Chương 77: Traveling to South Africa.

Mark made sure to pack up when he got to his apartment. He listened to Dylan's advice by filling the traveling bag with light clothes than heavy ones. You know, South Africa and other African countries experience lots of hot temperatures. So Mark will definitely regret it if he carries more heavy clothes than the light ones to South Africa, yeah, he would regret it to the brim.

After packing up, he sat down on one of his couches to think about the taunting words Darcy said to him on phone call once again. Like, she wasn't even trying to become friends with him. When she hadn't even attained fame, she was already trying to embarrass Mark in front of everyone at the headquarter, now that she had attained fame, things would get worse, the taunting words would flow in like sweet honey.

He didn't allow that bother him too much as he just shook the thought off his mind. The only thing he could do was to prove them wrong, but things were not going his way. All these were just making him wanna travel to South Africa as soon as possible, maybe, things could just work out for him over there.

*********

Mark, Ben, and Dylan had been really busy making preparations for their travel to South Africa. Their visas, passports, and the rest of other stuff needed for the travel was ready, it was intact. Normally, they wouldn't be needing a visa to travel to South Africa if they weren't staying there for more than 90 days. But most likely, their stay in South Africa would last more than 90 days. So to avoid complications and deportation, they decided to prepare separate visas.

Each of them has made different sacrifices for this, they had set things in place. Dylan had handed his nightclub to a very trusted friend to handle in the meantime, his friend would make sure that most of the funds earned from the nightclub would get to him in South Africa. He had handed his cars, studio, and houses to be watched over by his gateman and very trusted people.

He made sure to produce that vibeful song for Kendrick, he wouldn't be at peace if he doesn't do so before traveling to South Africa. He doesn't know the exact date when Kendrick's label would grant permission to release the song, but according to what Kendrick told him, the song was gonna drop very soon. And at least, he played his part by producing the song for Kendrick since that's what Kendrick wanted. Dylan had set things in place and he had made sacrifices for the travel.

Ben had settled things with his wife, though his wife wasn't that happy about the travel, she agreed to it anyway. His house and car were in his wife's care, best put, their house and car were in her care. His recording studio was in good hands, people that would look after it making sure no damage comes to it. He had informed most of the artistes he does produce songs for that he wasn't gonna be around in the meantime.

Mark had informed his sister about his travel to South Africa, and most likely, she was gonna inform their mum about it also. He had gotten full permission from Gary to go on the tour, though Gary spoilt it a little by talking about money sharing at that moment, the most important was that his label boss granted full permission. It wouldn't be nice for him to tour another country as an artiste without informing Gary about it...there would be serious problems when Gary finds out about it later on.

In the meantime, Mark wouldn't be able to visit his favorite restaurant anymore, he wouldn't be able to play snooker anymore in his favorite snooker house, he wouldn't be able to visit the gym across the street. They had all done the things needed to be done in USA.....they don't know how long they would be staying in South Africa.

The week was over, weekend had passed, it was Monday, the day they had scheduled for their journey to Atlanta. They would have to travel to the city of Atlanta 'cause that's where Delta Airlines was located. One of the Airlines in USA that flies people directly to Johannesburg city in South Africa. They planned to journey to Atlanta, then sleep at a hotel there, then the next day which would be Tuesday, they would head over to the airport where the Delta Airlines were situated that would fly them straight to South Africa.

Jeffrey had made himself and his car available, yeah, he was gonna make the sacrifice of driving them straight to Atlanta. He was doing this 'cause he was Mark's manager, and he didn't want them to waste money on taxis or public transports. Ben and Dylan had cars of their own, they could have easily driven themselves and Mark to Atlanta, but they couldn't carry their car along with them....like men, their cars wouldn't size the plane.

As early as 7 pm, they had all met at the location where they planned to meet. Jeffrey was there with one of his Benz cars, while Mark, Ben, and Dylan were there with their luggage, simply put, their traveling bags. They made sure to carry more light outfits than heavy ones. Their bags were also filled with some of their shoes and other stuff.

Only two traveling bags could fit into Jeffrey's boot, so Mark and Dylan put their bags into the boot, while Ben carried his into the car, he sat at the front seat alongside Jeffrey so the bag wouldn't cause him much problem. Seeing that they were all sitting comfortably, Jeffrey put the car into motion.

The drive from Chicago to Atlanta took about 10 hours and some minutes, yeah, it wasn't an easy stuff. Throughout the whole journey, they stopped by a fuel station to refill Jeffrey's car with fuel once. Also, they stopped by at a restaurant to fill their stomachs and buy drinks they could use to wet their mouths throughout the journey. They arrived in Atlanta at the time of 5 pm. And immediately, they started looking for a nice hotel where they would spend the night.

They found one at a silent and peaceful boulevard in Atlanta, the hotel looked very glamouring to their eyes, that's why they decided to spend the night there. Jeffrey parked his car in their compound as the four of them sauntered into the main building of the hotel. They booked two rooms, Mark and Dylan would spend the night in one of the rooms, while Ben and Jeffrey would make use of the other.

The rooms were really clean and beautiful, their beds were well arranged, and there were television sets in each of the rooms. They watched television, ordered food which they ate as dinner before going to bed. Very early in the morning, all four of them had woken up from bed, they needed to arrive at the airport as early as possible so as to not miss the flight. They all brushed their teeth, took their baths, and dressed up, there was no time to order something to eat.

After engaging in those activities, they checked out of the hotel immediately. Jeffrey was gonna drive back to Chicago, that's another 10 hours journey. The three of them took their luggage off Jeffrey's car, then Jeffrey said to Mark,

"Make sure to call us when you've changed your sim and when you guys have settled well in South Africa. I am supposed to tour South Africa with you as your manager, but as I said, I'm not that ready and prepared for it. You guys should stay safe over there, wish you guys the best of luck, Mark, don't forget to call us".

"Sure, I won't forget to do so". Mark stated.

With that, Jeffrey entered his car, waved at them, before driving off. Immediately after that, the three of them boarded the same cab that would drive them straight to the airport where Delta Airlines were situated. Close to an hour of driving, they arrived at the airport, it wasn't that far and it wasn't that near either. They came out of the taxi, took their bags from the boot, paid the cabman prompting the cabman to drive off.

The airport was filled with people, many people, but it was not overcrowded. Most people present at the airport were also traveling to South Africa. Boarding the plane wouldn't be that easy, they would have to go through some procedures before boarding the plane. One after the other, the three of them started going through those procedures alongside other people. First of all, they checked in for their flight at the ANA counter where their traveling documents were checked by the ANA staff. Traveling documents like their passports, visas, and the rest of other stuff. Then they received their boarding pass.

After that, their luggage was checked at the airport baggage drop counter. Then they moved over to the security checkpoint where their bags were searched once again in case they were hiding any dangerous objects or stuff. Not only that, they were searched also. Not finding any dangerous stuff in them, they moved over to the immigration counter where they presented their passports and boarding pass for immigration inspection. After that, they filled an immigration form, did some other stuff before departing from the counter.

Then they moved over to the last and final place, the boarding gate where all passengers were to wait until when it's time to board the plane, the departure time. After 20 minutes of waiting, it was time for all passengers to board the plane. They began boarding the plane according to the group numbers printed on their boarding pass, and before anyone knew what was happening, everyone had boarded the plane.

Now, all passengers were sitting comfortably on the plane. Then one of the female flight attendants said,

"Everyone, please wear your seatbelts and put your phones to airplane mode".

And everyone did just that, now that all passengers were sitting comfortably and they had all put on their seatbelts. The pilots put the plane in motion, and before anyone knew what was happening, the plane was already flying in the air.

...Here we come, South Africa.

SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO
Jephthah_

This is the end of the first volume of this book. Mark has done his very best in USA as an artiste, but he isn't attaining the fame he wants and deserves as an artiste. Now he wants to tour South Africa to see if things could blossom for him over there as an artiste.

Would he be able to rise to stardom globally while touring South Africa?

Well, continue reading this book to find out in volume 2 titled, 'The main journey to fame had just begun( Traveling to South Africa').

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