Amazing African Adventure Day 14

 

 We got up this morning, got cleaned up, and packed the last few things into our suitcases. Then we went up to Mom & Dad's apartment to have breakfast. We left for the airport at 9:00. Mom & Dad said this guy makes the coolest things out of old soda cans. Look at that dress he made!

 You also see a lot of these guys walking up and down the streets pulling these big huge sacks on wheels behind them. Dad said they go through the trashes and get the recycling and then go turn it in for cash. I don't know how some of these guys pull these big heavy things up and down the hills in Joburg!

 We got to the airport, unloaded the van, and then the tears started flowing. The kids were hugging Mom and crying, which released the flood gates of my own tears. I was sobbing like a baby and could not stop! Even once we said goodbye to Mom and got into the airport (she stayed w/ the van b/c it was a drop off zone). 

The tears were a mixture of so many feelings and emotions. It has been such a wonderful trip and I don't want it to end. I'm so full of gratitude and love for Mom & Dad for making it such a memorable trip. I don't want to go back to being an adult w/ responsibilities. But like Dad said, it's normal life that makes things like this so special. I am going to miss Mom & Dad so much! I know they'll be home before the end of the year, but I'm going to miss them terribly in the meantime.

 We got to the airport early so we could have our 9 suitcases wrapped in cellophane. It costs about $6 per bag, but Dad said it is so worth it. It protects your suitcase, plus it deters people from opening the bags and looking through your things. I wish we had this in the States!

A funny story, and so typical of Dad, is that he paid each of the workers 20 rand (that's about $1.50) just to thank them. Their supervisor was there and after he had paid them she said that's not allowed and is against company policy. Dad just laughed and said, "pretend you didn't see it." She said it happened right in front of her, so she couldn't pretend. He put his arm around her shoulders, turned her around, and said, "There! Now it happened behind your back and you didn't see anything." She started laughing and was going to make them give the money back unless Dad insisted. He said, "OK, I INSIST then, that they keep it." She just shook her head and kept on laughing.

He's such an amazing man! I gave him a hug and the tears started up again. People kept looking at me funny as we walked to the check-in stand. We got all checked in and luckily none of our luggage was overweight, b/c there was no way we were going to undo all that cellophane to move things between luggage.

 Since we got to our gate early (I'd rather be early than late) we had some time to kill. Autumn & Lexie & I walked back to some stores we had passed. We saw these African quilts and had to stop and take a pic for Mimi.

 Here we are getting ready to board our 8 hour flight from Joburg to Dubai! Luckily we're flying Emirates and they have a huge selections of movies to choose from, the food is good, and we'll be arriving at midnight so we can hopefully get some good rest on the plane.