...Aaaaand we're back!

We're back in Scotland and boy is it cold! We left 35deg C in George and landed in 5deg C weather in Edinburgh. But at least there's no snow on the ground here yet unlike the mountains we saw from the plane. We think it was the Alps but the cloud and snow were covering the signs and SAA didn't have the greatest map.

Now, a few of the more astute readers might realise that we were going to fly with Lufthansa so how did we end up on an SAA plane? The short version can be summed up with the following quote from one of the helpful airport staff: "The plane is technical." The long version is hopefully more entertaining but just as enlightening.

5th Dec 2013: The prologue to this saga of global travels concerns the tropical storm of December 2013 that tore through the UK and northern Europe the day we left: Storm Xavier. Helen and I were supposed to catch a train from Dumfries to Edinburgh and then fly form Edinburgh to JHB via a 1hr stop-over in Frankfurt. Xavier had other plans and forced the UK authorities to close the entire Scottish rail network due to the risks posed by trampolines and plastic garden furniture strew across the tracks. Thankfully Brian and Debbie drove us to the airport where we managed to catch our flight which was half an hour late. Xavier continued to accompany us on our journey and the half-hour approach to Frankfurt was not stable. I'm not a nervous flyer but even I was thankful when we finally touched down in Frankfurt. At 21:20. When we were supposed to board the connecting flight at 21:05. Helen's calm demeanour however ensured that we ran across Frankfurt airport, through the unexpected security checkpoint (containing precisely one very short and very peeved, voiceless female German security officer) and onto the next plane with a whole five minutes to spare. The next flight to JHB passed mostly uneventfully and thus concludes the prologue.

22nd Jan 2014: Helen and I arrived at JHB and proceeded to check in for our flight to Edinburgh via Frankfurt. Helen noted that the flight to Frankfurt was delayed but we had around 6 hours to catch our connection in Frankfurt - we were not going to have a repeat of last time.

I, in my boundless wisdom, made sure we arrived in JHB from George 4 hours before we needed to board the first flight to Frankfurt. This gave Helen plenty of time to not stress or worry when we arrived at the Lufthansa check in counter to be told that our flight was delayed until 11:40 the next morning due to a technical fault. Our option was to either stay the night in JHB or try and get onto another flight to Frankfurt. We chose the later and that was how we came to be on an SAA flight departing at 20:30. Which was then delayed until 21:30. At 21:00 a CheckPort official came around to check our passports. He loudly proclaimed that the plane had arrived and that now he had to check our passports. He proceeded to check everyone's passports in the surly manner that only an official can. Once all our passports had been checked we waited to board the plane. We continued to wait until 23:30 after the plane we were supposed to board "went technical" and they had to get a new one out of the hanger and ready to fly to Frankfurt.

Eventually the powers that be took pity on us and in a move to boost moral taken out of every hostage drama movie they handed out food and beverages to us. This was a mixed blessing as it meant we got food but also that they thought there was enough time to actually get through a whole meal. Except that suddenly the plane was ready and we had to board even as the last people were being served their meal. Anyone who has been disturbed at 23:30 by someone and had to go out on an errand can sympathise with the plane at this point. However, I personally think it was little unfair for the plane to retaliate by making its auxiliary power unit to "go technical" leaving us on the plane on the tarmac with no aircon while all the grumpy people board. Being an SAA flight and an ACSA managed airport I suppose it was predictable that the tug (the truck that pushes the plane around the runway) would then also join the plane in solidarity and the spirit of ubuntu and refuse to co-operate too. We finally got off the ground at around midnight but we did arrive in Frankfurt a whole two hours before our next flight. We were NOT going to go through that again!

24th Jan 2014: Epilogue - Helen and I have settled in quite nicely in our room in Edinburgh. The people we're staying with are very friendly and even printed us a map of Edinburgh with touristy things pointed out. Before we left last year I signed a zero-hour contract with a stocktaking company which means that they don't guarantee me any work but they'll keep me in mind when clients need stock taken counted. Well it looks like I have 2 jobs with them next week so that's something at least. Also, there is a job fair in Glasgow on the 29th for the commonwealth games which I think are in March so we'll go past and see what we can find. The weather is cold here but no snow yet. Carol and Rob, our hosts, say the snow is still coming though. Hopefully that gives us enough time to go down to Dumfries and visit the Yates's to say 'Hi' and pick up our warm clothes - trampolines and garden furniture permitting.

Love to everyone back home, hope you're all enjoying the warm weather.

P.S. Helen says this is a very long post but considering it's my first one I need to make up for lost time...