So I'm sure some of you are wondering why there was no post last week ( and even if you aren't I'm going to tell you 😋) Mary-Kate and I got to spend two wonderful (even though we didn't think so at first) days in Atlanta, Georgia. Here's the story.
Wednesday morning we got up bright and early to drive from Madison to Chicago to catch our flight. We boarded the plane in Chicago to Atlanta with no problems. We were all getting excited and the journey was becoming real to me. We arrived in Atlanta about an hour before our flight to Johannesburg, South Africa and that's when everything went awry.
Before boarding the plane we all had to show the attendants our passports so we all stood in line waiting. All of us were good to go except Mary- Kate. Apparently she didn't have enough Visa pages in her passport for South Africa to stamp so they wouldn't let her board the plane. They gave her a hotel voucher and re-booked her flight for the following day. We were all upset that she wouldn't be joining us. Maybe 5 minutes later my name was called up to the front desk... Apparently South Africa created a new rule that if you are under 18 you need to be traveling with both your parents or have your birth certificate and a note from your parents saying it's okay for you to leave... I had neither so I couldn't get on the plane. Mary- Kate and I were very frustrated and had to book a new flight for Friday so my mom could have time to FedEx me my required documents. Thankfully Mary-Kate knew someone who lived in Atlanta and she was our saving grace.
We called Ellen, Mary-Kate's friend, but we got no answer. We decided we would stay at the hotel for the night and see if she would call us back. We got to the hotel and ordered some pizza after our long and stressful day. We heard back from Ellen, she was out of town but said her friend could pick us up tomorrow and that we could stay at her house. The following morning we woke up around 5:30 to go to the passport office which we were told opens up at 7. When we got to the office they informed us that they didn't open until 10.... What were we supposed to do for 3 hours? We decided to sit in the lobby area but the security guard was very adamant about us NOT sitting there. We waited outside until we could go in and long story short it was a about a 9 hour process.
Ellen's friend picked us up and took us to Walmart so we could buy some food and a change of clothes because neither of us packed any in our carry-ons. He was the sweetest man and offered to pay for us. He took us to Ellen's and made sure we had everything we needed. The following morning he brought us donughts, which were waiting outside our door. He picked us up that afternoon and took us to the airport .. What a wonderful man!
Even though we were both upset about being delayed two days, God knew we needed it. Leading up to the trip we were both so busy and never had a second to relax so He forced us to. The two days were so relaxing, just spending time together, just the two of us and getting a few extra days to prepare for what was happening... God is SO good! He knows what we need and gives it to us, even if it sets us back a couple of days. He blessed with wonderful hospitality and turned something seemingly horrible into a wonderful and much needed mini vaction.
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