Getting There

The trip to Cape Town, which took about 24 hours, was much easier than anticipated. The plane was a new Airbus, with noticeably more leg room than is generally found in US flights, and also it was the quietest plane I've ever been on. There was one stop in Senegal for refueling, during which we were not let off the plane, and also during which some flies were seen in the cabin. A short while later, they fed a mist through the air ducts of the plane to kill the bugs, etc. They said it was WHO approved...

Upon landing in Jo'burg and subsequently in Cape Town, we were confronted with a number of porters, taxi drivers, etc., all offering their services after cannily having figured out where we were going. This is confusing for anyone arriving in a new country, but it was comforting for me, as it felt like I was at JFK.