Or should I say, “In the air again”. I am finally back in South Africa after more than 24 hours travelling. The short hop from Toronto to New York’s Laguardia Airport was great however leaving at 6:30 a.m. meant that I left for the airport at 1:45 a.m. and would travel all night just to get as far as New York. Once in New York, the transfer from Laguardia to JFK Airports went fine and soon I was sitting on board the South African Airways 340-600 that would be my transportation for the next 15 and a half hours. That is a loooong time to be in an airplane. Very nice aircraft though. Very roomy and comfortable but the best thing was that it had a camera mounted in the tail which meant you could see down the runway on approach. Tooooo cool !!!
There are lots of things I love about South Africa but there are things I find extremely frustrating as well and Oliver Tambo Airport at Johannesburg proved to be one of them. Despite the arrive of several large international jets, there were only three customs officers on duty which resulted in a one and a half hour process to clear customs. Consequently, I missed my connecting flight to Cape Town. No big deal really. It just meant I had to take a later flight but after more than 21 hours of travelling you just want to get to your destination. Still, walking out of Cape Town International Airport on Friday afternoon made it all worth it.
This time I will stay for seven weeks and enjoy more of the day-to-day life of this amazing country. I have lots of adventures lined up but am leaving my specific itinerary rather open. We will see. I won’t be worrying about anything but sleeping for the first few days! The push to close up the school in three days in preparation for renovations and construction was a challenge. On top of that, an extremely busy personal schedule has left me completely exhausted.
After picking up my rental car I called Ingrid and swung round to pick her up. We went to a wonderful out-of-the way little restaurant with amazing pasta and, of course, wine. We had arranged for Katja to meet us at the restaurant after she finished work and the three of us sat and laughed and caught up. Such special friendships that pick up right where we left off as though I had never been away. Ingrid is off to a workshop this weekend so I reluctantly said my goodbyes to her for the moment. We will make arrangements to get together later in the week.
Off we headed to Katja and Rhino’s apartment. Their friend Andre is staying there while as well and we had a great evening of talking and laughing and … yes … more wine. (Do you sense a recurring theme here?)
Finally after I couldn’t keep my eyes open a minute longer I fell into bed but a pesky cough that I picked up on the airplane proved irritating. Nevertheless, it was good to put head to pillow and soon I drifted off to sleep, happy and content to be back in this wonderful country with these amazing friends.
Morag