Mostly today has been a lazy day. We didn’t even bother setting an alarm as we had nowhere in particular we had to be. That was nice although I still woke up before 7 AM. That was just wrong! We read email and messed around in the room and then headed down for breakfast. I’m going to miss the cappuccinos but it’s a good thing we are heading home as I only have two packets of stevia left and one bag of tea that I brought from home.
After breakfast we finished packing and then headed out for one last stroll on the promenade next to the ocean. We had decided to do this instead of trying to make it to the museums. I think we were both done. Secretly I was hoping we would run into the basset hound we had seen being walked. We left about the time we had seen him two days ago. I wasn’t very hopeful though. I mean, what are the odds?
Obviously the odds were really good because all of a sudden Doug stopped and said “There’s the basset hound!” He was up ahead of us being walked by a dog walker along with a few other dogs. Actually there were two dog walkers with groups of dogs. We caught up with them and I explained that we had bassets and asked if I could pet this one. I think they both thought I was nuts but I didn’t care. I got to pet my basset. I’ve been going through withdrawl:-). I do miss my big Kona girl. Anyway, I got to love on him and talk to him while Doug got pictures. I truly never expected to see a basset here in Africa of all places. And getting to pet him was just the icing on the cake.
He was a good boy, too, as most bassets are. I think he was still young as he wasn’t very big. He looked a bit confused as to why this stranger was interrupting his walk and petting him but he didn’t complain. He just looked at me with those sad basset eyes. Doug asked what his name was but it was something African so we didn’t really catch it. We petted him for a few minutes and then reluctantly let them go on their way. I didn’t even think about it until we walked away but the other dogs were really well behaved. None of them tried to get attention. In fact I completely forgot that they were there. I’m not even sure how many dogs the walkers had altogether. I was single focused 🙂
That encounter completely made my day. We kept walking and enjoying the beautiful day though. We saw lots of dogs playing on the beach getting wet in the waves. They were having a blast. Further along in the park we saw hang gliders landing. That was neat. They were coming off of the rump of Lion’s Head Mountain, I think. They looked like they were all having a great time. I saw one crash and burn when I was a teenager so hang gliding has never appealed to me.
I didn’t want to push my foot too far, plus I was starting to get hot so we turned around. We ended up walking for over an hour. I kept my eyes peeled for my basset friend as we made our way back to the hotel but I never saw him. I counted my blessings that I had gotten to pet him once.
The rest of the day we read, wrote, took care of email, got lunch at the hotel…Basically we marked time. And of course, dealt with load shedding. I will NOT miss that at all. When we got back from the walk there was no power. The A/C would have felt really good but it was out, of course.
Late afternoon we both showered and finished packing. We went down to the lobby extra early to wait for our driver. He showed up 20 minutes early so we got to the airport early. We were several miles from the hotel when my Apple Watch buzzed me with a message. It told me that I had left my iPad back at the hotel. What! Instant heart attack. Once I calmed down a few seconds later, I knew my watch was wrong. I had a distinct memory of packing it up and putting it in my backpack. I checked and sure enough, there it was. I have no clue why my watch told me that. I’ve never gotten that message before so it was just bizarre. What a way to start our trip home!
At the airport I was glad we were flying Business Class because the economy check-in line was long already at four hours before our flight. Goodness knows how long they had been lined up. We only had two people ahead of us. Of course we had to wait until exactly 7:30 PM before KLM would start checking anybody in although people were there ready to work. They were all just gossiping with each other with the long lines of people waiting. It didn’t make sense to me but there you go.
It was while we were standing in line that we got some startling news. Our flight was no longer a non-stop to Amsterdam. We now had to stop in Johannesburg to refuel. Apparently there is a fuel shortage here. So instead of having a 3.5 hour layover in Amsterdam which gave us plenty of time to get to our gate, we have an hour. Oy vey! The joys of traveling. You just never know what is going to happen.
We zipped through security and Passport Control and made our way to the lounge. It was actually a nice lounge for as small as it was. We had plenty of places to plug in to recharge if we needed to. We visited with some other people on our same flight to Amsterdam. They are in our boat except worse. They arrive in Amsterdam 30 minutes after their next flight has left. The airlines really should warn people when they do things like this. As soon as we got to the lounge I texted Samantha and let her know what was going on. I wanted to give her a heads-up as she is suppose to fetch us from the airport.
The four hours went by fairly quickly. We loaded up the plane and got settled in. It was an older plane and I wasn’t crazy about the set-up but it beat the heck out of flying economy so no true complaints. I took off my boot and settled in for some movie viewing although it was midnight and I was tired. I was surprised when they fed us dinner on the leg between Cape Town and Jo’Burg as it was only an 1.5 hour flight. They did it though. I can’t say I was impressed with the food. It didn’t trip my trigger. The food they were serving in coach sounded better :-). Ours was too fancy shmancy. I did enjoy my sparkling wine though :-). After I finished eating, I began my traditional movie marathon.
I slept through portions of “Kramer Vs Kramer” which I saw way back in my twenties. It was still good. You just have to love Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep. I did watched the majority of “Jurassic World: Domination.” Then I went on a streak of sad movies. I watched Ann Hathaway in “One Day” where she dies in the end. Then I watched a newer one called “All My Life” which is about a couple that get married despite a cancer diagnosis. It was based on a true story. Although it ended with him dying, it was uplifting because it focused more on how glad she was to have had time with him rather than on how much she missed him. I liked it.
We landed in Amsterdam 2.5 hours late because of our fueling stop in Jozi. As a result we had to hustle to make our next flight. There wasn’t a wheelchair waiting on the jetway but we did see one once we were in the terminal. And glory be, they had my name :-). However, they wanted me to ride in the cart but we had to wait until the cart was full before we could go. Meanwhile the clock was ticking. There was also a lady there with a wheelchair. They agreed to let us have the wheelchair if Doug pushed it. That seemed like a better way to go than waiting on the cart.
We made it to our gate with 30 minutes to spare even though we had to go through security where I even had to take my boot off for them to inspect. We were lucky because there was literally no line there. Then we just had to hustle to our gate. Since we had been worried about making this flight, it was a relief when we made it to the gate with plenty of time.
We boarded right on time which was great because we had another tight layover in Boston because of changes in flight times. This flight was a Delta flight and the cubicle was more to my liking. I didn’t have to unbuckle to reach the entertainment screen on this flight. Plus I had been able to chose my lunch a couple of days ago. I knew what I was getting although at first the flight attendant told me I hadn’t chosen a meal. She went back and rechecked. I knew I had. And I had.
By this point we had been traveling for well over 12 hours. Plus our flights hadn’t started until midnight. I was so tired even though I had dozed on and off on our twelve hour flight. I slept through the new version of “Father of the Bride.” I woke up enough to watch the first four episodes of “1883” which is the prequel to “Yellowstone” the TV series. It was good enough that I had no problems keeping my eyes open.
I had just started watching the fifth episode when it was time to land in Boston. The race was on once again. We had about an hour and a half here. That would have been okay except we had to go through customs, get our luggage, recheck our luggage, all of the typical returning to the U.S. things. If it took took too long for us to get our bags, we could miss our flight.
However, Fortune was on our side. I was met right outside of the airplane with a wheelchair. She wheeled me to the Global Entry kiosk. Five minutes later we were on our way to the baggage claim area. Our bags were off fast and we zipped through rechecking them. It was at that point that our journey to the gate slowed way down. We had to go from E Terminal to A terminal which you could do either by walking or taking the bus. My chair driver suggested the bus as it would be faster. It would have been faster if one had ever shown up! We saw all kinds of buses but not the one we needed to get us to A. We finally quit waiting and just hoofed it.
I’m glad we had her with us because it was a bit complicated. She got us there though. We went through security and then she wheeled us a million miles to our gate. We made it to the gate with five minutes to spare. I texted Sam to let her know that we would make our flight so she could pick us up. Then we boarded.
For this flight we were traveling Economy Plus or whatever Delta calls it. It was only a 2.5 hour flight so that was no big deal. I did miss getting my pre-flight sparkling wine though :-). We did get snacks and water so we didn’t starve. I watched the fifth episode of “1883” and then dozed for the remainder of the flight. It went by much faster than I figured it would. I was afraid that the time would drag.
Once we landed in Tampa, everything went smoothly. Our luggage even came out fast. Usually it takes forever here. Sam was waiting for us with Leia. It was SO good to be home. I had loved the trip but I was happy to be back to my happy family.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I think I have pretty well covered Southern Africa, so instead of final thoughts, I will leave end this fabulous journey with two myths I learned in South Africa. One is how the crocodile got its bumpy-textured skin and the other is how the snake lost its legs.
Once upon a time, the crocodile had beautiful,l smooth, golden skin. He would only come out at night in order to protect it. During the day, he would stay in the muddy water. No sunburn for the croc! However, the crocodile grew addicted the admiration of his fellow creatures. He craved their praise so he started coming out during the day to show off his beautiful skin. The more they praised him, the more conceited he became until he thought he was above everybody else and would boss all of the other animals around.
Now the other African animals did not take this change of personality lying down. They started ignoring him. And the more the crocodile’s skin was exposed to the sun, the more bumpy and ugly it became. Eventually it turned into what appeared to be armor. The crocodile was humiliated. He fled into the muddy water to hide his now hideous skin. Even today he will flee into the murky depth if others show up with only his eyes and nostrils above the level of the water.
As for the snake, once upon a time in Africa, he had legs. However, he, too, like the crocodile above, was arrogant. When the moon warned the mantis that a horrible drought was coming, Mantis warned all of the other animals that they must move from the area because it would soon become a desert. He, his family, and all of the other animals packed up and trekked away to far off places. However, the snake was lazy. He didn’t believe Mantis so he told him, “Your drought will not worry me. I’m staying here.” Soon, though, no rain fell and all of the grass withered and died. All of the fat frogs hopped away. The snake had nothing to eat. He decided that he better follow the other animals after all.
However, by the time he decided this, the land had become a desert and with each step the snake took, his legs sank deep into the sand making it difficult to walk. Out of desperation he cried out to the moon, “I am ashamed of myself. Save me from the sun and I will change my ways!”
The moon took pity on him and shrank the snake’s legs to nothing. Now with his gleaming skin he could glide across the hot sand without sinking into it. Did the snake really change his arrogant ways? We will never know. However, since there is a general distaste for snakes, I think the answer is “No.”
Tales from the Trail 