working in angola, whats it like on the drillsupport rig

I worked on a vessel there early last year and not on a rig. My experience is that Angola is okay. ALthough you must be prepared to expect a bunch of little kids to ask you for money—-either ignore them or tell them you don’t have anything. Eventually they will go away. Also, if you bring your laptop, someone might try and tell you that you must pay a "tax" which is b.s. but anyhow, if you hear that, just tell them to speak with the logistics agency rep or driver, whoever it is picking you up at the airport. We were housed in a hotel in Luanda. We felt safe enough to walk around outside and have a look ect. Really there isn’t much to see but as far as safety is, as long as you don’t look like you need to be "liberated" of your fat wallet or expensive Nikon, it is safe enough. The worst thing we encountered durning our crew changes is the logistics agency itself, in that they were unprepared most of the time, especially when we were leaving Angola and we had to drive around looking for a hotel room for six hours after a four hour crew change boat ride……….. Total seems to use choppers only for reps and bigwigs…….anyhow, if you have to deal with Getma, make sure you tell them well in advance of your travel dates since they will most likely book a shit hole hotel with the excuse that there are few rooms available…….actually, see if you can book your own room and get reimbursed…….it shouldn’t cost too much and you are likely to get a more comfortable accommodation. You can ask around for names of hotels that are good. I can’t remember…..I think I stayed at the Continental hotel once and the Total guest house which was cool because they give you 90euros allowance for food and drink, so the beer was free…..up til 90 euros…….
I have never heard of Piracy like in other countries. You will be in the open sea anyhow, and it is too far for pirates to get to you then run for cover so you’ll be okay…………..I think. hahahha.

Anyhow, best wishes and good luck.