By A.D. Cloete

And so, the brief getaway is almost coming to an end… We endure the well-groomed flight attendants that offer fruit juice in neat plastic cups to travellers that actually just want to rest. Because they were away on holiday, yes, but of rest there was little mention.

Even before the little getaway-holiday peeked over the time bump, there was already a list of to-do things set up: in line and waiting.

Now most of the urgent to-do things are ticked off your list, but rest? No, unfortunately there was too little time for that.

Flying is also no longer a luxurious form of holiday travel – it became the sorely needed time for rest. Yes, they can make all flights ‘sleep liners’. It should go down well with the biggest part of the market.

A few years ago, Cell C (one of South Africa’s cell phone service providers) offered a sort of assistant service and it seems to me that almost every one of us can do with such an assistant. Because, you know, if you are out of the country for such long stretches, it would be kind of handy if someone can quickly give advice about e.g. who is the most trustworthy for tyres and wheel alignment, what the latest courier and/or postal tariffs are, who is the best moving company, who is currently offering the best data plan specials, who is at the head of the queue with armed response and all such aforementioned thingies that must usually be arranged in the brief getaway. One loses touch with who is new to the market, who made it to the top, who fell out of the race entirely and so forth. A nifty service that can recommend, with one phone call, the best of the best and can give you the correct contact details, can save time and maybe just make a chance for rest a possibility.

Nevertheless one cannot help but, now that you have a moment of sitting still, reflect on how you indeed noticed how neatly the SA traffic keeps to their lanes, how wonderfully fresh the air smells after a night’s rain, how nice the flavours of the Spurs and pizza ovens and braai-fires blew past you as you drove down the street yourself with the windows down, even if it was just to get fuel for R50 or buy milk, or even just for a slab of proper chocolate! Oh, and enjoy the pleasant, precious freedom of driving-where-you-want-at-the-spur-of-the-moment: Fantastic!

It reminds me now of “packing luggage”. You know, there is something about preparing for your trip; to pack your luggage. Even if nowadays it is just a 7-kg hand luggage bag – last-mentioned is of course so that one doesn’t have to stand at the airport’s luggage conveyer belt and keep your back straight for hours while your eyes and tired behind only wants to be horizontal before tomorrow’s back-to-work. Packing luggage also brings out the Santa Claus in us: You want to take a little something along for each and every one that makes your life’s journey and existence bearable and special. You want to pack thingies that will remind you of “home” out there in the unknown. You think, plan and pack with care to fit in something of everything and make sure nothing important stays behind. And you then naturally forget about the much-needed, well-deserved rest, because you are scurrying between this and that shop to get all the little thingies purchased, and at each location you must look for parking, lock everything carefully, pay the car watch, babysit your parking ticket, saunter up and down through isles in search of where you found that specific thing the last time, queue at the cashiers, dig in your handbag for the loyalty card for that particular shop, quickly decide if you want a plastic bag for your purchase… And sometimes have to turn in your tracks because a shop is unexpectedly closed that day because there is no electricity or water.

I wonder: Maybe next time I must order all my thingies online in the departure lounge of the airport and have the tuk-tuks deliver them at home while I sit and rest? On the first day, already!