The first place that I went on my return from Ghana was Tim Horton's (yes, I stopped by Canada on the way back to Austin to spend time with my family). Did I ever have egg on my face when I remembered that Timmy's is basically a cash-only environment. So much for take the cash out. Good news is that the prices are published, and I could get a half dozen doughnuts for under $5. Bad news is that they were not at all interested in negotiating.
I did breath a huge sigh of relief to be back in AT&T coverage zone so that I wouldn't get killed with their awful pricing structure. For those that count / care about these things, if I had used my AT&T phone to call or receive calls while in Ghana, the going rate while on International Rate Plan is $2.49 per minute. If I used my little local pay-as-you-go Ghana phone, the rate was approximately $0.05 per minute. NOT KIDDING.
It was glorious to be able to use my iPad for anything other than watching movies. The wireless connectivty that we encountered is more accurately described by what we DIDN'T encounter. The USB sticks we used for Internet connectivity were good (not fast, but reliable) but sadly none would work with an iPad.
What else?? Oh yes, coffee! Live and learn - Africa as land of coffee does NOT include Ghana. Not good coffee there. Except for the US Embassy/State Department. They had great coffee. Too bad it was not easy to get to!
What do I miss? Working with a team where we were all sitting in the same room! Business by email is no good for me, and even phone calls are not as effective. I am going to put in effect a new rule for my day-to-day activities though - more than three emails on one topic and I am going to insist on a phone call. We are in danger of becoming too disconnected, from our teams and sometimes even from reality.
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