February 9 -10

February 9 - 10 

Police at London Heathrow Airport

Well, we made it to Heathrow Airport in style!!  We boarded the plane in Calgary and were just settling in for the flight, checking the movie listings, testing the leg room and getting comfortable when the Stewardess approached us and said, with a very pleasant British accent, “I’m sorry, there’s a problem with your booking, you’ll have to follow me.”  We were a bit confused (Julie more so because she couldn’t quite understand what she had said due to the accent).  We had booked our flight through some obscure travel discount company so anything was certainly possible!  We didn’t move right away and she explained that she needed to move us to other seats due to a booking issue and that we would be separated (anxiety setting in, Deb) and she had our names written on a piece of paper.  She said something about “Club World” and that we had a choice to either stay together where we were or follow her to our new seats and be separated.  I asked her if they were more comfortable to which she leaned over and whispered (in the same pleasant British accent) “It’s a bed.”  We chose to ditch each other for beds!  We had a good, restful flight, arrived at the Heathrow Airport and waited for the next leg of our trip.  Thank-you, British Airways and those responsible for our memorable experience!  

Joan and Michael Baumber at Heath

We met up with Michael and Joan and went on to wander through the departure lounge, sampling various free samples of liquor at the duty-free shops (Donna, it’s just like Costco, only all liquid), went back for seconds and finally caught our connecting flight and started the last leg of our arrival.  Not quite the same comfort we had for the first flight but we can’t expect to be that fortunate twice.  There definitely is something to be said for legroom and comfortable seats, however, during an 11 hour flight!  But, none-the-less we arrived safely in Cape Town.  We quickly bustled around the airport buying SIM cards and airtime, water for the long drive to Sedgefield and went and picked up the rental car.  Fortunately it was a drizzly overcast day because we fell asleep in the car and missed most of the drive! I can’t remember a time when I have been this exhausted!

                           

Cape Town Arrival

   

On our way between Cape Town and Sedgefield we stopped at a little restaurant on the side of the road for a beer and sandwiches.  R193 for four sandwiches, three beers and a cappuccino to keep our driver awake . . . . that’s equivalent to $21.75 Canadian!  I think we’re going to love this place!