Easter holiday time...
It was that time of year again when the Easter Bunny was due to come to town. And as in the past few years, Mark and I decided it was time to make our way back to the motherland. We had people to see, baby’s to meet, and animal spotting to be done.
As the Cawood luck would have it, there was drama...always! Flight drama this time! But to spare you the very long story (mainly because I am so over telling it for the 100 millionth time...I'm still awaiting my refund from Emirates), I will summarize and give you the gist.
Mark and I were due to fly together, but then work arrangements for him changed, so he left for SA 2 weeks before me, leaving me to fly solo (for the very first time in about 7 years on a long haul flight). On the day I was due to leave, I tried my luck at checking in online...1st problem. No aisle seats available, the A380 (one of the reasons I chose the ridiculous time to fly – just to experience the A380) had been changed to a boeing 777 and a security box came up on screen. I called Emirates, only to be told that I can’t check in online as Joburg is considered a high fraudulent area and I needed to present the credit card at the counter – 2nd problem. Mark and his credit card were already in SA! Bring on the supervisor...who helpfully gave me 2 options! Either cancel the ticket and buy a new one at the current cost (which of course was now way higher than the fee I had paid booking months in advance), not a great option as I don’t have my own credit card here; or if Mark could present his card to the ticket office in Sandton that would be considered the security check done. We went with option 2 and Mark eventually got to the Sandton ticket office (a mission in itself, considering his offices are down town and he doesn't have his own car) before it closed. But nevertheless, it was worth it, as all was done and dusted as per the instructions from Dubai...or so we thought.
Good thing I’m one of those pedantic airport goers, insisting I’m there the full 3 hours (or more) required in advance, and I got there early. Once at the check-in counter I was asked for the card...surprise surprise! I tried to explain that there should be a note on the system etc etc...but the lady ensured me there was no note – 3rd problem! So now being 1am in the morning, all those who had assisted me in both Dubai and Joburg would of course no longer be on duty (or awake), and I was told my only alternative was to cancel the ticket and buy a new one...which I did, at an even higher price than what was quoted on the phone earlier that day! 4th problem was that I could no longer get back on the same return flight as it was over booked to the point that I could not even be wait-listed. Just thankful it wasn’t the flight I was due to get then and there, I eventually trotted off on my way... seething and very annoyed... although now with only a short time to wait before boarding (one plus)!
Arrival in Joburg was smooth and pain free, I met my mom who had flown in from PE and although she arrived after me, she was actually waiting for me when I came through. We made our way to the train together, for our first Gautrain experience! Very impressive for SA! The train still being so new, was clean and there were seats available and the trip to Sandton was only a few minutes with only something like 3 stops en route. Mark and his driver met us as Sandton Station and we headed off to Claire and family. Let the holiday begin!
Joburg private school holidays are a little different to those of the PE government schools, so the girls were still at school. Claire had parent/teacher meetings booked for the afternoon, and Mark, my mom and I made it just in time for a quick change before heading out to pick up the girls from school. We sat doing homework with them, whilst Claire had her meetings....how the girls have grown! I still don’t think I can fully comprehend just what 'big' girls they are now. Reading, maths...ah so grown up! Once the meetings were done, we headed off to their swimming practice. Long gone are the days of
baby pool fun and games. Both are doing very well in their swimming (Tayla even came second recently (in her category) at a gala of the top 10 private schools in Joburg). Amazeballs!
Mark was only with us the one night, before flying off to Cape Town early the next morning for his cousin, Michael’s wedding. I unfortunately could not make it, otherwise I would have had no time with my family at all. But it sounds like all the boys had fun together. Mark and his dad drove the wedding cars for the bridesmaids and bride respectively and they both seemed to thoroughly enjoy the wedding, and of course their little mini Cape Town holiday afterwards, including a successful wine tour in Franschoek.
In Joburg town, the ‘Cawood’ girls headed off on their own little mini holiday within a holiday. On our way to fetch the girls from school on their last day, packed and ready for the road trip to follow...we headed out, but before we could even get out of Claire’s gated community, we were in an accident. Thankfully only very minor, thanks to Claire’s braking skills. A rather distracted man, decided to run a stop street, not seeing us at all...but thankfully only hitting the side of our car at the back (just next to where I was sitting of course). But no one was hurt and only a few scratches to our car (his was a little more worse for wear), we got his details and headed off on our way. We were going to the Pilanesberg for 2 nights, for game drives and a day at the Valley of the Waves at Sun City (both a first for me). We did lots of game drives, early mornings, mornings, noon and late afternoon, spotting monkeys, rhino, elephants, hippos, giraffes, zebra, wildebeest, kudu, waterbuck, bushpigs, rooi hartebeest, impala, springbuck, black tailed jackals, dung beetles, birds of all sorts, turtles you name it. We even had a split second look at a lion. So the only things we were really missing were the leopard, cheetahs and buffalo... not bad going all in all. Chesney was our number one spotter, whilst Granny wasn’t too far behind her (eyes both young and old).
Valley of the Waves was lots of fun too...the girls loved the ‘big’ waves and of course the tube rides and water slides. For me the water took some getting used to...clearly I’ve become soft in my old age (and the fact that they heat/cool the pool water in Dubai as appropriate, but with it rarely being cold at all). So a little on the cold side for me, it took me awhile to get in. We headed off for a couple of tube slides before breaking for lunch...Steers for me...nowhere else has managed to beat their chips EVER! Followed by yet more slides and tube rides for the girls and Claire (whilst I took pics!) :)
Before we knew it, our 3 days were up and it was time to head back to Joburg before it got too dark. But somewhere along route, I had to make a toilet stop, which resulted in us doing a bit of a loop around a not so nice part of town (and by this time it was dark). Nevertheless all was fine, until not even 45 min or so from home we had another slight accident. But as you do in Joburg (well South Africa) in general, in the dark and a not so nice part of time, you keep on driving... This time if you can believe our luck, a bakkie travelling on the opposite side of the road to us, just as it was passing us, something long and white fell off the back of it...hitting us in the front (this time). Thankfully it somehow managed to hit just in the right spot (if you can even get such a thing), as any higher and it would have come through the windscreen and any lower, it would have broken a light! So when we got home, we surveyed the damage and apart from lots of mud, there was only a slight scratch! Another lucky break for us! Good thing we were travelling in Grant’s 4x4 and not Claire’s car...otherwise both minor accidents could have resulted in rather different outcomes...but nevertheless we were home safe and sound after an eventful holiday.
The next morning came and it was time for my next flight...Mark had organised his driver to collect me and take me to Sandton Station, where I got the train again back to the airport.
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