Home, safe and sound (as sound as I can ever be), after a wonderful holiday, eating, laughing, eating, playing with my gorgeous grandchildren, eating, cheering for the Lions and Stormers rugby teams and Real Madrid and Barcelona football teams! And, did I mention eating? And lots of vino blanco!
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| Friday's lunch......paella, what else!! |
Catherine and I flew from Cape Town on the 14 April. Our Emirates flight was scheduled to leave at 17.55 (our time) and arrive in Dubai 05.30 (Dubai time). That gave us a clear two hours before our Madrid flight left at 07.40 (Dubai time). Plenty of time to get through the hugeness of Dubai airport, and make our way to the departure gate.
Yes. Well.
Our flight hadn't arrived by the time we were supposed to take off! And of course that meant that we arrived two hours late in Dubai. Add to that a bus ride from our plane to the terminal building which took as long as it takes us to drive from Jacobsbaai to Vredenburg, and then a gallop through said building to get to the departure gate that was as far away as it could be. Dubai airport must cover as much land as our entire village, perhaps more, and the only way to get from one end to the other is to run!
And of course the flight was closed by the time we arrived panting and furious at the gate. There was the plane, still there, but they would not let us on as our bags were still being off-loaded and goodness knows how long that would take. By this time I was ready to lie down on the floor and scream with frustration and anger. It was not our fault that we were late, but there was nothing that anyone was prepared to do for us. By now, I was eyeing the little Ambulance truck as I was sure that my blood pressure was heading through the top of my head!
So, another camel's trek to the Passenger Help Desk. But at a walk this time! There, we were given a voucher for a meal and a coffee (whoopee), and were booked on to the next Madrid flight................seven hours later. In fact we took off an hour later than we should have landed in Madrid! (I know that sentence sounds odd, read it slowly out loud, it does make sense!) And seven hours in the transit area of any airport is no joke. We found some long chairs and tried to sleep but it was hopeless.
Fortunately the next flight took off on time.
But, we arrived very very late in Madrid and in pouring rain! Andrew was there to meet us and by the time we had dragged our way through Madrid airport, collected our baggage which fortunately was on the plane, and met up with him, it was heading towards tomorrow!
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| Catherine and I had an apartment on the 7th floor. |
The children were waiting up to see us, so we dropped our bags off at our apartment and went to say hello! There we found a wonderful meal and some very welcome wine.
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| Catherine, Andrew, Mateo, Sasha and Emma! |
And only then did I relax.
And the holiday began!
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| Our favourite jamon shop! |
And it was everything a holiday could be!
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| My actual Dubai-Cape Town plane!! |
And before I knew it, Andrew was dropping me at the airport for my return flight to Dubai and then Cape Town.
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| Sunday's lunch!! At a lovely Asian restaurant. |
With no hiccups or delays. And Rob and Alfie were there to meet me!
And it's great to be home!
1 comment:
It's great to have you home sister dear, and a very happy birthday today! I still remember the day you were born!!
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