back in POG

And now I'm back in Port Gentil. That was a good little trip in one sense, but with the extra day added on, I'm further behind the plan for what needs to get done at work before I return to the States next month. Oh well, time to straighten up and fly right.

One amusing travel note. I didn't look at the boarding pass when I first received it in Libreville for my return to Port Gentil because I was in a hurry. The flight from Paris left late and cut my layover from 75 minutes to about 40 minutes which needed to include clearing customs, medical card check, checking in (different airline), and security. However, when I was finally in the waiting area, I glanced at my boarding pass and apparently, my name is now William Lopez. Hmmmm, someone probably had some trouble getting their ticket after me. The problem seems to have stemmed from our secretary booking my own ticket with a name that isn't quite right. She evidently used my middle name as my last name and then my first and last name (with no space between them) became my first name. I had the same problem in Paris while checking in with Air France and unsuccessfully tried to get them to fix it. No one cared that my ticket and passport did not properly match in CDG and no one even looked in Libreville. So much for security.

Names get messed up a lot here because what is considered to be a pretty basic first name (given name) and last name (family name) convention in the States does not exist here. Children from the same parents can have different "last" names and the first name/last name concept is also somewhat malleable.