Walk: 7km
Slept until about 1:30am, then tossed and turned after that. At 5am, I decided to get up and have a coffee and started my final pack. Checked out of the hotel just before 7am and was collected by my pre-booked driver at 7:15am. Sylvain was there to say goodbye. It was sad saying goodbye to my MEPS colleagues, who have become firm friends over the years, especially as I don't know when next I will see them. The Congress is in Copenhagen next year, and although it is a lovely city, it is expensive. Will have to try and convince Greg that we both need a holiday and that it should be in Denmark and Sweden, and perhaps a longer visit to Helsinki.
I got to the airport about 7:30am, and by the time I got to the front of the Business Class queue, it was almost 8am, just in time to check-in. Through security check and into the SAA Lounge just after 8am and first order of the day was coffee. This is a nice lounge with lots of variety of food however, SAA is not a One World member so I don't get FF points for this flight.
The flight was on time, and once disembarked, the fun started. The signs for international transfers were few to non existent. And, of course when you want to ask someone, there are very few people who can give you an honest answer. Finally asked a SAA lady and she pointed me in the right direction. Even though I had almost five hours in transit, I still became a bit flustered, but once in the queue at passport control, I settled down. Finally found the Aspire Lounge which is a QANTAS shared lounge. Since leaving the hotel this morning, I have walked almost 6km!
Found a quiet corner of the lounge and set up the laptop and did some MEPS work, then more blog updating. Had a G&T and a few nibbles knowing I will be well fed on the plane. On the CPT-JNB flight I had a chicken and cheese focaccia sandwich.
We boarded, hence departed, 20 mins late. The flight was a bit bumpy in some places, so bumpy at one stage, the captain ordered everyone back to their seats. Fortunately, my wind glass was a third full, but even that threated to overflow due to the bumps. Dinner service was good, even though it was served about three hours after takeoff. I had a beetroot and fetta salad for entrée, beef dish for main, and chocolate ice cream for dessert. I watched four episodes of a TV series before my eyelids became too heavy and had a little sleep. For some reason, I could not get comfortable, so got only two hours of interrupted sleep. Watched the remainder of the episodes, then had another nap.
Seat 2C CPT-JNB
QF Dreamliner at JNB
JNB-SYD
