Things to avoid when you travel

List of things to avoid when you travel:

1.  Toddlers.
If you have one that you can't give back, this will be impossible. Try anyway.

2.  Lufthansa. 
Even if you have to pay more.  May the Turtles never see the sourfaced air hostesses, the sauerkraut served for lunch (what were they thinking? Cabbbage for 600 people confined in a small space?) or the hostess who gave the free seat next to them to the tallest German giant they have ever seen, ever again.

3. U.S. Immigration. 
The Turtles drew the strange Ugandan (yes, a Ugandan) and Myrtle knew their gooses were cooked.  The Turtles carry South African passports and they are pale (this automatically makes you a racist) and the Turtles were properly interrogated. Tony proved to be a hard nut to crack:
"Where do you live?"  (The real answer is: "We don't really have a home at the moment, but that may not be a good answer in this situation..." Tony answered: "Hong Kong"
"What do you do there?"  Tony: "Work"
"What work do you do?" Tony: "I work for an investment bank"
"Do you speak the Hong Kong language?" (I promise, this was a real question).  Tony: "No"
"Then how can you work there?" Tony: "English is widely spoken."
The Immigration Officer had the strange habit of baring his teeth in between sentences and in between vigorous bubblegum chewing.  He would suddenly look up, bare his pearly whites while staring intently into each Turtle's eyes before continuing...  The Turtles were so intrigued by the unusual behaviour that they stared right back. Probably with fairly quizzical and confused looks on their faces.
Stamp, stamp in the passports.
"OK"
The Turtles: "Thanks"
Immigration Officer: "Have you ever been in Uganda?"
The Turtles (now more confused than ever): "Umm, no.  But we would like to go..."

4.  Jet lag
Impossible to avoid if you have the aforementioned toddler.  Say hello to very early mornings (3:30 am...) for a couple of days.

5.  Getting stuck without nappies (diapers).
The Turtles assumed they would find a supermarket right at the hotel to replenish the stock which had dwindled down to the last nappy which was on Tiny's body...  Off to the nearest mall (The Dolphin Mall) who had shops of all kinds - clothes, toys, electronics, restaurants and shoes.  Not one shop sold nappies...  Myrtle was in tears (partly out of exhaustion, this was two hours after a gruelling 9 hour flight, partly out of frustration and mostly out of guilt because she is such a bad mother...).  The Turtles stopped two American families in the mall to ask where they could buy diapers (the word nappies was met with confusion).  The Turtles were pleasantly surprised - even though both families indicated that nappies could not be purchased in the mall, both families offered extra nappies.  One father insisted we take at least one napy, just in case.  The kindness almost drove Myrtle to further tears but there was no time.  They were on a mission - nappies!  At last they found a supermarket, right behind the hotel... 

OK, so this was a less succesful day, but bad days make the good days so much better (or that's what the Turtles keep repeating to themselves!).