Of Coffee And Flights To Nowhere

If you were having coffee with me, I would welcome you and trust that you to know your way around. Even though the temperatures are hot hot ( we aint in winter no more) I can only offer you coffee or tea or lukewarm water… it is what it is.

Settle down, while I let you into my little secret, I have always wanted to be a travel blogger, to travel the world, experience their coffee and culture and of course write about it.

travel blogger

Why am I not living my dream?
Well in 2020 my story is: darn COVID; stopping me from jumping into a plane and touring the world. It’s a nicer sounding excuse than saying I can’t afford plane tickets, not even to nowhere…

I read an article about how Flights To Nowhere are selling like hot cakes in some countries. People who miss the joys of air travel can book a flight which takes a circuitous route to land back right where they started.

Flight to Nowhere scenic flight
in-flight screen map of flight-to-nowhere trip on Royal Brunei Airlines. Credit: Nadzri Harif

When Qantas announced a seven-hour sightseeing flight to nowhere over Australia aboard the 787 Dreamliner, that flight sold out in 10 minutes.

qantas 787 dreamliner flights to nowhere
Qantas 787 Dreamliner

Airliners are finding creative ways to make money after months of being grounded due to COVID restrictions and of course those who miss the thrill of being in the air get that itch scratched.

Why would they not just run simulated flights with the aeroplane in a Virtual Reality Hangar, recreating the flight experience and scenery; (I have heard of some movie studios that rent out their private jet sets to influencers who want to take photoshoots seeming like they were in a private plane..) it would be kinder to the environment and not to mention cheaper.

Or maybe they can fly to Zimbabwe….

From the 1st of October Zimbabwe opened international airports to passenger traffic but land borders remain closed to human traffic, for the time being only commercial traffic, diplomats and returning residents are allowed passage across the land borders.

It’s a tale of two countries in Zimbabwe, one for the elites who can afford to enjoy their newfound freedom to travel and those who cant afford plane tickets, let alone three square meals a day; for whom being in this teapot country means going nowhere.

The doctors and nurses aren’t going anywhere without first getting a Certificate of Good Standing which requires at least 2 signatories and then approval of the Health Ministry Permanent Secretary who has final authority on which doctors allowed to leave country. They certainly wont be going anywhere if this document that has been making the rounds on social media is true which is said show how the government is becoming a militarised nation, with doctors being conscripted.

recruitment of junior resident medical officers under the zimbabwe defence forces service commission

If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that if this document is authentic it means that junior doctors would have to be recruited as military doctors for them to be able to work in government hospitals. As soldier, they would then be bound to serve their country without question. What’s next conscript teachers as soldiers too, turn all the civil servants into soldiers, at least soldiers get more salary.

If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that today is World Teachers Day, and teaching has lost the lustre it used to have as one of the noblest of professions. The first phase of schools opening is supposed to have happened a week ago but teachers are on an industrial action citing teachers cant breath.

When the news first broke that the teachers would not be returning to the classroom the government had said it had unemployed teachers on standby ready to replace those holding the state to ransom…

Meanwhile, I dont think this whole opening of schools has really been thought through, when even at the best of times resources are strained..

 Chipindura High School
Learners at Chipindura High School doing groupwork

Head sells roofing material buys mask
Mudanda school roof

Even the learners have started their own protest declaring how if their teachers cant breathe then they cant either.

Learners cant breathe

On Friday the 2nd of October, Civil Servants got a 40% pay rise and this was supposed to incentivise the teachers to return to work but they say 40% of nothing is nothing and they want United States Dollar salaries.

Meanwhile, the electricity tariffs have gone up, again, by 50% after having gone up a week before by another 50%… I mean why didn’t they just hike up to the price they wanted or would it have been too scandalous to hike up electricity by over 100% when people are barely getting salary increments.

If you are having coffee with me I would tell how we aren’t going anywhere and soon we wont say anything too, as the government moves to make a law that criminalises unpatriotic acts….

For my friends in America can you shed details of the Logan Act, if its not in violation of the patriotic act or some such law, what it means to you. If President Trump was said to have spent 70 000 on his hair and you ask him about it, does that violate any laws?

The minister of health banned by-elections due to COVID regulations but members of the ruling party have been holding by-elections over the weekend, maybe they hadn’t gotten the memo or it doesn’t apply to them.

statutory instrument 225A OF 2020

If you were having coffee with me I would tell you I live in a country of two citizens those elite few for whom it’s their oyster and the rest of us going nowhere.

Where are you going in your corner of the world?



  1. I have spent years hoping things in Zim would get better, I have conversations with friends about it. This ‘ two citizens those elite few for whom it’s their oyster and the rest of us going nowhere’, is so true and the extremes are devastating. I like the coffee idea these conversations require a lot of energy.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Just when you think you have reached rock bottom, you find it has a basement, and sub basement… Yep let me sip my coffee because it takes a lot of energy to have hope.
      Speaking on extremes I saw someone driving a recently imported lamborghini and people crowding around to take pictures and couldnt help think how the price tag on the car could more than comfortably feed and clothes all these people for the remainder of the year with change.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I dont know either, maybe because its all we have known *sigh* a blessing and a curse.
        I pray that we never witness the day the hope ends giving way to the rage at all the injustices

        Liked by 1 person

    2. I – wow, this is too much for a people to go through. It truly is disheartening.. I wouldn’t want the coffee because it would only amplify a thousand times the anxiety of being alive in such a bipolar era, where the elite play candidly with money and the poor can barely afford to meet the most basic needs.
      Honestly if coffee were on the table I would respectfully decline, and ask instead for the impossible – a world wherein people can fly to nowhere or Norway (or teach or heal) is not a matter of circumstance or politics, but a matter of choice for its inhabitants💔💔💔

      Liked by 3 people

  2. I think this is the first time, I’ve really felt sad reading this. I agree, you couldn’t be more right about the of continuing classes, “when even at the best of times resources are strained..” Everything about this post is real and unjust and yet, it’s still going on in your country, in my country, and probably in some countries too. This just makes me think is 2020 never going to get better. Are we ever gonna get better.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. honestly I dont understand why they are pushing so hard and forcing learners to take their final exams at the end of the year when school has been out for six months and then everyone to proceed to the next school grade…
      Might as well as make this an optional term for those with means and ways and use it as a learning curve for all the things they need to prepare for
      or better yet just treat the whole year as having been a gap year and no one advances to the next level than messing it up for everyone for years to come

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Yeah I don’t think you can expect the students to take exams after being off for so long. I think people should definitely have the option to take a gap year this year if they want to.

        Liked by 1 person

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