Woke up at 7 this morning thinking: every day will be an adventure for the next 24 days. How often in my life do I get to say that?
The philosophical amongst you might think that every day is an adventure regardless of where it is spent! However, this trip to South Africa has been long in the planning, cancelled once, and is finally here.
Woo hoooooo.............
It was a long, dull morning! We were packed and ready to go by 11. Taxi was booked for 1.
Arrived at Leeds airport just before 2 and were stung at check in for £21 excess baggage fee for being a mere 3kg overweight - normally that would be ignored. *insert swear word directed at BMI check in staff here*
No extra baggage allowance or lounge access for Leeds - London because our flight tickets were economy saver fares. I wish I'd cottoned on to that when I booked - very frustrating as our baggage allowance is an extra 10kg EACH for the London - Cape Town segment.
All smooth at Heathrow (phew) and we spent most of our 5 hours there in the Baobab lounge (South African Airways lounge). I asked for a glass of Amarula (Bailey's like South African drink) and got a vase full! Met a nice American couple who were flying on to Cape Town albeit by a more complex route than us, and chatting with them passed an hour on nicely. Boarded and departed bang on time.
I was excited about the flight (I'm not usually!) because we were travelling business class and this was a first for me on long haul.
Benefits of travelling business class:
- priority baggage (off loading)
- priority boarding and exiting plane
- unlimited wine, champagne, port, well - anything alcoholic really
- good food (proper plates and cutlery, apart from plastic knife. I'm sure I could do more damage with a fork than a knife)
- seats that convert in to lie flat beds for sleeping (and other various positions)
- no swollen feet due to said lie flat beds
- superb service
- duvet and pillow
- cute Delsey vanity pack
Disadvantages of travelling business class:
- unlimited wine, champagne, port, alcohol
I woke up on the plane with a stinking headache! When your glass is constantly being refilled you don't notice quite how much you're drinking.
Anyway, for a change, we both slept well on the flight and felt pretty refreshed when our steward woke us for breakfast with ice cold, refreshing orange juice. Flying into Cape Town is an experience right up there. Table Mountain loomed out of low clouds. Stunning. Still felt like I was looking at pictures on the internet though.
Through security and baggage in no time. Our car hire was upgraded to an Outlander 4WD. Swartberg Pass here we come! And I'm going to start a new entry on the blog now as it is officially 15th April...........
