Everything starts with a few small steps.
Whether it be literally, or figuratively speaking...
And so began my journey to a decent hospital and knowledgeable doctors...
It had been about 2 weeks in the planning, but my return to South Africa had begun.
I had been in contact with a local hospital in SA, and had arranged an appointment with specialists on the public health system for the 19th March.
It gave me just under 3 weeks to get myself back to SA.
I had sat in the DR for almost 5 months waiting for sum favourable news from insurance companies, and had gotten close to nowhere. This was not my driving force behind wanting to get out of the DR though.
It was my health.
For a long time i had been insistent on getting something out from my suffering, so that i could pay back some of the cash invested in me by friends and family.
But after all this time, my health was not getting any better, and i needed to get myself back on my feet. There was no way i could even think about paying back any of this money if i could not work. Health was my number 1 priority.
So...
I had contacted immigration in the DR, and they had told me that i was free to leave the country. There was no impediment to me leaving.
The hospital had confiscated my UK passport, but i had my SA passport on me still.
Never before did i think an SA passport could be useful outside of South Africa.
But i was being proved pleasantly mistaken...
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Airports -- Take 1
On wednesday i had hired a car and travelled up to Santo Domingo airport to speak with immigration themselves and find out what was required in order to leave the country on my SA passport.
The reason being that my entry stamp was in my UK passport, so i was a bit worried that they might stop me, or charge me a lot of money on my way thru immigration...
I had looked for hours on the internet on tuesday, and even phoned a few numbers to find out, but no matter who i phoned, or what info i found online, it always seemed to be contradictory, or incomplete.
So, i found myself in a hire car with a mate, on my way to the airport to find out from the horse's mouth, so to speak...
After a bit of lunch in the airport while we waited for the lady at immigration to return from hers, we asked some questions and got some answers.
It seemed like all i needed to do was to to pitch up at the airport with my SA passport, a photocopy of my UK passport, which i had in my possession, and pay the 1000 peso fine for staying over my initial 30 days, and i was free to leave.
It seemed simple, but after 5 months of hell, it was certainly not a simple thing in my mind!
Friday could not come soon enough...
The reason being that my entry stamp was in my UK passport, so i was a bit worried that they might stop me, or charge me a lot of money on my way thru immigration...
I had looked for hours on the internet on tuesday, and even phoned a few numbers to find out, but no matter who i phoned, or what info i found online, it always seemed to be contradictory, or incomplete.
So, i found myself in a hire car with a mate, on my way to the airport to find out from the horse's mouth, so to speak...
After a bit of lunch in the airport while we waited for the lady at immigration to return from hers, we asked some questions and got some answers.
It seemed like all i needed to do was to to pitch up at the airport with my SA passport, a photocopy of my UK passport, which i had in my possession, and pay the 1000 peso fine for staying over my initial 30 days, and i was free to leave.
It seemed simple, but after 5 months of hell, it was certainly not a simple thing in my mind!
Friday could not come soon enough...
Airports -- Take 2
After what seemed like forever, friday arrived.
My ticket had been booked with the last of the money from my family they had available, including a very generous contribution form my grandfather for my birthday, donations from my mates off of this website, and a little help from my previous dive company as well.
It was a 5pm flight via Lima in Peru, arrriving in Sao Paulo the following morning at 5am. I needed to change flights in Lima, but there was only a 1 hour stopover, so that wasn't too bad.
We arrived at the airport around 2pm, and went over to the check in desk to hand in my bags.
I was asked for my passport, and after a minute, the person helping me disappeared with my passport. She was chatting to another lady further down the row of check-in attendants.
She returned and told me that there was a problem.
My heart skipped a few beats!
Apparently i needed my onward travel documents in order for them to process my booking!
I had specifically asked my parents to hold off on paying for my date change for my return ticket from Sao Paulo to Joburg, as this was emergency money in case anything went wrong at the airport, and i didn't want it wasted in paying for a flight i could not catch if i was held up in Santo Domingo for any reason.
For this reason, it was not a confirmed flight as yet.
It was only for the following tuesday, as i was planning on spending 2 days with my bro, who happened to be visiting his girlfriends parents in Sao Paulo at the time.
But, without this ticket, i was not going to be boarding the plane!
I went thru to their offices in the airport and checked online, but all i had in my email was the old ticket, and an email from the SAA representative confirming the date change. I did not have the all important e-ticket that i needed to present to the airlines!
So, with a bit of fuss, they changed my ticket to the next day, saturday, for the same time.
They were very nice to change it for free, as this was, essentially my mistake.
So, off we went, back to Bayahibe, a 2h drive away.
On arriving back in Bayahibe, my place i was staying, had already been filled by new tenants, so i was effectively homeless!
Luckily a mate had just moved out of their old place and still had 24h left on his old lease, so i moved in there for the night...
My ticket had been booked with the last of the money from my family they had available, including a very generous contribution form my grandfather for my birthday, donations from my mates off of this website, and a little help from my previous dive company as well.
It was a 5pm flight via Lima in Peru, arrriving in Sao Paulo the following morning at 5am. I needed to change flights in Lima, but there was only a 1 hour stopover, so that wasn't too bad.
We arrived at the airport around 2pm, and went over to the check in desk to hand in my bags.
I was asked for my passport, and after a minute, the person helping me disappeared with my passport. She was chatting to another lady further down the row of check-in attendants.
She returned and told me that there was a problem.
My heart skipped a few beats!
Apparently i needed my onward travel documents in order for them to process my booking!
I had specifically asked my parents to hold off on paying for my date change for my return ticket from Sao Paulo to Joburg, as this was emergency money in case anything went wrong at the airport, and i didn't want it wasted in paying for a flight i could not catch if i was held up in Santo Domingo for any reason.
For this reason, it was not a confirmed flight as yet.
It was only for the following tuesday, as i was planning on spending 2 days with my bro, who happened to be visiting his girlfriends parents in Sao Paulo at the time.
But, without this ticket, i was not going to be boarding the plane!
I went thru to their offices in the airport and checked online, but all i had in my email was the old ticket, and an email from the SAA representative confirming the date change. I did not have the all important e-ticket that i needed to present to the airlines!
So, with a bit of fuss, they changed my ticket to the next day, saturday, for the same time.
They were very nice to change it for free, as this was, essentially my mistake.
So, off we went, back to Bayahibe, a 2h drive away.
On arriving back in Bayahibe, my place i was staying, had already been filled by new tenants, so i was effectively homeless!
Luckily a mate had just moved out of their old place and still had 24h left on his old lease, so i moved in there for the night...
Airports -- Take 3
Saturday morning arrived, and another car hire later, and another trip up to Santo Domingo with my mate loomed large.
This was our 3rd trip in the last 4 days, so it was with a little bit of mounting frustration that we climbed in and started the 2h drive back to the airport.
I went to check in, with the ticket that my parents had now paid for, in my possession, and they accepted my bags and asked me if i required a wheelchair and someone to help me thru immigration?
I asked for some help, and a guy from the airlines arrived with my wheelchair.
My mate gave him instructions in Spanish as to why i had photocopies of my UK passport, and what to tell the immigration officer.
I was extremely nervous because if there were any altercations, then i would be stuck in the DR with no accommodation and more importantly no more money, as it had all been sunk into getting me back home!
It went thru without a hitch, and i was wheeled into the departure area to wait for my plane.
After an impossibly long 2h delay due to technical problems, i was off down the passage to board the plane.
I was first on the plane, which was a first for me.
After another 30min of everyone sitting on the runway waiting, we were finally into the air, and i breathed a huge sigh of relief as i watched the tarmac, and the DR, disappear into the distance!
I was free!
I was going home!
The nightmare was finally coming to an end...
This was our 3rd trip in the last 4 days, so it was with a little bit of mounting frustration that we climbed in and started the 2h drive back to the airport.
I went to check in, with the ticket that my parents had now paid for, in my possession, and they accepted my bags and asked me if i required a wheelchair and someone to help me thru immigration?
I asked for some help, and a guy from the airlines arrived with my wheelchair.
My mate gave him instructions in Spanish as to why i had photocopies of my UK passport, and what to tell the immigration officer.
I was extremely nervous because if there were any altercations, then i would be stuck in the DR with no accommodation and more importantly no more money, as it had all been sunk into getting me back home!
It went thru without a hitch, and i was wheeled into the departure area to wait for my plane.
After an impossibly long 2h delay due to technical problems, i was off down the passage to board the plane.
I was first on the plane, which was a first for me.
After another 30min of everyone sitting on the runway waiting, we were finally into the air, and i breathed a huge sigh of relief as i watched the tarmac, and the DR, disappear into the distance!
I was free!
I was going home!
The nightmare was finally coming to an end...
Friday, March 2, 2012
On a more positive note....??
Just received a call from my lawyer.
Sounds promising.
He said that he has made a case against the insurance company for taking so long to even get back to us about a meeting. The case against them was delivered on tuesday, and they have 10 days to respond to us before we can take them to court about this.
The original figure requested for when we made our initial case against them was for 5 000 000 peso, so lets hope that when we sit down with them we get a fair bit of that as a payout!
Time will tell, as is always the case here...
Lots more info to add. Updates in about 10 days time. Keep watching this space...
Sounds promising.
He said that he has made a case against the insurance company for taking so long to even get back to us about a meeting. The case against them was delivered on tuesday, and they have 10 days to respond to us before we can take them to court about this.
The original figure requested for when we made our initial case against them was for 5 000 000 peso, so lets hope that when we sit down with them we get a fair bit of that as a payout!
Time will tell, as is always the case here...
Lots more info to add. Updates in about 10 days time. Keep watching this space...
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