Farewell
i had planned to just leave my wheelchair in taiwan. it would be too much of a mission to get it onto the plane and i didnt think i would really use it that much in south africa anyway. but "no, no. take the wheelchair. it doesnt get counted as part of your 25 kg baggage allowance and you will get treated like gold. you might even get bumped up to first class." said a friend of ours who had been a travel agent before. well, okay then ... if my wheelchair could get me special treatment then it was definitely worth taking along!
so, i phoned the travel agent, on wednesday, 24 october and told her that i had a wheelchair and she advised me to phone the airline. this is where things got ridiculously complicated. i phoned the airline and the woman on the other side of the phone, who obviously had NO idea what she was talking about, asked why i needed the wheelchair and how much it weighed. "but my wheelchair goes on for free? it doesnt get counted as part of my 25 kg baggage allowance." oh, oh, well she didnt know about that and would have to phone the airport, but could i please fax her a letter from my doctor explaining what was wrong with me and why i needed the wheelchair.no problem! dr. tai had already written a letter for just such an occasion explaining my condition, but stating that i was stable and that i had medication to control my spasms. rose went down to the convenience store to fax the letter to this woman (of course, i didnt have a fax machine). the woman phoned me back to ask how much my wheelchair weighed?! she assured me that if it was under 5 kg then it could go on the plane for free. but it's a wheelchair and therefore rather large and made of metal so it weighs a lot more than 5 kg. i explained this to the woman and said that their airline policy stated that wheelchairs were carried 'free of charge' regardless of weight?! "oh, okay. i must phone the airport again." irritation was already starting to set in and i was starting to wonder whether this whole wheelchair thing had been such a good idea in the first place, especially since i only had 3 days before i flew.
the wheelchair goes on for free, that's fine. (phew!) BUT (oh no!) the airline is worried that you are too sick to fly. "but i have a doctor's letter that says my condition is stable?!"
"yes, but the letter needs to specify that you are able to travel on the exact dates of your flight. we have an airline doctor who will examine you when you arrive at the airport and he will decide whether you are able to fly or not."
WHAT?! no way was i letting some random doctor decide my fate. what if he whimsically decides that, NO, i cant get on the plane that day. what then? i wasnt about to even entertain the possibility.
"okay, then we need another letter from your doctor."
i had seen dr tai a week earlier on thursday, 18 october and he is a very busy man and notoriously difficult to get hold of. plus, i was sick and supposed to be resting for the flight. now i had to run all the way across town (IF i could get hold of dr tai) just to fetch another letter that differed from the former by about 4 words! AAAAAHHH!!! i spent the whole of thursday, 25 october frantically trying to get hold of dr tai. finally he phoned me at about 8 pm that night and agreed to write another letter for me because he is just such a wonderful man. i could pick the letter up on friday afternoon. "thank you. thank you. thank you." then i just had to rush to a convenience store and fax it before 5 pm. stressful, but do-able. WOW, they really make sick people work for their seat on the airplane, dont they!
that night i was chatting to my recently recovered friend (turmoil) and she offered to pick up the letter for me. her school was close to national taiwan university hospital and she had time during her lunch break. she would then fax the letter from her school. WONDERFUL! i think that was one of the nicest and most helpful things a friend did for me the whole time i was sick in taiwan. i was so happy. everything was organised and ready to go. i phoned my dad for his birthday on saturday, 27 october and finalised all my packing, which came to 25 kg exactly on the little scale that had been bought specifically to weigh our luggage. unfortunately, colin was very overweight if he wanted to bring his computer casing along, but he had taken all the important parts out of the casing (hard drives, motherboard etc etc) so that if he had to abandon it he could.
the house was bare that night and the next day, we left.
