The Story behind the Picture
Added 2023-05-04 02:00:04 +0000 UTCImagine this: Your flight was delayed, which means that it became impossible to catch your connection. The friendly lady at the checkin desk tells you that she found an alternative though. Except that instead of 2 flights, you now have to take three. And instead of an easy daytime layover, you’re looking at two layovers in the middle of the night.
Tired and way too late, you arrive in Johannesburg, from where it’s still a 1.5 hour drive to the resort. You finally get there, throw your stuff in a corner and take off your clothes, when someone knocks on your door: “We’re really sorry, and if we had known that your flight would be so rough, we wouldn’t have done this… But we organised a welcome party for you, which starts in about an hour”.
What do you say?
“YES!”, of course. We’re in a part of the world where we’ve never been before. There’s no way that we could go straight to bed. And some South African wine will definitely beneficial for our mood.
This is a scenario that would regularly repeat itself during our time in South Africa. Well, luckily not the delayed flights part, but the part where we randomly get invited to parties, meet-ups, or just drinks at someone’s terrace. There’s always wine and braai (barbecue). We had heard a lot about South Africa before we got there, and mostly about the wild animals and spectacular nature, but nobody ever told us that South Africans are among the friendliest and most hospitable people we’ve ever met.
And there were often gifts, like the personalised towels we got at SunEden. These are actually still with us, but some gifts we had to refuse because there’s just not enough space in our backpacks. Luckily, a lot of the gifts were edible or drinkable, and we had a lot to consume before we left the country again.
