Travel has lots of benefits, but sometimes getting there is often a bit of an adventure in itself. This trip was no different. Our flight from Denver to Atlanta was as scheduled. We boarded the 777 in Atlanta and as we were pushing back they had a brake light malfunction. 45 minutes later we actually pushed back and took off for a 15 hours looooooog flight! It was not as bad as we expected in spite of the flight being totally full.
This woman was on our flight to JoBurg. Her attire was very interesting.
We landed in Johannesburg (aka JoBurg) and headed for passport control. Caroline and I were walking with Cheryl who was getting a ride in a wheel chair because of her knees. Caroline and I were about to get in the line but the attendant motioned us to go with him. He took us to the front of the line and we were through passport control in about 5 minutes. Naas showed up a few minutes later (shorter line for SA passport holders). It took the team an exceptionally long time to get through passport control. After waiting many minutes we finally decided that Naas would go to the hotel and make sure all was well there. When he got back from the hotel (a short walk) the group still had not shown up to get their luggage. We then sent Naas off to be with his family as this was the only chance to see them. Finally, everyone had got through passport control and retrieved their baggage, and got to the hotel. Another line greeted them but this time not so long. Some of us ended the day with a snack and some good SA red wine.
The night was short. We met in the lobby at 4:45 AM after about 5-6 hours of sleep. We checked into the airport and were waiting in line to board when a one-hour delay was announced. Off we trundled to get some coffee and a bit of food. We headed back to the plane and finally got on board. The problem took another hour to fix (something about a door that wouldn’t shut) and we took off about 2 hours late for Durban.
Waiting for our flight to Durban on Mango Airlines
We made it to Durban, got our luggage, got our rental van, and ate brunch in restaurant called Mugg and Bean.
Next Stop—St. Lucia.