Tuesday, July 1, 2014

India (3) Depart Cape Town

I woke up irritated by my ring tone. Irritation soon turned to panic when I saw it was my mother AND that the time was 04:45. WHAT?! I still can't figure out what happened. Had I actually slept through my alarm or did I simply ignore it? Did it even go off?

I took the quickest shower ever, pulled my clothes on (no makeup!), grabbed my luggage and ran outside to where I assumed my airport transfer would be waiting for me. When I saw no one there, I checked my phone again. They would have called me. I didn't want to start panicking at all. I still had time.

Long story short, my driver overslept too! We made it to the airport in good time and after wrapping my luggage and checking in, I was at my boarding gate.

It was a pleasant flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg. As soon as we landed, I got a message from my dad saying that my mum's flight was delayed from East London. Instead of meeting her at Domestic Arrivals, I would have to go directly to the boarding gate - where my mum was supposed to be escorted to.

At OR Tambo, I slowly made my way to International departures, but kept turning back expecting to see my mum, or the arrivals boards to see if her flight had landed. My stomach turned as I reached Passport Control. OK my mother will surely make it. I hesitantly made my way through to have my passport stamped. I continued walking ever so slowly to the gate. I paced up and down waiting for my mother. Passengers started boarding. Still no sign of mother.

Boarding gate to Mumbai
I was literally the only passenger still waiting to board, when I saw my mother huffing and puffing as she made her way to the gate. She wasn't picked up from the aircraft as promised, but was met by someone who helped her with her bags (thank you!). 

Absolutely relieved, mum and I finally boarded the flight. Relief!

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