Travel Day

NOTE: This is Tuesday's blog post.  We had some internet connection difficulties so I am posting it a day late.

Today we packed up and headed off to Cape Town.  Except it wasn’t quite that simple.  Our rental call is a small Chevy Aevo which really wasn’t made to hold 3 large suitcases, 1 small suitcase, a duffel bag, 7 carry-on items, 4 people, and 2 car seats.  When we arrived in Durban we didn’t have our luggage and there was only 3 of us so it wasn’t an issue.  Today the trunk was packed, there was a suitcase between the carseats and items at both of the girls' feet.

Our first stop in the journey was to obtain passport photos of Thandokuhle.  We found out yesterday that we need passport photos for tomorrow’s medical appointment (not your typical requirement for a doctor’s visit but this appointment is required for her US visa) so that was stop one in the journey.

From there we headed to the Durban airport and turned in our rental car.  We arrived early so we had time for lunch at the airport with 2 large luggage trolleys parked beside us.  Checking in was lengthy.  Thandokuhle was travelling under the adoption court order as her identification and then we had to check in all the bags.  Of course, my largest suitcase was overweight and we had to quickly re-distribute items to other bags.  Then the carseat bag had to be dropped off at the oversize luggage counter and we had a lot of carry-on items (including 1 plastic grocery bag filled with food and drinks – there’s no liquid restriction in South Africa).  At least everyone was helpful and considerate.

Then Thandokuhle experienced her first flight.  I was a little concerned about how it would go.  The house mother and social worker told us on Day 1 that she was scared of the airplane (or aeroplane as is said here).  Two days ago she said she was not flying.  Today she seemed excited about it until the plane actually started moving.  She was very concerned about the various noises, especially as we sped up to take off.  She started crying quietly and covered her face with her hands.  I hugged her and then distracted her with sticker books and mazes.  She did fine for most of the flight and was happy that she got a sandwich and a drink.  She got a little anxious again as we started our descent and did not like the sound of the landing gear coming down.  She actually seemed the most upset as we taxied to the gate but by then I was able to say the flight was over.  I think this was a good first test run for her!

Once we arrived in Cape Town we had to retrieve all our luggage (thankfully, there were no issues) and rent our car.  This car is a little larger so it was not such a tight squeeze. As we exited the airport we saw gorgeous mountains in the distance.  The scenery in South Africa is absolutely amazing.  However, we also saw large settlements of tiny corrugated metal shacks where people are living in overcrowded and deeply impoverished conditions.  Then we took a wrong turn on our way to our accommodations and were quickly in a bad part of town.  The streets were crowded with people milling about and it was not the place to make a u-turn.  Of course, none of the streets had road signs which added to the stress.  Once we got straightened out we realized we were only a few minutes from where we are staying in a gated community along the ocean.  So, there is a mix of very poor areas right next to upscale houses with security guards and large fences. 

We rented a 3 bedroom townhouse for our stay in Cape Town and it is absolutely lovely.  We are the first renters after it was remodeled so we spent a lot of time telling the girls to “Don’t touch that!” and I had to move several decorations to higher ground.  However, we are now all unpacked and settled in.  There is no food in the pantry but we’ll have to take care of that tomorrow.