And so our time had runneth out in Cape Town…. We needed to return our rental car by 13:00 and our flights were at 15:50. All in all, that meant that we could check in early and have lunch with my brother, his fiancée and their daughter.

So we said our goodbyes to the family and took to the road. We realised that we were slightly behind schedule, as we still needed to detour to Kuilsriver to say goodbye to some family and collect the fish that Dude had bought for us to bring home!

We got to Kuilsriver at 12:30 ish. Our rental car was a 1.4 and I’m pretty sure that that car has never ever been driven that fast! LMAO. Ok, we were slightly over the speed limit at times. But we had else we would be late for everything!

We got the fish, said goodbye and off we went. Dudie threw a bit of a tantrum as he did not get to say goodbye the way that he wanted too. So I took a picture of him doing it the way he wanted to and sent it to the family. Child happy = PARENTS  who can now concentrate on getting to the airport. We realised that we needed to top up with fuel ‘cos the rental company will bill you if you don’t bring back a full tank. The only garage in sight was backed up with cars, fck knows why, ‘cos the fuel increase was only due later in the week. <thanks, Murphy!=””> We decided that we’ll check for a garage at the airport.

Of course we took the wrong offramp and drove through the industria and then realised that the garage is only accessible upon exiting the airport. We drove around the traffic circle as if exiting and backed up into the garage. Yes, we checked that all was clear and then reversed to the Garage. We filled up and then headed to return the car. Only that we went to the wrong office, as we went to collections not returns. We got to the returns office at 13:15. Phew. They did a check and let’s just say that we did not mention that we kinda hit the curb when we backed up into the garage. All was well, we loaded our bags and ran to teh terminal building. We siad goodbye to our friends, and returned their car seat in one piece. Thank you my child for behaving yourself.

We then got checked in. In the mad rush, my Dude checked both bags in, one was not locked and our house keys and car keys were in there. Never mind my hairdryer, our takkies, nice jackets, etc. My heart sank as I thought, Fck, they’ll have plenty of time to go through that bag as the flight only departs in a few hours!!!!

I decided that we’ll deal with whatever happens when we are back home. We found my brother and his sweet family. We had a lovely lunch and spent some quality time with them.

They walked with us to the security check and waved us goodbye… We hope to see them soon. As we boarded the plane I realised that Dudie was turning into the overstimulated overtired monster, as he had not slept a wink for the day. As we took off, he was bouncing around in his seat and within 2minutes flat he was snoring. He slept through the entire flight and within minutes of us landing he woke up and said, I don’t wanna bath!

The kind air hostess left him a cheese roll and bottle of water for when he woke. Boy was this child hungry when he woke up. He devoured his roll. We got our bags in the terminal building and with all the anxiety I had to remind my Dude that we can move to the side and then he can open the bag. I really did not want random people looking at my underwear that could very well have shifted during landing! With baited breath he opened the bag and all our belongings, including keys, were there.

Dear Airline staff, I apologise for the lack of trust I have in you. You have a new found respect with me. Thank you

We caught the bus to the long term parking and jump in our car an headed home. We unpacked and even did the washing and bathed the Dudie and sorted everything for Monday in a flash.

So that was our Amazing race in Cape Town.

Hopefully we’ll see you soon…

P.S. We left the seaweed in the trolley when we checked our bags in. Wonder what they thought when they found it….

P.P.S. We are off to George next weekend……Yay!

P.P.P.S This was the first Cape Town trip we did without staying with family. And I loved it. I know that alot of family is very pissed off about that but hey, get over it. This trip was about US not You!