December 20, 2010

We had had two days with great weather near Anitapolis and the good weather continued on our last day in Florianopolis. Already in the morning it was clear that this was going to be a very hot day, probably ending up around 35 C (95F).

So far I haven´t told you about some of the challenges we have had with packages during the voyage. Since about half of my day was lost on trying to run after packages it is about time that I tell you the tale of my new glasses.

Warning: Long story about UPS coming up. If you are bored by such stories, please skip down to the first photo.

The glasses I am currently wearing are about 2 years old and have unfortunately amassed quite a number of scratches which obstruct my view. I am picky when it comes to glasses because I very quickly build up bad headaches when my glasses are scratched and/or dirty. I am very farsighted and am thus totally dependent on my glasses.

So, I decided to get a new pair of glasses for the voyage and use the old ones as back-ups. As everything piled up before the voyage, and also because I am in general a last-minute person, I of course ordered new glasses in the last minute. The store promised to have them ready in time and I  showed up to pick up my shiny new glasses 3 days before our departure.

I tried them on, but something was wrong. I hinted that the strength might be wrong. The lady in the store suggested it might be because the shape was a bit different than my old glasses, and that made them seem unfamiliar, Maybe I would like to try them for a couple of days and then I could come back if they still weren´t to my liking? I dont´t think so. I insisted that they measure the strength of the glasses. Reluctantly she complied. Her face changed as she got the results from the machine. She got her boss. The strength was indeed wrong. They had mixed up and had gotten me a pair of reading glasses. Since I am an old man I also have reading glasses. I did not need a second pair.

Her boss excused herself and said that they would send me a new pair of glasses, wherever in the world I would be. They got my email address.

One of our last days in California they sent me an email. I suggested to send the glasses to our hotel in New York. They claimed there was plenty of time for them to arrive.

In my previous work I was used to sending packages around the world. Routinely we would send documents and other stuff from Oslo to San Francisco, or Beijing, or Brisbane. Sure, sometimes things would be a day delayed, but that was about it. Given my own experience there shouldn´t be any risk at all. Wrong.

The glasses were caught up in customs in New York. The customs people had only looked at the first line describing the contents. It said “lens cleaners,” which referred to a small bottle of cleaner that was sent with the glasses. Once the misunderstanding was explained we were leaving New York. I told UPS to send the package to Washington instead, which they said was no problem.

In Washington I started asking questions when we had a few days left there. UPS claimed the glasses were delivered to CIVIC in Washington, CIVIC went out of their way to prove this was not the case and even got hold of the surveillance video for their entrance to be sure no one from UPS had been there during the time slot UPS claimed. I asked UPS for a copy of the signed document.

When I got this on email (we were in Chattanooga by then), I could see that the package had been delivered to our hotel in New York! UPS excused themselves profoundly, and had no idea how this could have happened. I called the hotel in New York and got hold of the person who had signed for the package. She told me that since we had left, their standard procedure was to give the package back to UPS the next day, which she had done. UPS had no record of having received the package in return.

Back in Norway the store struggled with the Norwegian postal service (they use UPS as a subsupplier) which offered to send a new package for free, but would not cover the glasses because they were only missing, not lost. In the end the store decided to take the risk and ordered a new pair of glasses for me. Once they were finished we were in Peru. The store suggested to send them to us in Brasil. There should be plenty of margin.

They had not cared to supply me with a reference number for the package and I started getting nervous when we only had 5 days left in Brazil. I asked for the number and did not get it until this morning.

I checked online and the package was stuck in customs in Sao Paulo, and had been so since Thursday. It was now Monday.

I sent an email to the contact person at the Norwegian postal service, asking them to reroute the package to Argentina. They answered almost immediately that they could do nothing once the package was stuck in customs, and it certainly wasn´t their fault. I had to blame Brazilian customs and also call UPS if I wanted something to be done.

I tried to get a good phone line, but was unable to, besides it would cost much more than I had left on my Brazilian pre-paid SIM to call Sao Paulo for any meaningful amount of time, if I managed.

Helene and the kids went to the beach while I drove over to Dauro and Laura´s house to use their internet line. I have a Skype account and use their fantastic SkypeOut system using my iPhone. I can call from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world using my iPhone, as long as I have a WiFi connection. And the best of all: I only pay local phone call prices in the country I call.

Once arrived it took me some time to get through and explain it all to the UPS guy. His English was not perfect, but good enough. He could tell me that in Brazil customs demand a Brazilian social security number of the receiver, or, if the receiver is a non-resident, a passport number. My passport number was not given in the sending documents, so the package was sitting in customs in Sao Paulo until someone started missing the package and called UPS to give them the number. Also, once the package had arrived in Brazil it was impossible to have it diverted to another country. The only way to get hold of it now was to have Dauro and Laura receive it at their home and then resend it.

Lovely. Thank you Norwegian postal service. Nothing you can do, huh?

The only reasonable place to have it resent is Tahiti. Dauro and Laura will be kind enough to organize it for us. Let´s see if I ever get the glasses. To be continued.

This, my dear reader, was only one of the never ending package stories we have endured. We have had school books arrive too late in Washington and resent to Florianopolis. Because of an address error they waited for us at a post office in Florianopolis for 2 weeks. Once we discovered this we were one day late, and they were already sent back to Washington by boat. They will arrive there in about 30 days before they potentially can be resent.

I also ordered Christmas gifts for the kids from Amazon in France. Delivery in 3-6 days they said. Don´t believe in advertising. After 2 weeks they are still not here. The trace shows they will be delivered in a day or two. Dauro and Laura will have to resend those too to Tahiti. 🙁

Once I got back to the house it was time for lunch. After lunch it was too hot to go to the beach. We waited the heat out in the house. Even inside the house it was so hot that Viktor did his Saxophone lesson in his underwear.

We went to the beach around 5pm. The boys are all wearing sunproof t-shirts, are infused with sun screen and ready to go:

 

Relaxing at the beach was soothing for the soul after a day of frustration:

In the evening we were invited over to Dauro and Laura for a farewell dinner. Laura´s mother was there and also our friends from the trip to Anitapolis, Eloise and Rogerio.

Laura´s mother and Bruno:

As a farewell gift the boys and I got Brazilian football t-shirts. We had to promise to wear them in Argentina:

Bruno practised his trick shots during the evening. He does an impressive kick with his feet crossed, moving the left foot over to do the kick in the last moment. Are we looking at the next Ronaldo here?

It was tough for Viktor to say good bye to Tootoo:

Viktor asked Dauro to cut off some hair from Tootoo´s tail, so he could have something to remember him by:

Iseline said good bye to Branquito:

We were all a bit sad. We had had such a good time here and it was great to see Dauro and Laura again. Let´s hope we do not have to wait another 15 years before we see each other again.

Eirik

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