We were about to embark on the second leg of our first honeymoon. Honeymoons are awesome, so we decided to have two (I know, travel gluttony -- guilty as charged). Our second honeymoon was that trip Mauritius I told you about.
So there we were, sun tanned (or burnt in my case) after a week in Capetown, sat in the 'terminal' of a private airport in Jo'burg getting ready to depart for Kruger National Park.
Kruger is a lovely corner of South Africa where animals roam free and wild in their natural, protected habitat. We couldn't wait to get there to see the Big Five up close.
VIPs? But who could it be?
We watched as a group boarded the plane and assumed it was a Rugby player or D-list actor we wouldn't know. How wrong we were...
We boarded the plane and I found myself face to face with a very friendly English 'bloke' telling me a joke about crappy weather. To which I smiled, nodded and basically ignored. I maneuvered down the narrow aisle with my large duffle quite precariously and accidentally beamed a woman in the face.
Oops! She didn't look impressed.
Situated in our seats, the pilot informed us that one of the engines required maintenance. We had to deplane and wait until the repairs were completed. It was pouring rain. I high-tailed it back to shelter while hubby ambled along chatting with the guy from the plane. Must be somebody famous. Hubby clearly recognized him.
Back the terminal hubby had a huge smile. 'That was Tony Blair!'
This was only my second celebrity encounter (Nick Lachey & Jessica Simpson circa 2003) and I am definitely one of those people who doesn't recognize a celebrity standing right in front of them. Apparently hubby did though and had a nice little chat with Mr. Blair, who is a very pleasant and friendly guy.
Now, about that woman I hit in the face with my duffle bag...erm, yeah, that would be Cherie Blair, former 'first lady' of the United Kingdom. Awesome.
We embarrassingly excitedly raced to the flight manifest hanging on the wall to confirm...yep, that's affirmative.
We re-boarded a while later and had a hushed argument about whether or not it was appropriate to take a cheeky photo. My vote was no. Which I totally regret now that I have no photo of Tony Blair to show you. Boo. Hubby was right.
I nodded off to sleep and a few hours later we arrived at Kruger.
This beautiful land has forever and completely ruined me on zoos. We ran into the Blairs a few more times but I was far more enthralled with the clawed and fanged celebrities of Kruger. I can't wait to tell you all about it later next week!