August 30, 2016

We boarded our plane around 10:30 am yesterday morning. As I mentioned before, we didn't get upgraded on this flight so it was to be 15 hours in economy.  As we got settled we could see it was going to be VERY cozy. I quickly looked at the seat map using an app that I have. We noticed that a lot of the seats were blocked and there was nobody sitting in them. Pammy asked one of the flight attendants if she could move to one of them and they said she could. As she was trying to decide which one to move to (most of them were at the very back of the plane), she noticed the row behind us was vacant.  The seat map showed it as occupied but for whatever reason it was vacant. The door was about to be closed so we felt we were good. Nobody else boarded so we each had a row with 2 seats each.

Our pilot has 30 years with South African Airways and this is his last flight. As we were leaving JFK, he got a send off by the Fire Engines as they sprayed the plane. I wish I had gotten a picture.

They served us lunch. We had a choice of chicken or beef. I chose the chicken as usual. It was good and I sure am glad I had the row to myself because I was using both trays to get everything situated.

We had our own TV screens at our seat with some very recent movies. I was planning on getting caught up with the ones I hadn't seen yet. I started the Jungle Book and I was having a hard time hearing it. I was having to use the cheap headphones they provided because I didn't have an adapter for mine. I then switched to another movie and it kept stopping. They announced they were having problems and would reboot the system. After they rebooted the system I couldn't get anything to play.  A 15 hood flight with no entertainment. I thought it would never be over.

About an hour before we landed, they came around and served breakfast. I didn't think it was very good. I did manage to eat the fruit and yogurt.

When we got to Johannesburg we had to walk a very long way to go through customs. The lady telling us what line to go to told me to take off my glasses. I was stumbling along and didn't know why I had to take off my glasses or where I was supposed to be going. I finally figured it out and then I got in a line with a guy that wanted to carry on long conversations with everyone.

I finally got through customs and then had to walk a long way to get my luggage. It then had to be taken to a desk to be dropped off for my flight to Cape Town.  Then off to our gate which was up a floor and a couple of miles to the other end of the airport and then down 2 floors. We then had to board a hot bus to get to the plane. I was beginning to think they were driving us to Cape Town. We finally got on the plane and settled into our first class seats. What a difference that was from the other flight.

Once we got to Cape Town we claimed our luggage, went to ATM to get South African Rand and then met our driver who took us to the hotel. We were pretty tired by this point so went to the hotel and took a shower and put in fresh clothes and went to explore the hotel. It is a really nice hotel and only has 70 rooms. Everyone here is really friendly. Before coming back to the room we booked a massage for tomorrow afternoon. We don't have any tours booked for  tomorrow so not sure what we will do.

The lady came to make up our room for the evening and put hot water bottles on our beds. This really feels good on my cold feet. I'm sure I will sleep good tonight. I am almost going to sleep as I type this.

August 29, 2016

Yesterday was a long day traveling from DFW to JFK. My flight left DFW at noon and I finally arrived to my hotel around 6:30. We ended up staying in at the hotel and had dinner at their restaurant which was good.

This morning we got up early, had breakfast and headed out to JFK using Uber. We are hanging out at Buffalo Wild Wings until time to board our plane at 10:30. This will be a 15 hour flight in economy to Johannesburg where we have a 2 hour layover and then continue to Cape Town. This will be a 2 hour flight in First Class. By the time we get to Cape Town you all will be waking up in the morning.

August 28, 2016

Well today is the day I leave home for my big trip to South Africa. I fly out of DFW at noon to NYC where I will stay at a hotel near JFK. I will meet up with my travel partner, Pammy Tyler, there. Tomorrow morning we board our 15 hour flight from JFK to JNB (Johannesburg). We have a change of planes there and continue on to Cape Town where we will spend 4 nights.   We put in for an upgrade to Business Class but so far it hasn't come through so looks like we will be in Economy. The upgrade for the short flight to Cape Town did come through so that will help some.

If you look to the right side of this page, there is a link that shows our detailed itinerary where you can follow along. There is another link for pictures which takes you to my Facebook Album for South Africa so you can see all my pictures through Facebook.