At the beginning of this year my efforts, along with another 114 out of our 11000 staff, was rewarded with an all-expenses paid trip to Portugal. This for a travel fanatic like me was a dream come true, and to boot I was allowed to bring someone with (my future fiance, but more on that later).
Now Portugal was never tops on either of our lists for places to go, but hey, a free trip changed that. This post will be about the preparation for this trip, what we did, our frustrations, fun, excitement, and planning.
The announcement was made in February. After which I let my girlfriend (apparently real names on the internet are bad, so I'll refer to her as L) know. At first she thought I was playing some sort of prank; then she thought my colleagues were playing a prank; and eventually realised that she is going to Portugal.
The first week was the worst. I had know I had won, but no communication was sent regarding what was going on, when the trip was, or what was needed from us. After which I received the first of many emails, which congratulated me on winning the trip and said further information will follow. This first while I could go nowhere in the building without first being congratulated and asked several stock questions: "where, when, how". In the following months we received several emails saying what we needed, our dates (the group was split in two and we were between the first group to go), the documents we needed, timelines and finally invites to a formal awards dinner.
Now I won't bore you with every mundane detail and will just skim through the highlights up to where we head to the airport.
The formal awards dinner was a great evening of fun. This was hosted at Summer Place in Johannesburg. The venue has the most amazing gardens and fountains where one could relax with a cocktail made by Flair. Everyone mingled and sipped whilst the sun set and we moved indoors. The inside hall was decorated like a bright Portuguese cafe, complete with streetlights and banners. The food was a mix of succulent fillet, chicken, and spicy seafood. The MC kept us entertained and got the formalities out of the way speedily so that we could enjoy the live entertainment... Mi Casa
If anything the formal awards dinner just made me more excited for the trip, and I decided that this would be the best place to ask the most important question any man will ask a woman. This of course meant ring shopping. Now those of you that stay with your significant other know how difficult it is to get away for a day without raising suspicion. Under pretense of a helping a friend out I headed to the mall and tried unsuccessfully to find the perfect ring. After this I stopped in at my mom's and told her of the predicament and asked her opinion. She then offered me the perfect ring.
Now we all know that travelling requires a lot of additional admin. This included trying to get a Shengan Visa. L managed to submit hers early, whilst I waited to the last minute. This almost backfired on me as the documents I had to submit were not correct and I had to rush to get the right stuff (I forgot a page of my bank statements and they picked that up). One week later I managed to get my Visa, but it seemed no one else in the office had theirs, nor did L. Three days before the trip people started getting edgy. Turns out the majority of the Visas were only complete on the day before and the day of the trip (the organisers were running like mad to get everyone's passports with Visa's to them).
So with Visa and ring sorted only one last task remained. Asking the parent's permission. L's mom didn't quite catch what I was asking at first so I had to explain nicely. There were tears, there were hugs. Her dad was easier to ask, but harder to get a hold of. I stopped off at his work and asked him there.
So there we were, packed and ready, at the OR Tambo International airport ready for what would be a great adventure...
