Are we there yet?
Wow! Talk about a travel marathon. I thought we were never going to get here.
The first leg of our flight (Toronto-Amsterdam) saw us bumped up to First Class which was an awesome stroke of good fortune for us. Extra large seats which reclined to lie almost flat out and more than ample leg room meant a very comfortable experience. The free booze and delicious food didn’t hurt either!!! And yes, Abby, a good looking man in a unform looking after us completed the picture. A very civilized way to travel, indeed.
The second leg (Amsterdam-Cape Town) proved to be a reality check as we returned to economy class travel. Eleven and a half hours proved to be gruelling as boredom and restlessness were ever constant companions. Despite the modern conveniences of watching TV shows or movies, one can only amuse oneself for so long while sitting pidgeon-holed in a tin can. Nevertheless, the daylight flight over the continent of Africa was absolutely amazing. The vast expanses of dessert with rare patches of green surrounding whatever available water source could be found was sobering and brought into stark relief how precious a commodity water is here. Something we take so very much for granted at home.
We finally fell into bed at about 11:00 last night after 23 hours of travelling. We were both worried that we wouldn’t sleep as we had napped on the plane but neither one of us remembers falling asleep and we didn’t hear a thing until 6:30 this morning.
Today we will travel north to Gecko Creek Lodge (check out their web site) near Cederburg, about 2 hours from here. This will be our first foray out of the city. We will return to Cape Town for a week at the end of our trip so won’t take time today to explore but it appears much as you would expect any city to be. You can feel the strong British influence here as they drive small, european style cars on the left hand side of the road. It takes all of my self discipline to overcome my control issues and not yell at the driver that he is on the wrong side of the road. I hope the feeling of impending head-on collision fades soon as it is rather unnerving to say the least!
Hope everyone at home enjoyed a lovely Christmas. Other than our own exchange of Christmas wishes between ourselves, it seemed to pass rather unnoticed in our travels. It just isn’t the same when you are away from family and friends.
Until next time.
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Morag