Tomorrow the day is finally here and we are escaping the grey German weather and will return to South Africa after six years. We'll take the train to Frankfurt Airport, from where we'll head to London with British Airways. The long haul flight from London to Johannesburg will be approx. 11 hours and we are checked in on the upper deck of the A380 *so exciting*. On Tuesday morning we'll hopefully meet an online friend and fellow Sharks supporter at the airport and jump on the last flight to Durban. So far the theory...
This trip starts with a three leg flight
frankfurt - london
london - Johannesburg
johannesburg - durban
Monday November 26th, 2018
We ordered a taxi to pick us up at 10:30 am to get to the train station of Neu-Anspach. It was cold and rainy and time to get the hell outta there. To reach the airport we had to change trains twice, in Bad Homburg and Frankfurt Main Station as well as a little ride on the so called sky train at the Frankfurt Airport to get from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2, where British Airways is located.
After we had our luggage wrapped into foil, because we know stealing is a huge problem in Johannesburg, we checked in and dropped of our luggage. Don't want to sound like a stupid commercial, but that's where the British Airways experience started. Never ever did we have such a nice guy at the check in counter and after our worst nightmares concerning flights with Condor... it was a more than welcomed start :)
The first flight from Frankurt to London Heathrow was smooth and diverting and we weren't the tiniest bit prepared for what was coming next: Terminal 5 at London Heathrow Airport... Arrival and departure at the same terminal, shouldn't be a huge problem, one should think. All Gates for the upcoming long distance flights were displayes allreay at our arrival, have a guess which one wasn't? Exactly! Ours! BA055 from London to Johannesburg. The airport staff told us it was just too early and we should wait until 16:55h and the gate will be announced. Okay, so far so good, we grabed some drinks and sandwhiches at a store and at 16:55h the monitors said: GO TO GATE, but still not which one... If you know us, you know who was the one in panic ;)
Several stuff memebers we asked later, we made it in time to our Gate, and of course, our group was the last for Boarding. Time to relax before a very long 11 hours flight with the A380 "Lee". The upper deck did not feel any different from the lower deck, except that we had only two seats next to each other, window and aisle seat without the one in the middle and without and unknown stranger. YAY!
We are definitely fans of this airline now, the service was excellent and the food was delicious even for airplane meals, they even treat you kindly after you spilled your drink, just saying.
The constant tubulances were rocking us into sleep, or not so much, depends on whom of us you ask.
Tuesday November 27th, 2018
We landed in Johannesburg in the very early morning and unfortunately had to rush to our next flight. Customs, getting our luggage and re-check in was longer than expected and we weren't able to meet Amelia at the airport. So sad, maybe be can make it on our way home, we'll see.
On our way to the gate we were confronted with a Christmastree and music in the warmth of summer, what a strange experience, one of the last things we are thinking of at the moment.
A bit over an our later we reached our final destination, Durban Airport, and we picked up our rental car, a white Nissan Almera who still hasn't got a name. A pretty nice size and much more comfortable than we expected.
Car rental
Getting used to driving on the wrong side again, we made our way to the appartment where we met Kai's dad and sister and experienced our first load shedding (what means no electricity for few hours). As we weren't interessted in watching tv or something we made us of that time to go shopping and grab some lunch. Weird feeling sitting at Mugg & Bean eating a nice Burger in Shorts and T-shirt while Michael Bublé is singing his Christmas songs.
Later that day we met the family for dinner at the Umdloti Bush Tavern where we shared half a flatti chicken and calamaris quashed some leftovers.
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