We Made It!

To London, England / Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia / Cape Town, South Africa -- August 30-31

Well, I am happy to say, we have in fact made it to South Africa! The last two days have blurred together a bit, starting with a 240 mile drive from Beadlam to Heathrow and followed by two 7-hour flights -- first to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and then to Cape Town -- and finally a half hour taxi ride to our hotel, here in Bantry Bay.

Our flight departed Heathrow at 9 p.m. and the drive, according to Google, would take less than four hours, so leaving David and Margaret's at 11:00 AM seemed like good planning. We did, however, spend half an hour at the post office on the way out of town to send our tent to Boston -- we're not expecting to camp much in Africa and Asia, plus we'd like to have it next year for a potential ride across some or all of the US (we are gluttons). Anyone with free time on their hands is welcomed and encouraged to join us for some or all. We would likely leave Boston in the middle of May, which, given our slow pace, would make a ride back to San Jose doable.

The drive went well -- one stop for lunch and a couple for gas -- but as we neared London we ran into a little traffic and soon the drive became much more stressful as we frantically tried to figure out exactly where the Budget return lot was. The Budget agent was sure we had plenty of time, but by that point it was already 6:45 and we weren't yet at the terminal. Naturally, the baggage check in line was a complete mob fest, and to our amazement, when we finally got to the front of the queue, the woman explained that we really needed tickets out of the South Africa before they could let us onto the plane!  

We did, however, have the original birth certificates for Dex and Kylie to prove that we were indeed their parents. Nevertheless, the manager was summoned to see if we could be allowed to check in our bags. She finally suggested signing a waiver (exonerating Eithiopian Air for our lack of compliance), which we were only too happy to sign -- time was a-wasting.

After getting through security at 8:15, we literally ran through the terminals to get to gate B44 just as the final boarding call for ET 701 was being called. Phew! The panic was over... or so we thought. 

The boarding gate attendant once again requested passports and birth certificates. No problem. She frowned as she compared the passports and birth certificate. “Margaret Mary Gehred," who is she? Uh oh. We quickly explained that Meg was short for Margaret, but she looked unconvinced and asked us to step aside. She would need to verify with the front desk that we were okay to board. A few tense minutes later and we were finally allowed to pass.

Seventeen hours later, including a stop at the basic and congested Addis Ababa terminal, and we had made it. The final hurdle was to convince the customs agent that we not only were Dex and Kylie's parents, but that we really did plan on leaving the country, in the not so distant future. She was a bit of a hard sell, but eventually seemed satisfied.

The taxi driver we hooked up with outside the terminal, gave us a reduced rate after he decided to pack in four more passenger. As we zoomed along the highway into town, we couldn't help notice the looming silouhette of table mountain as well as the huge stretches of shanty towns along sections of the freeway. Despite the erratic lane changes, Kylie was sound asleep as we arrived at the very nice Bantry Bay Suites. We rallied long enough to find a nearby Simply Asian restaurant for dinner, ready for our next big adventure... Africa.