Today in the final part of Trust member Kate Thompson’s South Africa diary, Kate heads for home
Days 34 & 35: Monday, 12 July 2010/Tuesday, 13 July 2010
After a leisurely breakfast I checked out by the designated time of 11.00 and left my South African phone for a member of staff. My two bags are incredibly heavy and I’m not looking forward to getting home, especially when I arrive at Letchworth station where there is no lift. Along with several others, I spent the time on my laptop, having first finished reading yesterday’s paper. At 14.00 a few of us went across to the shopping centre for lunch at the ‘Green Peppercorn’, where we had a nice – and leisurely – meal.
We left for the airport at just before 18.00 for a 21.20 flight and that’s when the chaos began! The queue for check-in was horrendous; I joined it later than most of the others as I had had my bag wrapped in plastic just in case the zips gave way! There were several lines of people all congregating on just three or four check-in desks and it took nearly two hours!
So plans for spending the last few rand, having a farewell drink, etc evaporated. I learnt that in order to claim the VAT refund, not only did you need to show your receipts (which I had kept) but the actual items! It did not say that on the website I checked and of course everything I’d bought was now encased in plastic! I decided they needed the money more than I did. Having finally checked in – and paid R480 for the extra bag, when the BA website said it would be £30 – all I had time to do was to grab a bottle of water and run to the gate….
I was sitting in one of the four seats in the middle of the plane (a jumbo this time) but there was no-one on the outside seat so I moved to that one. I actually slept for quite a long time, something I’ve never managed to do before, so the time passed quite quickly. I tried to watch the film ‘Invictus’, about Nelson Mandela and the 1995 rugby world cup, but the soundtrack was very difficult to hear even at full volume, so I gave up; I’ll see if my local video rental shop has a copy.
We had left a few minutes after the scheduled time but we landed a few minutes early, at just after 7.00 (UK time). Having got through border control relatively quickly I waited for my luggage – and waited and waited. There were several people who had not got one of their bags but neither of mine appeared. When I went to BA customer services there was a long line and the lady who dealt with me guessed I’d been on the Jo’burg flight. It appeared that the bags had not left! Actually I wasn’t too unhappy, as now someone else will have the dubious pleasure of bringing them to me! So I got on the underground to King’s Cross (sleeping most of the way) and just managed to get a train to Letchworth which arrived at about 10.30.
Final thoughts
I’m really glad I went on the trip and to some extent the football became a sideshow once England was knocked out. I’m still angry with the England players and, as one lady said, I don’t think they understand how let down we all feel. But it was the trip of a lifetime and I feel privileged to have the done and seen the things I did. I’d like to think that I will never complain again about trivial things and will continue to count my many blessings.
Nice Dutch Tribute
And thank you for sharing the journey with me.
The Foxes Trust board would like to thank Kate for the considerable effort she has put in writing the diary and sending updates to us throughout the trip