I arrived in Paris early this morning, and am sitting in a hotel overlooking the Gare Du Nord train station, which is where i’m catching the eurostar to London in an hours time.
Two things happened to me in the last few days which made me realise that although information is available, it’s the verification that the information is accurate, that is the challenging part.
After booking my flight to Paris, I realised I needed a visa to catch the Eurostar to London, rather than catching an EasyJet flight which was my other option, as it meant leaving the airport and catching the Eurostar @ Gare Du Nord train station.
I booked an appointment with the French embassy in Cape Town, but on the way back to my car, I passed Flight Center. So I popped in to ask a SPECIFIC QUESTION:
Do I need a visa if I’m going straight from the Charles de Gaulle airport to Gare Du Nord Train Station?
The Flight Center guys answer:
If you are in France for less than 8 hours, and you have proof of your outbound journey you DON’T need a visa.
Lucky I went to the French Embassy the next day, as I wanted to Double Check this information and was also considering spending a few days in Paris on the way back (which is what I’m now doing).
The Flight Center guys information was TOTALLY WRONG!
The kind lady at the French Embassy answered in ONE WORD:
YES
(extrapolated to say “Of course you need a visa! I can’t believe you just asked me a question like that!”)
To me it makes perfect sense that you HAVE to have a visa otherwise you book a outbound ticket, and just don’t use it.
But the flight center guy had been super confident when giving me the information. If I hadn’t been sceptical of the validity of the information and hadn’t double checked, I would have arrived in Paris this morning and been TOTALLY screwed (to say it bluntly!!)
The second incident which made me realise that getting the RIGHT information is the challenge, happened when I was checking in to the SAA counter at Cape Town International Airport. I had a can of deoderant in my hand luggage, and asked the check in lady:
Can this go in my hand luggage, as I’m flying internationally and they have strict rules.
When she confirmed I could carry the deoderant can, I asked again to confirm.
And what happened? I got to JHB International Airport, went through security, and the Deoderant Can was confiscated.
So here we have supposed experts giving information which is actually incorrect? What is the solution? The flight center guy is a travel expert - surely he should know about Visa regulations, and if he’s not sure to say so. And the same with the SAA check in counter lady?
Lucky for me these experiences just cost me a can of Deoderant, but its made me think in a big way that you need to be skeptical of all information, even when given by a supposed expert on the subject.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Robert // Aug 3, 2007 at 11:34 am
How long you in London for? Want a beer?
2 Eve D. // Aug 3, 2007 at 11:52 am
I hear you!
I also get misinformed all the time, and each time it happens, I kick myself for not getting the name of the person who misinformed me. I think if you ask for someone’s name, they realise that the misinformation they give you might actually have direct consequences to them, and start to double check their facts.
Of course, asking (and remembering) people’s names all the time is not practical, and I don’t do it nearly enough. But I bet if, once you received your info from the Flight Centre, you said something like “thanks, and your name is …” and wrote it down in front of him, he would have double checked his facts pronto.
Of course, why its our responsibility to verify info that we receive from supposed experts, is a mystery …
3 jakob // Aug 7, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Being a foreigner, who recently re-settled to South Africa, reading this posting reminded me of my observation and wonder about obtaining information in this country, and the need to verify information (new thing for me). You’re pretty much left to your devices to find out where to locate information and verify that it is in fact correct. There seems to be a contrast in understanding of Service, than what I am used. But maybe this is where Information technologies could really do a bit and concepts like Service and Information accuracy are to change through the active embracing of IT’s in this country? I certainly hope SA IT-developers and businesses will push people and technology in this direction. And please don’t get me wrong - I love your country and am intending to stay.
4 Chris M // Aug 11, 2007 at 12:36 pm
I hope you are having a good time over there bud!
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