As a final farewell Saas-Fee presented me with a magnificent clear blue sky day as I drew back the curtains to start the day. After a late breakfast and speaking to my family at home I headed out for a final look around the village before check-out at 12pm then the coach departure at 2pm. It was a stunning day to farewell me so I enjoyed wandering around lapping it up
I bought a few postcards with stamps so I wrote a few messages to loved ones before walking to the post box at the top of the village to post them. I also bought my dad a present which I have a feeling he will love. As long as I can remember my dad has always carried a Swiss army knife in his pocket. The invaluable tool – the knife not dad – has never been far away from duty whether an apple needs peeling or a cable tie needs snipping it was always in his hand almost without asking the rhetorical question “Do you have your knife?” Needless to say I thought a different coloured (I’ve heard these are harder to buy outside Switzerland) Swiss army knife with his name engraved would be the perfect gift!!
The time too quickly disappeared between aimless wandering and preparation to leave. I was extremely happy to get an invite by Gus one of the few English speaking members of the trip to join him and couple of his visiting mates for a quick beer before heading to the coach. Sitting in the sun drinking a cold pint of Cardinal was a satisfying way to say goodbye to a place I’d grown very fond of. With my beer finished I trudged up the hill and loaded my baggage – which was really heavy - on the waiting bus.
Excess baggage might be an issue!
It was an uneventful trip as I sat transfixed by the final show that the view played out for me the decent from the Alps.
As we passed the farewell sign of the Saastal region I silently wondered to myself if life would present me with another opportunity to visit this wonderful part of the world?
We had left shortly after 2pm for the trip to Geneva airport and it took around three hours with a couple of quick stops along the way. I lined up at the Air France counter wondering if the luggage would cost me or if I would avoid a hit on the credit card? I was checked in by a pleasant, very helpful member of the Air France team and was a very happy wombat to avoid any excess luggage charges for my 39.5kg. Why so much you say? It’s a long story...
I had a quick bite at the one cafe in the departure hall, killed some time on the computer then departed Geneva at 6:30pm. I had a window seat for the this flight and as we flew over the city of Paris I had a magnificent view of the Arc de Triomphe (know as the Arch of Triumph back home) and the Eiffel Tower. It was a little unexpected bonus, even if it was fleeting, it was two of Paris famous sights I can say I have seen on this trip. We landed at around 9:15pm and had to walk what felt the entire length of the massive airport to our departure gate. The French security check point was one I was glad I did not have to repeat. It was only after three attempts, removing my shoes, watch, belt and all the gear from my backpack they finally let me pass. At least I felt safe!!
For the second time on this trip there was an Airbus A380 waiting along-side the aerobridge at our gate. This time however it seemed that the plane was going to be travelling at capacity with a massive number of people!! Many of these travellers were part of a Mexican football fan group who were all very excited to be boarding the flight for the world cup. I was pretty excited to as I was queued up ready to board a flight to Africa!! The excitement did start to fade a little as the flight took around an hour for everyone to board.
I finally arrived at my seat which was an aisle seat as requested for the long flight. I had just finished loading my hand luggage into the overhead compartment and was just about to take my seat next to the pretty young lady in the middle seat when I felt a polite tap on my shoulder which happened to be the young ladies mother, who proceeded to ask if I wouldn’t mind swapping seats with her so she could sit with her daughter. She was honest and did say she would understand if I didn’t swap as her seat was a middle seat, but could I really say no? Could I?!! I played the nice guy swapping seats back to row 56 and started settling in. I had a middle aged South African lady sitting in the aisle seat briefly before a young couple came, checked their boarding cards and politely advised the lady she was supposed to be in row 55, the exit row therefore she was in one of their seats. As the couple had also been split up and were supposed to be on either side of me, I once again moved. This time I started settling into the window seat but alas it wasn’t to last!! I had just dozed off when I heard from the brink of sleep “excuse me, excuse me sir...” to which after a couple of attempts roused me. The guy looked at me and in a heavy Mexican accent said “I think you are in my seat. What is your seat number?” By this stage I was over the amusement of shuffling seats so I just stood up saying “I’m sorry I have no idea as I’ve swapped with someone but I’ll go and swap back” and headed back to row 49. I was a little frustrated by this time after the 7 to 8 hours of travel leading to this point, but I concentrated my energy on being very nice. I politely asked the lady I had originally swapped with if she wouldn’t mind if we sat in our numbered seats until everyone had found their seats as it was causing a little bit of confusion a few rows further towards the back of the plane in “Little Mexico”. She agreed but wanted to find out why there was so much confusion for what should have been an easy swap, so she headed to row 56. Oops her mistake she was supposed to be in row 55, not 56, so she had made a little mistake!!
I finally settled into row 55, the exit row as the South African lady chatted happily across me to the young French guy in the window seat. She seemed pleasant in a “she could talk for hours on any subject she selected” kind of way. Part of my settling in process was to locate my head-phones quite swiftly!! She started doing a word puzzle book and I sat quietly avoiding the possible chance of conversation – the flight was too long for a night of chatting.
Finally the heavily laden Airbus A380 took flight and started the trip to Johannesburg, South Africa. I didn’t sleep well so I caught up with three moves on the ten hour flight. I think I was either over tired or over excited but by the time we arrived at OR Tambo International Airport at 9:50am I knew I was definitely both of the above mentioned. Customs was an easy process which surprised me due to the sheer volume of people but all flowed through quickly so before I knew it I had collected my bags and was heading to the domestic check-in counter. It was the first of many scheduled visits to the South African Airways domestic counter but the excess baggage fee of 535 rand (about AU$90) wasn’t the start I had hoped for!
The time between landing and the departure to Cape Town at 12pm disappeared swiftly and after a 2 hour flight I arrived at 2:10pm. A luxury coach was waiting for us for the onward journey to George. I didn’t have too much idea of the distance Between Cape Town and George but I had worked out it was going to be a long drive. It definitely was a long drive at the end of an already long trip. We left Cape Town at around 5pm after stopping at the accreditation centre at the stadium to pick up match passes. The drive, with a quick stop for a Steers burger and chips at a road-side fuel stop, took 5 hours and 15 minutes arriving at the Town Lodge George at 11:15pm on Sunday June 6th. Through the fog of weariness which had overtaken excitement as the main feeling at around the 3 hour mark of the drive, I did the maths on the trip. We had left Saas-Fee at 2pm reaching our final stop in George at 11:15pm the next day. It added up to a 33 hour trip. No wonder I was tired!!
I checked in and headed to my room to sleep as much as could. Even with smell of smoke wafting into my room from the neighbouring rooms adding to the stale smell of cigarette smoke which permeated the entire room, I was soon fast asleep. It had been another epic day of travel.
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