Sorry I didn't update this blog yesterday but it was mostly uneventful and I couldn't get the internet connection to complete at my hotel in Cape Town. I'm now back at the Cape Town airport (wasn't I here less than 12 hours ago?? Yes) before heading to Johannesburg then Hoedspruit.
As I was sleeping comfortably yesterday morning, I decided to make an easy morning of it and not rush off to the Zambia side of Victoria Falls. They typically aren't as spectacular as water is diverted from the Zambia side to a hydroelectric plant. In addition, you're also further away from the falls. Therefore, it was a nice relaxing morning of sleep, late breakfast, and reading on the veranda of my room.
I was then carried to the airport to begin the journey back to Cape Town. The Livingstone airport certainly operates in an interesting manner. You go through a metal detector and your bags get x-rayed before you check in. Once you check in, you go to a holding area where you go through a metal detector and your carry-ons get x-rayed again. It makes for a slower boarding process but there aren't a ton of people standing in the aisle.
As mentioned in the title, the day was mostly uneventful except for arriving in Johannesburg. We were told it was going to be a bit bumpy on approach. That was a bit of an understatement. I've only had one bumpier flight and that was on an Embraer 120 (prop plane) between Dallas-Fort Worth and Tulsa. Not only was it bumpy but there was also lightning. After one large bump (probably only a drop of 100 feet or so), I could hear some loud praying from behind me.
Upon arriving in Johannesburg, we were taken to a bus gate. (Side comment - What is it with European and African airports that can't build enough gates to handle planes?? Why do we have to take a bus??) I've only been at a real gate at an airport that has them twice since arriving in Africa. That was when I arrived in Johannesburg from JFK and last night arriving in Cape Town. I even boarded an Airbus 330 from a bus gate in Johannesburg. But that's a bit of a digression. As I walked down the stairs and came out of the canopy to hit the tarmac to get to the bus, the skies opened. Yeah, that was a lot of fun. I got wet. A lot. I would have thought that with lightning in the area, they wouldn't have been using bus gates but I was wrong.
We got to the terminal and everyone was wet and shivering as it was much colder than most expected. I got my boarding pass for my connection and headed off to the lounge. Unfortunately, everything at the time of my departure was delayed due to the weather but the scheduled flight to Cape Town after mine went off on time.
Got back to Cape Town, hailed a cab, and headed back to the hotel. Upon arriving, I tried logging on and once that didn't work decided to do some sink laundry. Unfortunately, the shirts weren't completely dry by the time I needed to pack them this morning.
There it is. That was my day yesterday. Not really all that exciting.
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