South African Abroad II

January 12^th, 2012

So there I was, waking up in a hotel room …. Momentary disorientation will follow. Oh OHHHHH right… this here lovely bed was the best thing that could have happened to me during the early hours of the morning.

It was around 3am when I finally fell into it. Wake up time was around 7am – apparently there was complimentary breakfast (buffet style) to be had! And I was SO there right then!

07h30 I trundled down for breakfast. Had a chicken sausage, eggs (scrambled), mushrooms, yoghurt, some fruit and a glass of orange juice and a cup of tea! Luggage (yes all two of the big 20+ kg bags were WITH me) was left at the front door for the nice people to load onto the trailer and ‘bus’ which we were all due to be on by 9am. Supposedly an 11h30am flight was due for London from Cape Town. A flight that would usually land and sit around doing nothing was now (supposedly) going to land, refuel, and turn around. I don’t know what happened with that flight.

Because my ENTIRE ROUTING was changed. So I was waiting for a 13h40 flight to Johannesburg; and there really is only so much one can do in an airport while waiting for a flight (after passing security).

Off to Jo’burg we go. Then wait for whenever my next flight was - can’t remember. It was a few hours; which was likely feeling like years when they decided to conduct a SECOND security check AT THE GATE!? Argh … there we were having to unpack luggage and get patted down and such. ARGH …. Did I mention ARGH!!?

After that little inconvenience we still had another half an hour or so to wait to board anyway. I do think that at some point I was threatening to pull my hair out but overall it was just rather amusing.

Finally on a plane to Washington – stop in Dakar. Whee. 14 hours they said. Liars. It was 114 hours!! Seh ree us! Okay so probably 16 hours but eish … tired! Get to Washington. Okay what’s the time … 07h00ish … right so I have 2 hours. Breathe.

Customs. An HOUR later get through the queue. Get luggage (yes another pick up), to walk less than 5 metres over to redeposit luggage on another turn style! Seriously? *rolls mind*

Check time – er … okay I have 20 minutes to make it to my gate to board. The gate turned out to be 700 million kilometers away. *facepalm*

So I half jogged, half limped (with a sore ankle) all the way. Realistically, it was about 1.2km away but with a full bladder, sore ankle, back pack, riding hat (hehe it didn’t FIT anywhere else) and laptop, which is darn heavy after a bit, this jogging limp was not working. Got there (just after boarding time) decided sod it and went to the loo – to get undressed first and to answer nature next. I was sweltering with all the jerseys and exercise. Went out, got boarding pass sorted and didn’t even need to stand in line. YAY me… sorry I’m late I HAD TO WEE first … much smirking and teasing later the nice man let me through and I embraced the -4˚C in the walkway ramp doodat heading to the entrance of the plane.

Narrowly avoided missing my flight to San Diego made it worth all the discomfort though. I had just under 5 hours to go to reach my destination. Friday the 13^th!

We landed at 10h30 and as is the way of things in America apparently I had to go find a spot to wait outside for Jason.

There is very little call for people to come in and meet you. You get your stuff, you PAY for a cart ($3 to be exact!).

Picked up in a ‘truck’ (as per the American hehe… I would just say a moer of a bakkie) haha

Nerves were shot by this stage but upon getting into the truck and seeing Jason again after 8.5 months things sort of shifted and I relaxed – I think I might also have just been ridiculously exhausted.

We got home at 12h30. Within minutes of Jason leaving, FedEX arrived and I had to sign for my first ever delivery. Coffee shop stuff (not even for me, how rude hah)

I finally fell asleep around 16h00 and woke up at 20h00 when I heard Jason quietly shuffling about the room.

Happy Friday the 13^th

Welcome to the United States of America J

South African Abroad

Yes the title is a play on SAA since that’s where all this started ... at the Airport with SAA :)

(let me just say that their service, other than my one gripe, was impeccable)

January 11^th, 2012 
Step 1:

4h15pm – Enter airport nervous wreck 

Step 2:

Weigh luggage. Find you were right and your luggage is ever so slightly over weight (insert mild expletives here).
Unpack a few things (of course you were prepared!)- please note some things were then stuffed into my riding hat which was travelling with me as hand luggage *giggle*
 
Step 3:

Stop at Spur and devour crumbed mushrooms that are seriously way too much. (if you were able to peer into your crystal ball you’d know that you'll be grateful for this large portion at 2am on the 12^th January though)

Step 4:

After good bye, au revoir and totsiens saying to sister and her significant other, who were kind enough to help you lug yourself and your luggage to the airport… you hit security check – oh yay.

Get through security having to unpack the effing laptop. Seriously. With all this hand luggage you want me to unpack my nicely packed laptop? Bah… Humbug

But it wasn’t too awful. 

Step 5:

Upon passing gate A4 on your way to gate A5 (as per ticket the boarding gate is A5) you notice YOUR flight info… er at gate A4?
Okay. Didn’t have this last time I flew … Gate change... This doesn't bode well. (truer words were never thought)

Step 6:

Board around 19h45ish (not too bad – flight is due to leave at 20h20) Get things in luggage compartment above head and settle in – thank you for the window seat *happy sigh* London here I come.
 
Step 7:

Wait for flight. Hear about how this is a NEW airbus A330 and has recently arrived. Plan trip through various airports... London, San Fran.. Destination. YAY

Wonder why there are so many empty seats? 

Step 8:

Words you NEVER want to hear a Pilot utter 'um... er...' … yes THAT doesn't bode well either. 'sorry folks, started the engines warming up, have found a fault with the rudder, please bear with us while we sort the issue.' *blink* well ok then. 

Step 9:

THREE plus hours later. 'um... er... Please disembark and collect your luggage'
Cue BEDLAM! 
There was much ado about all sorts of things when we disembarked. We had to find out if there was a) another flight b) somewhere to go c) when the next flight was if there wasn’t another flight d) how to get to somewhere to go if there was, in fact b) somewhere to go. ARGH!!!

So we are informed that there will be a complimentary hotel stay – transport to and from the hotel provided. What isn’t specified is whether this is for all customers or foreigners only … you know us South Africans, such eternal optimists… our first thought is oh ffs now I have to go HOME. Well I couldn’t go home and it just caused complications so … hotel it was. BUT first I had to go sort out my rerouting… HA HA… HA.

Admittedly I’d had a little moment where I just stood with my trolley and sobbed while my brain caught up and logic kicked in. Some of us just need a ‘moment’ to pause.

Due to the fact that trying to get an answer out of anyone was proving impossible with the horde of angry monsters – I mean passengers – who wouldn’t just cut the manager dude some slack I only managed to get my name on the hotel list after everyone else had, and that meant getting to my re-routing queue last.

With regard to the angry ‘mob’ … it’s no one’s FAULT the rudder went tits up and frankly I’d much rather it happens here on the merry ground thank you very much.

Get to counter for re routing – poor harassed staff. Just be nice I think. And it paid off. People are far more willing to help if you can sympathise with their crisis in the midst of your own.

So the nice lady at the counter informs me that the flight they’re hoping to use at 11h30 has room but my connecting flights are either non existent or full so we’ll check the flight meant for later the evening of the 12^th (please note it’s now going on about half past midnight … i.e. it’s only just the 12^th of January).

Well yes there are seats on the flight but no connections. Erm … okay so what can we do?
Well… we can reroute the ENTIRE flight.
*blink*

*gulp*

Okay. *meep*

So my flights changed from 20h20, Jan 11^th SA to London to San Fran to San Diego to 13h40, Jan 12^th Cape Town to Jo’burg to Washington (stop in Dakar) to San Diego… oh my HAT!

Drag luggage out to wait for bus – discover that I’m the ONLY ONE getting on a bus since I’m the LAST twit standing there. ONE bus run to the Cape Sun in Cape Town city centre for ONE person. THAT must’ve cost a bit. But smiling at, and being nice to, the manager pays off too. They were very accommodating. 

Step 10:

Check into hotel; first bear witness to the ridiculousness of humanity. 
There was a group of American students here on an exchange study / presentation programme (very nice people I might add). The gentleman in charge of the gaggle of girls was standing in line with one or two of the girls. Two others were sitting down and the rest had gone to scavenge food… it WAS 02h00am by this time.(Steers to the rescue!!)
People are hungry, tired, miserable – the ONLY issue I had with the whole thing was that during the three hours on the plane they could have supplied water / snacks to the elderly and the children at the very least. Okay so that didn’t happen; we did get a complimentary stay in Cape Sun with transport.

The food gatherers returned … and joined the line. And the lady in front of myself and the nice French perfume representative man *grin* had a tantrum and went to stand in front of them. 
HOWEVER, in so doing, she also jumped the queue in front of the people who were behind the girls but originally in front of her. Her husband didn’t move. She proceeded to give the girls some or other lip which they disdainfully dismissed and then ignored. Typical 'speak to the hand' behaviour.

A foreign man – possibly German but I could be VERY wrong on this so I’m not going to fix a nationality other than to say "European" – walked over, grabbed her back pack (on her back) hauled her out bodily and threw her suitcase across the lobby (narrowly missing moi). 
Um… yes well no fine… as they say in Saffy land. The French man actually got IRATE. Told him off for treating a girl that way, you just don’t do that etc – a girl? Well I suppose the language cross over makes the translations interesting. This was easily a 50 year old lady. Her husband is not in any condition to physically assist – it looked like there was a medical condition there – stroke, Parkinsons, something that causes deterioration / loss of motor control. Poor man.

At any rate, I was shocked. It was a completely unnecessary action – on both counts. She did not have to throw her toys about the girls ‘jumping’ the line – they really weren’t and they were all going up to the same room / two rooms. Not like they were booking up all the space. And he could have been far more polite about it – amazing what being tired and messed around does to people. Not only children are poor at coping with that sort of thing. I’m sure retrospect was a bit of a kick up the jacksy for him; at least I hope it was. Sigh.

I sent Mr French man ahead of me as he was going to get a grand total of about 3 hours of sleep. His transport back to the airport was at 05h30am. I was checked in at 02h30am. Put phone on charge (that was another contributing factor for tears … I had no way of contacting anyone). Explained situation to Jason who put it very succinctly… ‘shit’. That about sums it up. heh

Out of sheer ‘argh’ I made a cup of coffee – it was rubbish. I enjoyed every last friggin' drop. And I ate a cookie. Khayelitsha Cookies. I think it was an oat cookie. The other one said ‘german nut’ … I was avoiding it on principle. I ate it later. Thank goodness for large mushroom portions! Oh wait … haha you see!


Enjoy the view for a few minutes – you’re 22 floors up with a view of Cape Town’s lights and the ferris wheel thing in the distance … it’s worth just enjoying the moments that present themselves in the chaos :)

Proceed to pass out in the loveliest bed ever (well it was at the time).
It's been fun.

To Be Continued…