It was a very long trip – very very long!

Irv and I left home at about 13.30 on Saturday (have to get in practice for my 24 hour clock test) and arrived at the airport at 15.00. There were people everywhere, and despite having our own ‘special needs’ check in area, we were still met with a sea of chaos. I had already been warned to only carry documents and money in a clear bag, and that our normal had luggage was to be put into the hold .

Thankfully, our check in was extraordinarily uneventful. One of the Charities Trustees – Captain Charles Everett came to see us off in his splendid Captain’s uniform. He managed to organise for us to use the first class check in, with the minimum of fuss. Poor Charles suffered the consequences of his uniform; he was constantly accosted by angry or lost passengers asking for help or information. Although unable to help he was the consummate professional and dealt with them in the most polite and curious way.

Putting everything in the hold caused me some anxiety because over the last few weeks my stash of technology had grown to an amazing amount. Despite my concerns about security and damage I waved good buy to my brand new laptop, phone, radio, ipod , wheelchair charger, travel iron , hairdryer, all the bits I normally remove from my chair and carry with me, and of course the chair itself.

The rest of the group were having similar problems, with their lack of hand luggage, and thank goodness for Kate’s Dad, who wins the prize for self sufficiency. He brought a role of brown parcel tape – predominantly to secure her wheelchair, and was soon pressed into action by the rest of us, to secure footplates, cushions etc, and, when we found out that our crutches had to be checked in as well, used copious amounts to fasten them together, heaven knows what would have happened if they all were checked in separately!

For the most able of us, the most difficult thing of all to cope with was the loss of our crutches because; once we were plonked in one of those terrible airport wheelchairs we had lost all independence. We were taken by porters to a very nice ‘special needs’ lounge and left till time for the plane to take off, so no chance of any shopping at all.

We were terribly lucky though because despite all the forebodings in the newspapers, the plane was only 30 mins leaving. The crew were extremely helpful and organised two seats for each of us, which meant that we had a very uneventful trip, and were even able to get a few hours sleep. When we arrived at Johannesburg, it was hard to believe that we had finally arrived – one airport lounge looks very much like another and we could have just as easily been in New York, Paris or London. We were met by a veritable army of porters who collected our luggage and took us to wait in the first class BA lounge to wait for our connecting flight to Port Elizabeth.

Following another uneventful trip we arrived almost 27 hours later at our final destination. After packing and repacking the luggage and waiting 30 mins for me to sort out yet more technology at the cell phone desk, our mini bus set off for the 43rd Air School in Port Alfred. Then it really began to sink in how far we had travelled and what we were about to do.

The trip took us through rolling dark satanic hills spotted with fields of bright red earth or rich green pasture. Some fields had cows of the same colour as the earth, most had huge cactus and large patches of wild red hot pokers. The most striking thing I noticed was the scattered groups of people walking along the roadside. Apparently miles away from any township, in the middle of dense countryside we would pass groups of people, walking purposely by the side of the road. Where they had come from – or were aiming for was a complete mystery to me.

Tired and hungry for anything except aeroplane food we arrived at the school almost 30 hours from when we started, and we were soon installed in clean spacious rooms. Our itinerary started the next day with a 8.30 briefing and an introductory flight. Now the adventure begins…………...