In the end, it’s about love.
“I will talk to you, the air hostess has just closed the doors, remember, you’ve got all my love, and I still do. I love you”. She said these words, hung up her phone and looked out of the window to a rainy Tuesday morning in Harare.
The flight took off and in no time an announcement came, advising us that we were now on the cruising altitude and the cabin crew would soon commence the inflight service. I unbuckled my seat belt to be more comfortable. “Keep it buckled, just loosen it up a bit, it’s safer that way”, she said flipping some pages of the fastjet inflight magazine.
“My name is Nyaradzai”, she introduced herself. Before I could respond she added, “What takes you to Victoria Falls? I told her I was going to speak at a conference which was running for two days in the resort city. It so happened we were both attending the same conference. She was Head of Marketing for a clean energy company that was driving the alternative energy uptake in Harare.
“After the conference, I will stay an extra night in Victoria Falls. I need to finalise plans for the renewal of our wedding vows during the Valentine’s Day weekend”, she said showing me pictures of her husband and son. “We have been married for four years. We agreed to go away and renew our vows every two years. I am excited, Tinei, my husband doesn’t know we are going to Victoria Falls, it’s a surprise”.
At that moment, the fastjet cabin crew greeted us and offered complementary inflight refreshments. That early in the morning and the rainy weather that we had taken off from in Harare, I asked for some coffee. It was prepared and served together with the fastjet snack box. The helpful cabin crew made her way after serving us some well-thought-out refreshments. Well done fastjet.
After we had both attended to our fastjet snacks, she continued, “I have already made our flight bookings for our Valentine’s trip. You see the earlier you book the cheaper it is. I booked using their fastjet app and paid at Chicken Inn”. “After the conference, I need to finalise our itinerary and activities. I am undecided, not sure where we should renew our vows, in the rainforest or on the Victoria Falls bridge.” She was interrupted by an announcement from the flight deck. It said we would be commencing our descend into Victoria Falls.
The cabin crew was now busy preparing the cabin for landing. I was asking myself if this was a thing. Do people these days travel to resorts and renew their vows? As if she read my mind, she said “Last year my friend from church, went to Bulawayo and they renewed their vows at the Matopos Hills during a sunset”. How beautiful, I thought.
On landing in Victoria Falls, the cabin crew briefed us on the local time and the outside temperature. To end it all she said, “Remember our lowest fares are always available on our website, www.fastjet.com. Ladies and Gentlemen, Valentine’s Day is a few weeks away, I hear Victoria Falls is the place to be. Don’t say I didn’t give you a heads up, thank you for flying on fastjet”.
Nyaradzai looked at me and said, “Told you”. Needless to say, the first thing I did when I got my hotel room was to go to the fastjet website.