Saturday, August 3, 2013

Woke Up in East London

 

2 August 2013

Woke up in East London. Yes I said East London. This is the last place I thought I would be today. This plan started on Monday. I was flying back to Durban from Jo'burg. That in itself was an adventure.

On Monday my gran took me to the airport. I checked in and was going to hand in my luggage when the check in counter lady asked for my visa card. Firstly I have no idea what a visa card is, let alone if I have one. So I asked "What is a visa card?" She politely replied "The credit card that you paided with." Now my mom paid for this flight and her credit card was in Durban. So I already started to panic. I phoned my mom and told her the problem and told her to send a picture of her ID and her credit card.

10 minutes later I get a phone call from my mom swearing at the phone because it won't send the pictures. After a little while I got the pictures. They weren't clear at all but the lady accepted it. Just shows you that a credit card isn't needed, they are just trying to annoy you. I told them I just want to hand in my bag and I'll carry my skateboard on.

After this time consuming exercise my gran, her brother and I when for a quick burger. Straight after the burger I had to board the plane. At the gate the guy told me I can't carry my skateboard on. This is where I got mad. I have flown from Durban to Jo'burg and back a few times already and I carried my skateboard on every time. Once I carried two skateboards onto a plane. What was different this time? So I had a big fight with this guy. After the argument I when back to the check in station. The lady that irritated me the last time calmly told me that I can't carry my skateboard on. It could of helped to tell me that when I was first there. Not when my flight is leaving in 5 minutes.

Then they still tell me that my skateboard might not make it because I handed it in too late. It would of made it if they told me the first time that they put in a new rule where I can't carry my skateboard on.

When I landed in Durban I waited for my luggage. First my bag came out. Then I waited for my skateboard. I saw bags come out and people taking their bags. But no skateboard. I waited and waited. Then a worker told me that there is no more luggage. I got so mad I wanted to go burn down the airport. They had lost my skateboard.

As I walked out my mom tried to calm me down by saying we bought insurance on my luggage. So we'll be able to buy a new one. We made our way to the lost property and there it was, my skateboard. I was extremely happy! So I didn't set the airport alight...... this time.

After I calmed down my mom told asked if I wanted to go to East London? I had a puzzled look on my face and asked what did she mean. She told me that the motors are repaired and that we don't really have anything that is keeping us in Durban.

The next day we sprung into action and got the boat ready. We handed in our flight plan and were planing on leaving at 8 am on Wednesday.

At 8 am we dropped our lines and head out the harbour. About four hours later my dad says we are heading back. My mom and Kyle agreed. I on the other hand was enjoying myself so I protested and we continued sailing.

I went to bed early so I could be awake at night to help. I had on-off sleep though the first half of the night. I woke up at 3 in the morning asking why they didn't wake me up?

I was up helping my mom for most of the day whilst my dad tried to sleep. It was a calm day of sailing at a fast speed. The max speed we got up to was 9.9 knots. And our average speed 7 knots. Which meant we landed in East London earlier then expected.

At 1 in the morning we decide to go in and dock the boat. We rafted up to an old steel boat. We then all headed to bed and said we'll sort everything out in the morning.

Today was the most shocking day of out lives. First we saw the navy set off bombs in the harbour, followed by a rude guy saying that we are causing damage to the boat we rafted onto.

We adventured out to find showers. But all we found was abandoned restaurants and non-working ablutions.

We sourced information out from a guy who seemed to be fixing a motor in his car. He told us where all the different clubs are. We then rowed to the yacht club. It seemed like a quiet place with only 3 or 4 people.

Luckily for us there were showers and we were able to get clean and look like normal people again. But we still have a lot to explore.

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