Durban - Grant Hughes, 45, and his bride-to-be, Nadine Parent, 41, who almost cancelled their wedding after being stranded at Heathrow Airport last week because of South Africa’s visa requirements, faced another hurdle to their happiness on Tuesday when they were stranded at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.
The bridal couple, formerly of Durban and now living in Suffolk, England, arrived in Johannesburg on schedule on Tuesday morning.
But they missed their connecting flight to Durban, along with several other passengers, after a long delay in offloading luggage.
Hughes managed to book new tickets, again at a further cost of R770 each, to get to Durban.
“This is turning into one hell of a carry-on,” he said from Johannesburg on Tuesday.
Finally, the couple landed in Durban at about 5pm and Hughes said the family sent his exhausted bride straight to bed for some beauty sleep before their big day on Wednesday.
Asked whether he thought about their struggle to get married and whether he was nervous before the wedding, Hughes said: “She is a great girl, so I know there is nothing to be nervous about.
“I am glad we had the barriers because they are real tests of our commitment to each other.
“It’s going to make fantastic stories for the grandchildren and if you can overcome all these obstacles in the beginning, the rest of life should be plain sailing,” he said.
Hughes said the couple were running so late with their wedding plans. They had not even had a chance to meet the marriage officer, whom they were scheduled to see on Wednesday morning.
He said the wedding would be an intimate affair on uMhlanga Beach with only family present.
Hughes said it was “brilliant” that DialAFlight on Tuesday confirmed it had managed to secure a refund of the original ticket price of £3 526.16 (R79 000) from Ethiopian Airlines.
“I am glad we have now highlighted the fact, so other families will hopefully not endure the same situation.
“This has never been about me or Nadine, it is merely to make other consumers aware that if anything like this does happen, the industry has been warned,” he said.
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