On the 13th of December myself and Andy set off to South Africa for a holiday. I was in need of seeing my family and friends again – furthermore we both needed a break from everyday life and some rest and relaxation.
The first few hours were spent in a car on the way to Heathrow. We didn’t know how long the road we took on that particular day would take as we normally travel down the M1 towards London. Unfortunately our exit was closed on the 13th and we were led down the M40. The road felt longer, although it probably wasn’t that much longer. We arrived at the parking lot 3 hours early (luckily they weren’t too picky and allowed us to hand in our car) and this meant that we had nearly 6 hours to spend on Heathrow.
After a quick lunch which consisted of a bagel we made our way through passport control into the duty free area of Heathrow. We wandered around for a while before getting some books and retiring to reading until our gate was announced.
Once on the plane I was quite relaxed. I was on my way home. They served us with food and I didn’t even make it through one on-flight movie before I passed out. I was tired. Unfortunately Andy thought that keeping hydrated was higher on my responsibility list and every time that a hostess came along to offer us some water, he’d wake me up and give me some water.
I woke up just as they served breakfast – with 2 hours to go before landing. The breakfast wasn’t quite in my taste so I nibbled a roll of bread until they took the trays away again and then had some coffee.
We landed at Johannesburg International just after 7 (SA time) in the morning and after waiting for our luggage for about an hour we checked that in and went to domestic departures to wait for our flight to East London. The flight was shortly after 14h00 which gave us plenty of time to just relax. After having lunch at a Spur, I fell asleep on Andy’s lap while he played PSP.
The one and a half hour flight to East London went quicker than I thought it would and once there I was absolutely elated to see my parents. Both of them met us at the airport and we were treated to some wonderful food before setting out for Langeni where my dad is currently working on constructing a new road across a mountain (He’s a civil engineer).
My dad obviously didn’t realise how tired we were because we were taken to one of his friends for some drinks and snacks. The drinks was all we needed to confirm that we were in need of a good night’s rest and after 2 drinks we were allowed to go to our house and pass out.
We woke up shortly after 9 on the 15th and made some coffee before walking to my parent’s house and joining them for another cup of coffee. Since myself and Andy didn’t pack any clothes suitable for the South African summer, my mom took us shopping in what is probably the worst city in the world. Umtata. I couldn’t possibly explain how horrible this is. The people there have no regard for any laws – be they manmade or otherwise. It was busy, but we managed to get a few pieces of clothes that would last us a few days.
Andy mentioned that for the first time in his life he felt that he was in the minority. It was true. We all were.
The evening of the 15th my dad invited some people over that I used to know when I was about 5 years old. We had a good old braai (barbeque). Unfortunately most of the people there were Afrikaans and for some reason they just assumed that everyone there could understand Afrikaans at least. Andy couldn’t – which left us to go chat to my brother who was hungover from a party the previous night.
The people left early (my mom informed them that they had to as Andy wanted to speak to my dad) and we were in bed quite early as well. We had to wake up at 4AM the next morning to leave for Port Elizabeth for our next flight.
The next morning we were woken by my dad stomping around the house. It was a good thing too or we’d have overslept. Great. We walked into the living room and my dad was the first to realise that it was my birthday – even I had forgotten about it until the moment that he congratulated me.
After coffee and a shower we were on the road to Port Elizabeth where we had to check in at 13h00 for our flight to Cape Town.
By 17h00 we were in Cape Town and on our way to the Rockhaven guest house in Bloubergstrand. The guesthouse is the one that I took Andy to the first time that he visited South Africa and we loved it so much that we had to go back there again. At first I was a little upset because they gave us the wrong room, but it turned out to be a better one than the one we requested.
We went for a walk on the beach at sunset and that’s the moment that Andy fell onto one knee and proposed. I cried. Then I stopped crying and laughed. And then I cried some more. It was a strange moment. I was absolutely delirious with happiness.
We celebrated with pizza and champagne (a strange combination I know).
The next morning we drove towards town and on the way stopped. I had to have a wooden giraffe. Afterwards we picked up an aunt of mine and made our way to the Spier wineyards. If you’re ever in Cape Town, make sure you go there. We went into the deli, packed a picnic and then sat at a table on the grass and had a wonderful time.
We didn’t realise it, but we sat there for 3 hours. We had meant to go to another vineyard for a tasting, but since it was 17h00 by the time we left, all vineyards were closed for tasting and we had to be happy with one tasting at Spier. We left with a few bottles of wine.
That evening we went to Bukhara – and Indian restaurant in the heart of Cape Town. They make absolutely wonderful food and when enjoyed with a good glass of wine the evening can be perfect.
Sunday we just relaxed and joined some friends for a braai again. I hadn’t seen Jean and Lynette in more than a year and it was great to spend an afternoon with them. I met one of Jean’s friends as well.
The afternoon went too quick – and we had another early morning coming up.
The morning of the 19th we woke up at 3, was at the airport by 5 and it turned out that our flight only left at 9:30. The airline had changed the time of the flight without informing us of it.
When we landed back in Port Elizabeth I was properly tired. Myself and Andy wanted to go see a movie, but considering that Narnia wasn’t out in South Africa yet, we decided to wait until the Friday when it was showing.
The rest of the week flew by. We went to the beach, swam in the sea, went to see a friend’s farm that he had only purchased the previous week and in general just had a good time. Before we knew it it was Christmas and we had to go visit my grandparents.
We booked a place at the guest farm where we thought we’d like to have our reception – we still think that it would be a good idea – and spent xmas eve there. The whole family was sleeping over at my grandparents so we joined them for supper before going to bed quite early.
On Christmas itself we went to my grandparents early in the morning and an hour or two after lunch we made our way back to Port Elizabeth. There was a deck party that some friends of mine said they would go to, but in the end they didn’t turn up. It was a good thing too – we were so tired that all we wanted to do was get home and sleep.
The last 2 days that we were there we literally lazed around the house. We didn’t do much and it flew by so quick that by the time that the time came for us to fly back it felt like we only spent 1 day in South Africa.
We flew back to Johannesburg quite early, booked in and before we knew it we were on the plane back. We left Johannesburg in 24â—¦ weather and landed in a 0â—¦ London on the 29th. I was so tired and I felt sick, but once we got home I felt okay again.
Holidays are fun, but why do I always get home feeling like I need another one?
Some pictures from the holiday :
