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Champions, I still can't quite believe it happened. I was part of the Department of Sport, Arts, and Culture's Lucky Fans group selected to attend Bafana Bafana's World Cup match against South Korea in Mexico.
The gees started the moment I landed at OR Tambo from Durban, before we'd even technically left South Africa - which tells you everything about how this trip was going to go.
Singing, dancing, flags, and strangers who became family by the second layover.
The gees followed us through Paris, Mexico City, and finally to Monterrey, where our delegation attended exclusive events alongside Minister Gayton McKenzie and SAFA President Danny Jordaan; casually rubbing shoulders with actual government officials while wearing a Bafana Bafana jersey, as one does.
Then the game itself: the best live sporting event of my life, no debate, no runner-up. We were in tears when Thapelo Maseko scored. Full grown adults sobbing, hugging strangers, all dignity abandoned.
It was a must-win, and we won, which is not a sentence South African football fans get to say often, so we milked it for all it was worth. I was lucky enough to be filming the exact moment the ball hit the net, so I’ll have that moment forever!
Exploring Mexico
Honestly, Mexico was never on my radar as a holiday destination, if I'm being embarrassingly honest. It is now firmly on the list, permanently, in pen.
I only made it to Monterrey, and even that exceeded every expectation to the point where I've started aggressively researching Mexico City and places like Tijuana like a man with unfinished business.
The food alone justifies the entire trip. Mexican food in Mexico bears almost no resemblance to the "Mexican" you get at the shopping centre restaurant in South Africa. This was a different sport entirely, and I mean that as someone who takes food very seriously.
Beyond the food, the people made the trip. Friendly, warm, endlessly patient with a South African who communicated mostly through enthusiastic hand gestures and hopeful smiling. It's the kind of place that sneaks up on you quietly and then mugs you emotionally on your last day, because suddenly you're Googling flights back before you've even landed home.
A feeling of home
When it comes to comparing our home to that of Mexico, it's the people - and it honestly was uncanny. Hospitable, friendly, strangers greeting strangers like it's completely normal, because in both countries, apparently, it is, and nobody else on earth understands why we're all so nice to people we've just met.
Ask anyone for help or directions, and even through a chaotic mix of broken English, broken Spanish, and increasingly ambitious hand signals, you will get exactly what you need, usually with a smile.
Shopping in Monterrey's city centre felt familiar too; the hustle, the bustle, side streets packed with markets selling everything from clothing to street food to, presumably, a knockoff jersey or two. That same glorious organised chaos you'd find in a South African market or taxi rank.
It reminded me that despite the distance, the language barrier, and my complete inability to order coffee correctly, there's a shared warmth and resourcefulness between our two countries that makes you feel oddly at home, even several thousand kilometres and one ocean away.
Read: Where to watch the World Cup in Durban and surrounds
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