but were on a different flight to mine. They used Kenya Airways. We would be on the same flight from Amsterdam to Edinburgh. We were all (including Dines mentioned earlier) sponsored by the Commonwealth of Learning. We had at least 6 hours to chat, rest, eat and make online arrangements for a shuttle from the Edinburgh airport to our hotel in Edinburgh. Towards 20 00 hours we had to eat our supper very quickly as we were close to the boarding time. Because of the rush, I forgot my phone on the table where we had our supper from. Thankfully, one of the restaurant staff saw it and kept it safely for me. With that out of the way, we rushed to the boarding gate in 5 minutes. A walk that was supposed to take us 10 minutes! 

Arriving in Edinburgh
Having left Amsterdam using KLM Airlines at 21 00 we arrived in Edinburgh at 21 30 (British time). The journey took 1 hour 30 minutes and not 30 minutes as the two cities have different time zones. After our immigration formalities, and picking up our nags we met another Zambian from the University of Zambia who was going to the same Conference we were going to. We made our way to the shuttle buses amidst braving the drixxling rains, Our ride to our hotel was an easy 30 minutes. We checked in to the Holiday Inn which would be our home for the next 5 nights. The extra sandwich that was given to me on the flight to Edinburgh was handy in providing a much needed snack before bed time. 


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