Safe and settled in Florida
Date:6 November 2009
Well, after an extremley stressful trip we eventually made it to Panama City Beach on Wednesday Nov 4th around 5pm.
Our trip started with a bang, landing in one of JHB's usual afternoon thunderstorms - this was not fun.
We spent the next 6 hrs sitting at the Spur at the airport waiting for our Delta flight across to Atlanta.
The flight left at 9pm and 16hrs and 40 mins later we landed in Atlanta. This flight must have been one of the most turbulent flights we have ever been on, but all in all wasn't too bad.
Going through passport control turned out to be no fun, as the officer said "Oh - I see you've been here before and you're flagged". He then proceeded to call an estcourt , and we were taken into a separate office and made to wait for about 2 hrs. People were coming and going, some being sent back out of the US on the next available flight.
We thought, OK - looks like we're headed home. The problem went back to 2003, when we had spent nearly 6 months in the US and Canada.Raynard travels on a Dutch passport, which is part of the visa-waiver system, but only allows 90 days consecutive stay at any one time. We were completely aware of this, and had specifically left the States and gone to race IM Canada. We were out of the country for more than 2 weeks, and on re-entering were given another 90 days.
The problem came in that the border patrol we drove through, had not recorded this info, and Raynard was showing up as having overstayed his welcome.
Luckily, he had won the race in Canada, and persuaded the official to check this info on the internet.
When he googled IM Canada 2003, loads of info came up, including photos of Raynard,newspaper articles etc, etc. This convinced him we were telling the truth, and they put it down as an error on the system, and we were allowed in.
The relief was immense. I think if we had been told we were going home, that would have been the end of any more international racing.
After going through numerous other security checks, we eventually made it in and went on to get our rental car - which turned into another 2 hr fiasco, as all our credit cards were declined. Not because of a lack of funds, but something to do with the US and SA systems. This had happened to Raynard in August as well, and we had spent lots of time and effort with Nedbank, odering new cards, authorizing use overseas etc etc.and they had assured us there would be no probelms this time. Believe me, we were cursing them like crazy.
Eventually, the US race organisers organised a car for us and we were on our way.
The drive to Panama Beach took 5 hrs, and when we arrived we knew our luck had changed.
Our hotel is absolutely fantastic. We are on the 12 th floor and have a view of the Ocean and the lake. It is absolutely magnificent.
Raynard has been for a run this am and a sea swim, which is straight out to sea. The sea is calm and crystal clear, and a beautiful turqoise colour.
He just got back from a TV and Radio interview, the press conference andafter a quick lunch, isoff to the pro briefing.
The kids andI havebeen shopping and swimming, and are now going to relax at one of the 5 beautiful pools at our hotel. Tonight is the carbo dinner and the race is on Saturday, starting at 7am. ( We are 8 hrs behind SA).
That's about all the news for now. We'll keep you posted.
Natalie
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