Stress, stress, stress for the second - yes, once again in the last second mail and payments done! 12:00 o'clock go with snow on bus with (m)a passport - Corinnes passport we must still emergencymässig issue at the airport. Told you so. Create emergency passport (makes CHF 150.-), pick up luggage and have it sealed in plastic. Second try at the check-in - now with passport and because of the plastic now with 23kg (okay) and 23.6kg (>23kg, not okay)!!!! Oh-no! But we are lucky, the summoned supervisor has both eyes closed ... Phew, now we can fly to South Africa after all.

We board the plane more relaxed. Corinne a little less relaxed than me. We watch from the window seat, how our luggage is pulled out of the container and thrown onto the wet road... fortunately we have plasitified it before. After 10 minutes they obviously sorted out the right luggage and threw ours back into the container. Phew. So far, however, everything okay. Delayed start at 15:15, +15 minutes. But half so bad. Have a whole hour in London to get on our connecting flight to Capetown. 16:30 Arrival at London Heathrow. Bording deadline for the Capetown flight 16:25?!?! Ah, time zone change. -1h. Good. So it's only 15:30. Waiting in the standing plane. After five minutes the message from the pilot ... the stairs for the exit are missing. Hm. After a quarter of an hour the pilot reports again, now already somewhat unnerved... a staircase was now found, but no driver who could drive it. After half an hour we overcome the last 10 meters of altitude to the ground. London, here we are.

Two airport employees welcome us with held up "Capetown" slips in the terminal. We follow in a hurry in order not to miss the connecting flight. Abruptly our guide stops. Walkitalki crackles. Shaking of the head. He is sorry, but the connecting flight can no longer wait for us. We should go and rebook. Crap. All right. So we stand in line and explain our predicament. Suddenly a shout of "CAPETOWN?! Follow me!". We snatch our passports from the puzzled rebooker guy and try to catch up. After a short sprint in the midst of Swiss people with kids, we are all standing in front of the barrier for the security check. Walkitalki crackling. Waiting. Then nevertheless head shaking. He is sorry for the second time, but the plane takes off in 10 minutes and we need too long for the security check. Crap, again.

We take it in our stride. So rebook. We still get a plane and a direct flight on the same day with Virgin Atlantic. Including two 10 GBP vouchers for food. And from 1h stay become 5h. But that's not so bad. Heathrow Airport is big and certainly exciting. Already the bus ride from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3 takes 20 minutes. Once there, we exchange our vouchers for Running Sushi (what else?!). Corinne informs herself at the internet hub about the airline "Virgin Atlantic": One of the three best airlines ever! Strike, the rebooking had nevertheless still something good. Virgin is known for super service and safety. Not a single crash in 20 years. Good, for Corinne's fear of flying plagued nerves.

We look for the gate 42 in time. After a quarter of an hour walk, the heavily frequented electric passenger transoprt whales explain themselves: The airport is really huge. Arriving at the gate, we ask if our luggage is really on the plane. No. But it will be sent to us tomorrow. We should just leave the address. Yes, sure! Now we are a bit pissed off. 48 hours in the same clothes is no fun anymore. The Swiss family with the two small children next to us is close to tears... so not so bad for us after all.

The plane is really a stunner: HUGE. According to stewardess the (currently) largest, or longest machine in public transport. The air conditioning was set to level "frostbite". But okay. Waiting for departure. Outside the snowstorm is raging. We wait for two hours. We stare for two hours at the black screens of the advertised in-flight entertainment system with 50 movies: Switched off. And the inside temperature is about the same as the outside temperature, thanks to the air conditioning. One advantage is that Corinne can hardly wait to take off, despite her fear of flying.