A planned visit.
This post won't be about God's plan although that is the theme for this blog. It is about a very godly man and a video influence around the net. I've been following him for quite a while and he's in town to visit.
Where I live there is a lot of crime but 90% of it is snatching grab or breaking into a car simply because they see something they want on the seat. so my goal would be to protect this person and his possessions the best I can. Therefore I made a plan to do what he wants to do in the safest way possible.
He's only going to be here for 2 days, so I offered him an apartment that I have in a very secure building. He wants to see the most we can see in the limited time he he's here. So I'm going to lay out the plan that I made to protect him, kind of like a secret service person would protect the president.
I have hosted many people over the last 20 years who come to visit this city and I know it well. I used to rent out rooms in a hostel type environment. The rooms were clean and ready to go in their arrival, and I had a sign in each room with a map showing the areas that are most dangerous as far as getting scammed, pick pocketed, or as I said, where snatch and grabs are likely.
Many of the people that I hosted heard my warnings about certain neighborhoods and certain hours of the day when it's most likely to happen. I also warned them not to take their actual passport with them but to photocopy it and take the copy with them into the streets. As is the norm these days, people just look at you roll their eyes and then go off and do what they want to do.
Over the years, about 30% of the people who came to stay with me ignored some of the warnings I gave them and many had their passports taken along with their credit cards and other valuables. I know how to avoid those kinds of things and I know what you should or should not do if you want avoid crime in this particular culture.
Now getting back to the visitor that's coming tomorrow. He had stopped in this city before going to another place and I showed him the apartment and asked if it was adequate. He said it would be fine for the short stay. It's not an apartment that I use so it needed to be cleaned and made up in order to get ready for the guest. I spent the last week doing that. I stocked the fridge with food and purchased everything needed for a nice cookout at the communal grill near the pool.
The day before he gets back in town, he changed his mind and wants to get a hotel about 50 minutes away from all the attractions he wants to see. It is actually at the farthest attraction he had mentioned. My apartment is right in the center of it all.
The plan for this visit
I had planned everything in order to safeguard everything he has in his bags and his documents. Of course I told him to take a picture of his documents with his phone, then leave his important papers in the apartment. He can do that even after he gets here he chooses to do so.
Next, I had planned to take him from his arrival point directly to the tower that you see in these photos. Get his bags and possessions safely tucked away in the apartment to which I would give him a key.
At that point we are as free as anyone who lives here and we need to go out with any kind of ID because it's never necessary. I'm paying for everything and I don't mind that.
Around 9:00 in the morning we would be out and about getting the first five suggestions his wife had given him for things to see while in town. I would be able to park the car anywhere and not worry about someone breaking the window to get something they want out of the car, and again no baggage containing everything he travels with in the truck. I would hate it if someone broke a window to dig through the glove box for something they might think I have or open the trunk and take my umbrella because I would have to repair the car and I would lose an umbrella. But if someone takes travel itinerary documents, clothes, computers and his wallet from someone who is leaving the next day, that would be a nightmare and I want to avoid that.
I planned cookout at the communal grill by the pool or the evening, and then in the morning we could pray and read the bible on the 30th floor patio then get back out to see other sites and attractions. Again without anything valuable on our persons.
I had planned to possibly do a bus trip through the city on Monday. On the bus, if you see something that you want to visit you just need to push a button and then let you off. With your wristband you can get on the next bus and continue your tour through the city. This kind of thing is much easier than searching for a parking spot or paying a parking garage for 20 minutes just to get back in and move to the next parking garage. The bus is a very efficient way to see the city with no hassles and it covers the entire city.
After which, with two and a half hours before his flight out, I was going to drive him to the airport and see him off, then go back to communicating with this him online as usual.
I don't do this kind of thing for everybody but this is a man I have been wanting to meet for some time and I thought I would go the extra mile.
Change of plans
As I said, he messaged me saying what he would like to do and informed me that he had gotten a hotel room. Between the high-rise where he would have stayed and the hotel room he purchased online is the entire city which is known for traffic jams.
With jthe change of plans that he chose, we can still do the first four or five stops on his list but we cannot leave the car anywhere because everything he owns will be in it and criminals target those kinds of vehicles. It's very obviously your tourists when you get out of the car and if seen by the wrong person, they'll wait until you get inside the restaurant, theater or whatever and everything's gone.
For that reason I will be driving him from place to place and sitting in the car while he gets out to experience sites. I will stay with the car containing his language as he walks around to get his pictures or whatever. Breakfast is first on the list, so I should probably eat before I go to pick him up. I may not be able to go in with him. I will wait in the car. ;Next is the government White House, no it is not the actual white house but the equivalent, which is two blocks away from where he wants to eat breakfast. Then on to the Congressional building which is six blocks away. Again I will have to stay in the car.
The last stop which is nearby is in a particularly bad neighborhood for car break-ins. It's a conference that we are both going to go to. If I find a parking garage that does not want to have the keys to the car while we are inside (still risky) I might be able to join him for the conference.
After that we will make the trip outside the city to where he rented his hotel room and he can check in. That part of the city would be fine for him to go anywhere he wants as long as he doesn't take valuables with him into the streets.
I have lived in the city for over 25 years and only been robbed once, someone walked by grabbed my phone and ran. Then again I don't normally hang out in the touristy areas because crime is high there. It's not a particularly dangerous city as some in the United States are. It's just a different kind of crime and with good reason. Upwards of 35 to 40% of the population is very poor and currencies are collapsing all around the world so it's much worse than the last time I was out in these tourist neighborhoods, so I really don't know what he's up against.
The plan was to pick him up and bring him to the place where he was going to sleep that same night, avoiding check ins and check outs. That would put all of his personal belongings under lock and key before venturing out into the city.
As it is now, that has all changed removing the benefit of having an advocate in this country. Many people miss out on a lot of sites they wanted to visit due to hotel hours and trying to keep their baggage safe in a hotel room or carrying it with them after check out but before the flight. Luggage is just that - something that needs to be lugged around. I would have been providing an anti-lug aspect to his short stay.
Who am I to force someone to do something they have decided not to do. I cannot, but many who ignore words of caution tend to pay the price and I only hope that if that price is paid that I'm not to blame. I am still committed to protecting him the best I can.
I tried.
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