STRANGER THINGS 3

This will be my final post in my Stranger Things Series. To be honest I wasn’t planning on sharing this story because I was quite embarrassed and still quite bruised from all the things that went wrong. But I know now we can only learn and move on, even when we fall flat on our face for everyone to see…

So let’s dive in shall we. I stopped the story last while I was on the train heading back to Terminal A, Frankfurt airport, Germany. I had my ‘feeling sorry for myself’ moment but was happy that I won’t have to run anywhere again for the rest of the day. I browsed around to find some food. I decided to not go through security yet, just so I have the freedom if I needed. (And thank God for that decision.) I ordered a wrap as a take away and while waiting I checked my phone. My wifi has disconnected, just as I reconnected it messages started streaming in and then a phone call. It was the client, once again. She informed me they have asked a travel agent to try find and book any flight earlier she could find, which she did. They have emailed me a flight, booked already; I just needed to get to it. And guess what… it was back in Terminal B, and guess what else… the flight was leaving in less than 45mins. I grabbed my wrap (luckily it was wrapped in foil), threw it in my bag and started running towards the train.

As I got to the counter in Terminal B, there was only one lady behind the desk. I showed her my ticket that has been booked and she informed me that (once again) I might be too late but she will call her manager. The manager came and I made it very clear to him that I am not going to take ‘no’ for an answer, he told me that I will need to move as quickly as possible and that entering through the gates will be at my own risk as I might not make the flight. I took the ticket and ran to the security. I went through the sky priority section but as fate would have it the line going through security was the slowest moving line ever! The security guy checking the bags, made sure that all the patience I had left in my body drained from me within a few seconds. He chatted and joked with every single person, including me. As much as I wanted to shove my wrap in his mouth so he can let me go, I knew I needed to play it cool, I didn’t need any more drama. Eventually I got through and ran to my gate. It seemed as though they were waiting for me, but as I entered through the gate everyone was still waiting. No one has boarded the plane yet. And there we waited for about another 20mins before boarding the plane, all the stress for nothing. The flight eventually left, I reached my connection flight in Paris and finally I was on my way to Marseille! (Hallelujah!!!)

Getting to Marseille airport I knew I would have to rush as the client had already let me know she will be waiting for me outside the airport. But I also knew that my checked in luggage would be another hurdle. With the flight complications my luggage was nowhere to be found. I went to the baggage claim offices just so the airline would be aware of my missing bag. They gave me a document with my bag’s reference number and a cute little bag with a t-shirt, shampoo, shower gel, toothbrush, toothpaste etc. With that I rushed out of the airport meeting the client and headed straight to set.

Getting to set, I felt sick. With headache and nausea I tried to keep my composer. I rushed into hair and make-up, got dressed in my first outfit (all of this happened in the back of a van btw), downed a bottle of water along with 2 headache tablets and headed to the shooting location. It was in the bush and mud. Honestly, the last place I felt like being, but the fresh air was good. The mud was thick and sticky and it made it really hard to move, even though the client wanted movement. We started shooting and not too long into it we stopped. I was praying at this point that God would just save me out of this horrible situation, I was tired and not feeling too good but I would never let that show. A little into the wait, the wind started picking up and dark clouds started coming over the horizon. It was at this point when the client decided to call it a day. My prayers were answered!!

On way back to the hotel we stopped for dinner. This was about 9pm. By the time we were done it was around 11pm. The hotel was a lovely place in La Camargue, L’Auberge Cavaliere du Pont des Bannes. But all I was excited about was a shower and bed. The following couple of days were intense with call times being 5:30am and only finishing around 8/9pm. And on top of it I still didn’t have my bag so I had to wash and reuse underwear and socks every day. I only got my bag the day before coming back to SA.

Looking back on this crazy experience I still can’t explain why those things had to happen. And I probably won’t ever be able to. In the moment of all the drama and craziness my family and boyfriend was really trying to support me and keep me positive which was the last thing I wanted, I wanted to just bathe in the sadness and hopelessness but they didn’t let me. As much as I hated it in that moment I knew I needed them to lift me. I wish I could say that I got an amazing revelation about life or my job out of this experience but honestly I can’t say that I have. One thing that I guess I could take from this is that my mind is now a lot more open for travel, in the sense that I am not as nervous thinking about travelling to another country by myself because I have experienced something as crazy as this.

I guess we sometimes go through strange things that are unexplainable to know that we can’t always have an answer for everything. I completely believe everything happens for a reason but that doesn’t mean we always have to know what the reason is. Maybe my journey wasn’t just for myself but to teach someone else something that also involved in this strange adventure. Maybe it needed to show me I can handle a lot more pressure than I think. I honestly don’t know. Sometimes we’ll have to be ok with not knowing and just trust and believe that we have grown and are moving forward even if we can’t see it.