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It was a gruelling 52-hour trip from their home in Canada to South Africa for the five-member Wasserman family. And it also didn’t help that they left their children’s unabridged birth certificates behind.
Lukas and Anelia Wasserman and their three children, aged five, nine and 11, caught a flight from Halifax to Montreal on December 15.
Their flight was delayed because of a technical problem and they had to wait for two days for their connecting flights to Cape Town via Chicago and the Netherlands.
“We were at the airport on Wednesday [December 16] to get new meal and accommodation coupons when we realised that we’d left the children’s unabridged birth certificates at home,” said Anelia (43).
Lukas (43) had to catch the last flight back to Halifax and drove for two hours to their house in Antigonish to fetch them. Then he boarded a flight back to Montreal to make it in time for their 8am flight to Chicago – an exercise that cost the family an extra $1 000 (R15 600).
“And when we landed on Saturday in Cape Town, the officials did not even look at the birth certificates,” Anelia laughs.
“We seriously considered turning around and booking another flight just before Christmas, but the children were determined because ‘granny and grandpa are waiting for us’.” – Rapport
