And back again to Europe

On Saturday 10 October we flew back to Europe. As we were taking two different planes we had to divide our luggage. Nico wanted to take his djembé, so I decided to take a larger and heavier proportion of the other stuff. With no scale in the hotel, the first possibility for weighing our three pieces of luggage was in the airport: Nico’s rucksack – 20kg, the djembé – 14kg, my rucksack 25kg. But Nico was only allowed 30kg, as he flew with PointAfrique. Well, I was allowed more taking Air France, but I was also supposed to cross Paris on the bus after landing all alone. Well, we didn’t have much of a choice, so I ended up with my heavy rucksack and the djembé…

The flight went well and was as comfortable as on the way to Africa. In Paris CDG I got off and went to the luggage belt. My rucksack appeared rather quickly. The djembé though didn’t. I waited and waited. Then looked at the computer and saw that the entire luggage was through… but still no sign of the djembé. I went to two airport guys just in front of the entrance and explained my situation. They asked if it was an oversize object. I said it was about the size of my backpack, though more special looking... They smiled and pointed to a place just in front of the phones not far from the exit … and yes, there in the middle of nowhere on a path where all travellers will eventually pass, there it stood all alone: the djembé. Relieved and happy I loaded it on the trolley and went to the exit…

It wasn’t long before I was stopped. Initially thinking: ‘What here as well annoying street sellers?’, I quickly realized that this gentlemen was from customs. He asked about my special piece of luggage and where I was going: Bretagne (that answer broke the ice). He then scanned all pieces of luggage, discovering also the little djembé in the big one… then I was allowed to go, but not before answering a last question: “how do you pronounce your first name?” Very friendly those custom guys…