AROUND THE WORLD...in the same change of clothes

After the best day of our lives, a day of whale watching and a wine tasting trip with a few out-of-country friends, Nick and I set off on our honeymoon.  It was all a surprise for me and I was only to find out 'on a need to know basis.'  One of the things that I felt any woman would need to know was what footwear I would be needing.  Nick assured me there wouldn't be any need for closed-toed shoes, or as he called them, 'ruffty tuffty' shoes.  "So, flipflops will do the trick?" I asked hopefully, imagining a white sandy beach somewhere on the itinerary.  "Yes, that's all you need."  Off we went, with far too much 'baggage,' as the case usually is with me.  Stop one, 'The Nanaimo Airport.' 

After Nick secretly checked us in for leg one of our journey, I snuck a peak at the baggage tag as they make you carry your luggage through security in Nanaimo .  I saw YVR (Vancouver) and then struggled really hard not to look further.  My curiosity got the better of me and I saw 'FRA.'  I knew we had an 8 hour flight plus a 12 hour stopover, followed by another 12 hour flight; therefore, I imagined FRA was somewhere in Europe, based on travelling distance but Frankfurt didn't come to mind immediately.

Nick was obviously bursting at the seams to tell me something after months of stress and secret planning, so he asked me on the short flight from Nanaimo to Vancouver if I had any ideas.  I said that I guessed, based on the travelling times, that we had a stopover somewhere in Europe.  After pretending not to want to spill the beans, the told me we had a 12 hour stopover in Frankfurt.  Cool.  I hadn't been to Frankfurt before.  

Eventually we arrived in Frankfurt, got on a bus and walked around.  If ever there was a quiet town in Germany, Frankfurt had to be it.  However, we were on a high and enjoyed the sights as best we could.  We did a bit of window shopping.  I considered buying a pair of warmer shoes as my flipflops weren't cutting it in the cool weather but decided that I could handle cold toes for a few more hours, again imagining hot white sand somewhere. 

We ran out of things to see, and a huge downpour hit so we jumped in a taxi and headed back to the airport.  We had several hours to kill.  I took a nap near our secret gate and Nick decided to check out the weather at our next destination.  His shock was enough to wake me and he said he was off to check the weather on the Internet.  I panicked.  I swore I wasn't going to look at the gate so I wouldn't know where we were going until the last minute but I had to.  I looked at the gate, saw 'Johannesburg' and picked up the newspaper Nick had thrown down in a hurry.  Johannesburg was showing 5 degrees Celsius.  I considered a divorce but before I had time, Nick's sad face had returned.  He fessed up.  I considered giving him a geography lesson but couldn't bear making him feel worse than he probably did.  I told him I could buy shoes there and told him how excited I was to be going to Africa.  I was!!!

Nick went to the desk to ask for an upgrade to First Class saying it had already been 24 hours since leaving Vancouver Island and we were on our honeymoon.  AND IT WORKED!  Suddenly the weather didn't matter and it was a sign this was going to be a fabulous honeymoon. 

After our posh flight we arrived in Jo'burg.  I was told I only had about 30 minutes before our next flight to find shoes.  I stared out the window at the steam coming from the workers on the ground and convinced myself that I could do it.  I raced to the Domestic terminal where I was told I could find shoes.  This required that I walk outside for 5 minutes.  I was horribly embarrassed to be walking around in flipflops and hoped no one would notice.  No sooner had my breath turned turned to steam, than a man caught my eye.  "You must have a good excuse for wearing those shoes" he said to me.  I muttered something about my husband and a surprise honeymoon.  He replied, laughing through his scarf, "never trust a man to give packing advice."  Note to self. 

I managed to buy wool hats and scarves for us but there weren't any shoes to fit.  I returned to the other terminal where I'd left Nick and we explained to the agent waiting to take us to another airport our situation.  She called our lodge, which was most certainly in the middle of the African desert to ask if they had any shoes.  No.  However, she thought there might be something at the other airport.  I imagined a large airport.  However, the airport was the size of our flat in Hong Kong. I panicked once again.  Someone was looking out for me because inside the airport there was one souvenir shop that sold expensive African souvenirs.  There was one pair of size 10 loafers.  I didn't ask the price and tried not to think about how silly I'd look wearing them and bought them.  I had other things to worry about.  We were about to fly into the middle of nowhere on a 6-seater plane...