The tales of intrepid travellers Pinky & Liezl - by Liezl Cromwell

The day began in good spirits albeit at 3am.  Pinks, duly collected at 4am as planned (Phew…she is not a morning person, see the pics of her in our latest fun day – Ed note) and check in also proceeded smoothly for our flight from Cape Town to East London, as this would be just a quick trip, in and out for a couple of hours to attend a meeting. Then, things took the first dramatic turn when a suspicious sharp object was seen on the X ray during the security check.  On closer inspection (and after profuse denial of packing anything that could harm fellow passengers), a pair of scissors innocently residing in a pencil case was apprehended and confiscated. Not to mention that this pair of scissors had managed to fly to Durban and back, undetected the previous week!

A strong cup of coffee was needed to calm the nerves, which of course were aggravated as said travellers left a lap top behind at security check point after the scissor incident. During a quick toilet stop before boarding we were horrified to hear our names over the public system to please go to gate A9. This was a first for me Liezl, (uhuh – Ed note) who was frustrated as we were only five minutes late. With Pinks giggling and myself still grumpy for having being called to board, we stumbled on the awaiting bus only to meet glares and sarcastic comments and then set off for the plane. As the red cheeks subsided and settled in our seats we were informed of a delay in take off due to the dense fog conditions. Argggg

Arrival and progression to Queenstown, where our meeting was to take place was incident free. In fact the journey to Queenstown was scenic and serene. AAAAAAAAAAAAA absolute serenity. The meeting was productive and successful and afterwards we searched for a restaurant in this unknown town, as our last meal was early morning. Then we encountered a  bump in the road, or shall we say one long bumpy road. Having decided on The Spur we set out walking (in our high heels) as the locals said that it is only a two minute walk ….which literally grew into a long walk to find something to eat although often reassured by the locals that it’s not far, it’s just around the corner.  Several blocks later we found the elusive Spur and enjoyed a good meal. Hunger satisfied, we had to make the long trek back to the car… in the now pouring rain…in our high heels and trying to save our hairdo’s from going into a praise and worship mode standing in all directions. We made it back drama free to East London, not a heel broken and returned the rental car intact and on time.

On checking in we discovered that the only flight (ours) leaving for Cape Town was overbooked. No! The check in clerk tried very hard to convince us to take the 2pm flight the next day, offering free overnight accommodation, free flight and what not. We just wanted to get home and hopefully vote the next day.  To be on the safe side we went straight to the departure lounge, only to find out that the flight had been delayed for another hour. Long, tedious hours were then spent waiting to board, when suddenly late at night it was all systems go. The next moment we found ourselves speeding down the runway, tired but relieved to be finally heading home. Then, fifteen minutes into the flight the pilot announced that we would need to detour to Port Elizabeth as no planes where landing in Cape Town due to bad fog conditions. The darkened aircraft was filled with shocked silence, as we circled over Port Elizabeth harbour for forty-five minutes to burn off the excess fuel. Around and around we flew only te grow more dizzy and nauseous from this circular movement. This was the lowest point for both of us.

 On landing close to midnight we were then shuttled to a hotel for the night, starving and with little other than the clothes on our backs.  Oh yes, we did have an umbrella and stress ball which was part of the training kit, but fatigue prevented us from using it as all I heard from my fellow traveller at this point was hayi suka wena! We were grateful to receive toothpaste and toothbrushes at the hotel, although a highly distressed Pinky could not convince them to also supply some clean underwear! We managed to sweet talk a closing restaurant to provide us will a meal at midnight.

The following morning began early, at 6:20 am.  I saw how my bewildered colleague, who is not a morning person struggled to come to terms with the fact that our 7am shuttle was already waiting for us.  She desperately needed strong coffee to cope. I won’t go in to detail of how the coffee machine stopped working and like a ship through the night, a geisha on stiletto’s or shall we say a extrovert without caffeine the before mentioned colleague left a poor young blonde in her dust as she elbowed her way through to the shuttle.

When checking in, the system would not allow us access as it was past the boarding time, leading to some scrabbling around by officials as they were faced with a long queue of sleep deprived people…and two Cape Town girls fuming silently in the anticipation of maybe missing another flight! Finally take off and homeward bound!!  No announcement of detours to George. Phew!

Article Written by Liezl Cromwell