At the news of the cancellation the airline shuttled me and the two other stranded passengers to the Papyrus Hotel for the night. I spent the afternoon getting to know David and Sam, a father and son from Canada in Ethiopia for a few weeks to visit some relatives and squeezing in a bit of siteseeing in the process. I'm sorry to report that the Papyrus wasn't much to write home about but at least it was being taken care of and I'd be out early in the morning right? Wrong.
I woke up the next morning and was first told the flight would be at 9am. Nine turned in to ten and then noon with the flight not leaving until almost 4:30pm, all due to mechanical issues of course...this would become a theme. By this point I was pretty angry at being delayed for so long, especially since the drive to Gondar is only 2-3hrs (something I would only find out later). As a result of wasting an entire day and a half in Bahir Dar thanks to the Ethiopian Airlines I would have to skip my trip to the Simien Mountains outside of Gondar where I had planned to spend two days and one night trekking and camping...essentially the sole reason for going to Gondar at all! I would later find out that there was a religious festival in Axum and that Ethiopian Airlines was redirecting flights to shuttle people back and forth which is why my first flight was canceled and my second so delayed; not only did they cost me almost two days, they deceived me regarding the reason. Surely you can sense my frustration...it's not over yet.
Photos: Bahir Dar
I woke up the next morning and was first told the flight would be at 9am. Nine turned in to ten and then noon with the flight not leaving until almost 4:30pm, all due to mechanical issues of course...this would become a theme. By this point I was pretty angry at being delayed for so long, especially since the drive to Gondar is only 2-3hrs (something I would only find out later). As a result of wasting an entire day and a half in Bahir Dar thanks to the Ethiopian Airlines I would have to skip my trip to the Simien Mountains outside of Gondar where I had planned to spend two days and one night trekking and camping...essentially the sole reason for going to Gondar at all! I would later find out that there was a religious festival in Axum and that Ethiopian Airlines was redirecting flights to shuttle people back and forth which is why my first flight was canceled and my second so delayed; not only did they cost me almost two days, they deceived me regarding the reason. Surely you can sense my frustration...it's not over yet.
Photos: Bahir Dar
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