Our next trip back to America was by air. We had learned a few things, but not enough. This trip we would not be bringing a car back to Africa, never again. Our luggage would be light, that is as light as one can travel with four daughters and clothes for a year. We would have an interesting encounter over that.
To save money important in those days, we booked our trip and paid, including the hotel in Luxemburg, Germany on a discount price airline. Trek Airways was South African registered, and their only plane was a beautiful Super Constellation, with its very neat tri-tailfins. It was packed like a sardine tin. Every seat was filled, with a small child sleeping on the floor in front of a door, and there were thirteen tiny hammocks hanging overhead with babies. The aisles were very narrow as were the seats, but we took off with no problems.
Over Rhodesia at that time, the fire alarm sounded, but we droned on, as this was a propeller plane. The crewmembers came through the cabin and apologetically started pulling up the floorboards. That is when we learned that the luggage was all loaded through the cabin and through the floor. They were looking for smoke, or smell, or anything that would tell them why the alarm had sounded. As they found nothing, we continued on until we came to the first stop where we could land. Because of sanctions, by that time South Africa registered airlines were not welcome over Africa. There, I think it was Entebbe, we were thoroughly sprayed in case we were carrying any insects, then the seal was broken, and we were ushered at gunpoint into the terminal and to a room there where they posted a guard at the door and we could use the rest rooms and wait while they unloaded the baggage and checked the plane thoroughly. Eventually, it was discovered that one water line leading to one of the two restrooms was leaking and that was why the alarm sounded. All was loaded back, and we headed on to the North, with only one restroom available, eventually arriving at Cairo, Egypt. There all our passports were collected and we were again ushered at gunpoint to a room where we were under armed guard. As we returned to the plane one of the women passengers slipped on a pool of oil on the concrete and got oil all over her from the fall. She was ushered into the plane as she was, still under armed guard.
From there, after 32 hours on the way, we landed at Luxemburg where we soon learned that our travel agent had not booked and paid for our hotel room. There was a meal and a night, and we had only $75 in cash to house and feed all six of us. We went to a currency exchange bank to change this; we had even been misinformed as to what currency was used in Luxemburg, and the teller kindly suggested that we not try to go to the hotel where most of the passengers had gone, but to go around the corner to a sort of youth hostel kind of hotel, clean, comfortable and cheap. That is what we did, and our evening meal was a big bowl of onion soup.
We were scheduled to fly on by Icelandic Air to Iceland and from there to New York City. When I stacked our bags for the six of us at the weigh in, the ground crew almost flipped until I laid out our tickets one by one counting them as I did. That was fine. That cleared, Kathy lost her doll, a homemade doll with a long skirt and a head at each end. We eventually found it at a counter, where, without doubt, it had been x-rayed to make sure there was nothing inside other than stuffing. Doll and girl, together again, and tears dried, we waited. It was snowing outside, and they were trying desparetly to defrost the plane. They finally gave up and announced that the flight was cancelled until morning and that we would be bussed back to the hotel for the night. They covered the cost that time. I am not likely to forget that supper included a baked fish, head and beady eye staring at us. Try feeding that to four squeamish little girls. In fact try eating it yourself. By morning the storm had passed and our flight over Scotland was magnificent. The pilot came on the intercom to point out the snow-covered mountains and said that he had never seen them so beautiful before. Scotland was usually covered by clouds.
After flying over the glacier we landed at a military airbase in Iceland for a meal at the hotel and prepared to fly on to Greenland. As the plane raced down the runway, the pilot suddenly aborted the take off and taxied back to the terminal. His only explanation was that he was not happy about something and we would have repairs before continuing. There was a lot of complaining, but I personally was very relieved that we did start over the North Atlantic arctic conditions if he was not completely satisfied. We left later with no problems and stopped briefly in Greenland. From there flew on to Kennedy, where we changed to another airport and airline to continue on to Chicago. In Chicago we managed seats on a small commuter plane to Champaign. We were home!
After that furlough, we returned by the return half of the flight. It started badly from the moment I phoned to confirm our booking. From Luxemburg on was confirmed, but the leg from New York to Luxemburg was not. Taking a chance, since we needed to get to Luxemburg for the longer part of the flight, we flew in to Kennedy and presented ourselves at the counter with our tickets. At first they insisted they could not get us on the flight, but after checking the other connections and perhaps putting their own staff on other flights, they suddenly had seats for six people and we flew out as scheduled. This time we were accommodated at the hotel in Luxemburg and we flew by what they called the "Leisurely Route," flying by day only and staying on the ground at night in a hotel. We loved that. The first stop was to Athens, Greece, where we could see the Parthenon on a distant ridge while we had a leisurely dinner in the roof garden dining area. We relaxed to the string music accompaniment. Early the following morning, we took a bus tour past the Colliseum to the Parthenon, Mars Hill, and a nearby Greek open air theater. From there we went straight to the airport where we boarded and flew to Cairo, Egypt. As it was still early, a bus collected us all and we went to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx. The bus then headed for the markets so people could buy souvenirs, but as we had changed no money for Egyptian money and the bus was stopped by traffic in sight of the hotel where we were staying, we left the bus there and took the children back to our rooms. The airline was hosting us at the Nile Hilton, and they had given us a two room suite because there were six of us. We were told later that that was the only hotel in the city that would guarantee that they did not have bed bugs. Our windows overlooked the Nile River and we watched the boats with their very unusual sails lower the sail to slip under a low level bridge and we gazed at an unusual house boat on the far shore. It was several decks high. Our evening meal was served in the massive dining room facing the Nile, where we all sat together on a reserved indoor balcony. We were served a special menu. It was a very American, delicious meal. Thanks to Trek Airlines. I think we drove them broke, as that was their last such flight.
There were official problems at the airport again, but we were eventually allowed to fly on to Kenya, where we were lodged in a small hotel that made us feel like we were finally back in Africa. Shoes to be polished were left outside the door, and everyone was awakened and served a cup of hot tea before showering and going to breakfast. That is the way it was done in Africa in those days.
This was definitely the last trip of that sort Trek ever did and must have been one of the very last flights over Africa for any South African registered airline for several years. Once we were back home, I lodged a complaint about the cost of the hotel and was promptly refunded that. The airline also changed their agents after that, but too late, they soon folded. After standing unused at an airfield, that plane ended it’s life as a walk through exhibit in a pleasure resort north of Johannesburg. We had learned another lesson, "Always fly by a regularly scheduled airline!"
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