After my sister (Samy…another big shout out for helping me move) and I got home, we did some last minute shopping and started to unload my U--Haul Truck, which took FOREVER and it was close to midnight when we were done. I had FOUR hours to pack and get to the airport. So I was not only trying to pack, but I was trying to repack all my shit into my attic, room, garage…so by the time I got all ready and done it was 5AM. My flight left at 6:10AM…I woke up all my fam and they got ready in a jiff, but I got to the airport around 5:40AM, and the wonderful folks at United wanted me to arrive much earlier…obviously! So they wouldn’t let me on!
Long story, short…yours truly missed the flight and I spent the entire day in the RDU airport and on the phone with the airline peeps. I felt like such a dumb ass, and no one was to blame except me and on top of that, my dad was hanging out with me all day, so I know I inconvenienced him, but I was so tired, I was just going through the motions of the process. I was trying to fly stand-by hoping there was an empty seat to get me to DC, then hoped for an empty seat to New York and I was falling asleep every time I sat down anywhere because I was so tired and I kept getting passed over, but I finally left Raleigh around 5:30PM and around 11PM on June 15 I arrived in New York…12 hours later than expected. The next morning, South African Airways had a flight leaving New York at 11:15AM on June 16 (which was the same flight I was supposed to be on, but a day later).
My older sister came to meet me at the airport and took me to a friend’s place, because she said it was supposedly closer to the airport. I didn’t care, I just wanted to get some rest and get to the airport early the next day, but I swear, it took nearly an hour-and-a-half it seemed to get to this house and it was in Jersey…nice house, but SHADY as I don’t know what! I got four hours of sleep then we were at it again headed to the airport at 5AM. Shout-Out to the big sis for helping me out!
The South African Airways staff was by far the NICEST people I had encountered in the past 24 hours (except for this cool guy in DC, who helped me get rebooked to New York and made sure to get my luggage to New York). They were all sporting the Bafana Bafana (Translates to “The Boys” or “The Boys, The Boys”) soccer jerseys, because they were supporting the South African team who was scheduled to play Uruguay later that afternoon. This one lady (I regret not taking a picture now) was SO helpful; she rebooked me and was so nice about the process.
So it was 7:45AM and I got to my gate and waited to board my 18-hour flight…which reaffirmed Sarah Wilcox’s statement that “South African Airways is amazing and the people are SO Nice” (or something very close to that, because I kept thinking about that as I was getting re-booked and as I was making my way to South Africa)…and they were!
So, I was going to lose a day, but by golly am I glad to be on my way to SA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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