Alphen aan den Rijn – 3 mei 2024

I had indicated yesterday that no further blog posts would follow but what we have experienced the last 24 hours have made me change my mind.

The check-in of our suitcases as well as the return of the car went well and we were well on time at the passport check and that’s where the misery began. According to the official, we had stayed in South Aftika for more than 90 days and that is not allowed. We arrived on January 24, 2024 and then received a visa for 90 days. However, on March 4, we left the country to return on March 24. I pointed this out to the man but he insisted that this was not the case despite the clear stamps. Then we were arrested and put in a room waiting for higher echolons. They also persisted that we had stayed longer than allowed and even came up with the argument that the visa was issued on the basis of return to the Netherlands and not to, for example, Namibia or, crazy, Australia. Absolute nonsense of course, but with the result that we have been denied access to South Africa for 1 year. We can object….

In fact, we were especially horrified by the total lack of knowledge and abuse of authority that we saw. Even if we were to follow the reasoning of these officials, we would have stayed exactly 9 days too long….

Afterwards, it turned out to us that a mistake was most likely made on the departure to Namibia. There, the visa was not withdrawn, with the result that we entered the existing visa when we returned to South Africa. In short, a human mistake by an official.

Anyway, we have to object now and that will undoubtedly win, in the case of Lisa, because she has two nationalities (also reported but completely ignored) and in my case very likely too.

The flight was otherwise fine but long but it was not over yet. I had ordered a taxi but was notified that it was too small for the amount of luggage. The taxi center made a new reservation but took the wrong time (2245 instead of 1045) and so there was no taxi. Fortunately, this could be solved quickly, but yes, 2 times more expensive.

We are now at home and now make coffee and eat bread with cheese. This is really the last blog post