Kazakhstan

[Kevin's Post]I was enjoying my last night in a real bed back in phoenix when I got woken by a call from the Citibank credit card fraud department. It's not unusual for me to have charges from several countries at the same time on my credit card so I get these calls all the time. The recording asks you to verify your last 5 charges, and they have always been my own. But this time one of the charges was for $950 at a bakery? I think I would have remembered that one. So I punch the button that takes me through to customer service. The nice lady with customer service asks me if I have been traveling. I tell her that I have. Then she says that there were two charges of about $950 each from a bakery in Kazakhstan. I tell her I buy my bread locally. She suggests that the charges might be fraudulent. I tell her that I think she's probably right. So she cancels my card and now the people of Kazakhstan need to find a new way to fund their sandwich supplies.

I'm back in Grenada now after 24 hours of travel and 4 plane rides. My flight from Dallas to Puerto Rico was diverted to Atlanta due to a medical emergency, but miraculously I still made my connection in San Juan with about 10 minutes to spare. Even more amazing, is that my bags made it too. I still don't know how they managed that. It took about an hour for me go through customs in Grenada and they actually looked through my bags this time. They charged me 5% of the value of the items as best they could figure out ("No, sorry I don't have a receipt for that either. I think it was about $10."). This was the "duty free" rate since I had boat paperwork to show I was bound for a yacht in transit. Back at the marina I was pleasantly surprised to find that the bar was still open and decked out with Christmas lights. I enjoyed a frosty Carib with Chris & Barb (Moonsail) before lugging my bags back to the boat and collapsing in bed.