Arrival In South Africa

With a potential 40 hour trip ahead of us, we departed for Flint airport last Tuesday afternoon. Our biggest fear was having 4 large suitcases, 2 car seats, a double-wide jogging stroller, 2 carry-ons, a laptop bag, and a diaper bag and that we had 2 airlines, 3 flights, and 3 countries to bridge. We thought between both airlines and international and domestic flights we would face anywhere from $150 to $1000 dollars in baggage fees. To our surprise, at Flint all of our bags were checked all the way through to Johannesburg, and I stepped over the counter to thank the ticket agent.
Our luck stopped there. Soon the incoming plane was delayed. We boarded our small plane to Chicago and held Taelyn and Kaelia throughout, finally making it to O’Hare. But we landed on the furthest runway possible from our gate, and at perhaps the world’s largest airport, that meant a more than 25 minute taxi and full speed before the gate. A mad dash to the international terminal and to security (where we were stopped and questioned like terrorists for 10 minutes) left us without time to eat, which we desperately wanted with more than 25 hours of travel ahead. But after clearing passport control, we stood in the line that didn’t move. And this is not figuratively speaking. We watched people who entered behind us clear security more than 50 people ahead of us. Our line was incredibly slow. We did clear and in a mad dash to the gate we arrived exactly 30 minutes prior to departure. No problem, except they were going to close the doors. We pleaded, and after a 10 minute SNAFU with re-printing our boarding passes, we were last on the plane. Our baggage – questionable.
(Note: between the ticket scan and the airplane door there were 10 police officers. Why? Perhaps this was a Middle Eastern airlines going to a Middle Eastern city. Yet when we reached Abu Dhabi, there were no officers, no need to remove shoes, liquids, and laptops at security, no need to take the baby out of the Bjorn or stroller, and yet no problems. Perhaps terrorism is accomplishing its goal – to make people scared.)
Etihad Airlines was plush. We had a bulkhead, a bassinet, individual TVs with on-demand video, nice meals, wine, and although we were in a row of 4 seats across the middle, no one else showed. So why was this the worst flight known to man? Kaelia just did not want to lie down. Taelyn wanted desperately to run in the isle. It was about 10pm, so we hoped both would pass out. No such luck. Both kids cried and would not rest. After several hours of fighting it, we dosed Taelyn with Benadryl. She was not phased in the first 20 minutes, but after 45 minutes she would trip on objects on the floor, land face down, then look up and laugh before plunging head-first down again. It was like a drunken sorority chick during freshman rush. But it took hold and soon she was out on the floor. After 2 hours, she woke in a night terror scream that took 30 minutes to calm down. At 4am, we were not the most popular row on the plane.
Meanwhile, the flight attendants were coming by to tell people in the bulkhead the kids could not sleep on the floor. They made arguments for safety reasons and protocol. We hid T and continued our stupor. But finally we were caught and I pulled her from the floor where she sat crunched in the seat (the bulkhead armrests do not go up). After a while, I just held her since it looked so awful. Taelyn slept for about 4 hours of the 14 hour trip, Sarah in and out for a few, and I logged 1 whole hour (but saw Brooklyn’s Finest and most of Avatar along with 5 episodes of How I Met Your Mother).
A 2-hour layover allowed us to chat with new teachers on the same flight, and then we were off for another 9-hour stint. The plan was to drug T on this flight but she had napped in the layover and au natural was the route. It didn’t last. I grabbed an empty row in the back and sat with Taelyn while Sarah had Kaelia in the bulkhead. After hours of corralling, wrestling, TV, and reading, Sarah came back and was able to get Taelyn to lie down. I grabbed one hour before being woke by T, and together they sat the rest of the flight.
The family arrived and claimed bags. All that was left was the umbrella stroller. But where was it? As Sarah walked off to ask for help, I heard a unique clicking noise. I turned to see a brown stroller wheeling away by a family. After informing Sarah, who chased the family down, we all discussed the ownership of the stroller. The possessing group claimed that a gate agent had given them the stroller. We, however, argued that it was not an Etihad labeled stroller, that it was carrying in the sack purple size 6 kid’s flip-flops, yet they were pushing a 3-year-old boy, and the tag on it said “Walker.” Lawyered.
We met our group outside customs, and after introductions and niceties, loaded the busses. After all was in, Robyn, my new boss asked, “So, no car seats?” Bugger. Those were still probably rotating on the oversized baggage rack. I sprinted back in to be told that I could not enter through the exit. I ran to the entrance, but without a boarding pass could not go through security. Back to the exit. Still no. Then I found the employee security and a man went to find an Etihad Airline agent. Things move slowly here. After 20 minutes, a man escorted me through where, sure enough, those car seats sat. And we were off.
Pictures and a story of the house will be in the next post, but so far, South Africa just about rocks. We were able to get everything we want (at what price is the problem), but can move around easily and the weather is fantastic. The people are very nice and although mostly black, you see white people spotted everywhere. The accent is like a cross between British and Jamaican, so sometimes people say something and you pass it off as another language (there are 11 official languages here not to mention the Germans, Dutch, French, Portuguese, Asian, and others around). But then they repeat it to you and you realize that all along they were speaking English. Our impression that South Africa is not Africa is true. This place is very modern with a nice “overseas” flavor about the roads and people. We are impressed. Stay tuned for the amazing house and school we are in.