Saturday 28 August / Sunday 29 August, 2010
So, I can totally identify with Tom Hanks in The Terminal. I believe I have, in fact, made Terminal 5A at London Heathrow my home away from home. I know where the best plugs are (well, actually, which ones don’t work), I used every possible bathroom in the place. I had my first solo dining experience (in a real restaurant, Anna). Well, an airport restaurant, which I’m sure was far easier! And I’ve test driven multiple chair locations and can recommend some for comfort, some for best people watching venue, some for quiet getaway and serene scenery. Turns out the flight that was supposed to be leaving at 7:00 (or 19:05) was delayed at least an hour. So it wasn’t until 20:00 hours that I left the hellish haven that was 5A, took the train to 5B and proceeded to wait an additional 45 minutes before board the plane. By a stroke of some god-sent luck (or maybe some really excellent karma returned to me), I ended up with two empty seats next to me. I settled in for a little private movie, my veggie meal, a lovely little pill and stretched out across all three seats with all the pillows and all the blankets for a delightful nearly 7 hour, badly needed snooze.
Just before boarding I met up with my roommate for the duration of the trip, fellow GAIA staffer Nadia. And thank heaven, because without her I would still be in a queue in the Johannesburg airport. Literally. No, seriously.
Of course British Air in SFO could not (would not?) check my bag all the way through to Malawi - only as far as Johannesburg. So when we landed in Joburg, we had to go through customs (easy - my first stamp in my new passport!), then collect our luggage (easy) (but #@(*#(*!! my bag was heavy) and then traipse back up to "check in" to South Africa Air. Just us and 6 million other travelers. Oh, okay I exaggerate. It was only 4 million. Between our flight getting out of Heathrow nearly 2 hours late, and then having to do all this, our 3.5 hour layover was suddenly only 1 hour. And the check in line alone was a possible 3 hr line (before security & customs). Uh-oh. So... I asked a porter for some help, and he sped us through both getting our bags checked and getting boarding passes. Seriously, he just went to the head of lines and railroaded us through. He made it clear that we should hurry, he was very fast and this was a very big favor he was doing and he should receive a tip. I said I only had US $. He had no problem with that. So for a $40 bribe... uh, er, tip (sorry, IRS no receipt), we made our connecting flight and found the rest of our party. Hooray. I think there are still people waiting in that line a Joburg (this was a "normal" Sunday morning. I can’t imagine what that place looked like during the World Cup!!?).
But the travel fun isn’t over yet. Oh no. (Hey, if I had to do it in 48 hours real time.... you can settle down with this novelette.)
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