Crowded again, 10 seats/row, a lot of rows ... i believe that these lufthansa guys have put more chairs so that more tickets could be sold :) some resemblance with a bus, but not a fancy one. AC is always on, sometimes i sweat, sometimes it feels cold. not cold enough so I would need that "blanket", so thin that it would easily fit in a pocket but that most were covering themselves with.
My seat is in a row with a family, so the flight attendant asks me to move, so that the family can stay on 4 seats instead of 3. Of course, I'm a nice guy and I accept, so she takes me to a totally uncomfortable seat (first behind the "kitchen") where there was zero space for my legs and couldn't see the TV without hurting my neck. And that smell from the "kitchen" made me sick. So i went to the lady and asked her to find me a better seat otherwise i'll go and retake my initial one. So here I am, next to a big mamma that had so, so little to sleep with her head on my shoulder. I made myself smaller in that seat, happy to at least be able to watch the TV, and started reading. Frenchman's Bay.
Finally the dawn, we are close to destination, i'm releasing the demon (those who've seen the exorcist's parody know what i'm talking about) and I feel my blood running again through my veins. Well, just a little and i'll arrive, and who will sleep better ...
Getting down from the plane I see a Singapore Airlines on the left, pretty much the same size as my plane. Oh dear, let 's run to passport control, get ready to "fight" with the asian "invaders" ... well, what do you know, a big snake was crawling through the airport, a snake made out of people! There were probably people from 3-4 huge planes like the one that I came with (Boeing 747-400, remember?). Imagine yourself breaking a 1kg sac of rice and picking them one by one and then strung them on a thread :)
After 40-50 minutes I'm next in line to present my passport - lucky that I ran after getting down from the plane, 'cause a half of a snake was still behind me.
After 40-50 minutes I'm next in line to present my passport - lucky that I ran after getting down from the plane, 'cause a half of a snake was still behind me.
It's nothing, I say to myself, I'll take my luggage and Capetown, watch out, here I come! So i line up at the luggage extraction and wait impatiently pick mine up. Hop ... false alarm. Not mine. No problem, it will arrive. At some point it looks like they are repeating and no trace of mine. Asking some member of the airport stuff if there still are bags to be put on the line ... the answer is no, they were finished some time ago. How come? Mine was not present. Let's see ... and we go to an luggage point. Two eyes and a perfect pair of teeth smile big telling me that I'm on the list :) Yeeei
Meaning? Did my luggage arrive or not? Well :D ... it stayed in Frankfurt. Oh, god damn, germans and their perfect reputation ... but my luggage are missing ... :(
With the tail between the legs, after more than an hour late, I meet Val, the driver that assured the transfer from the airport to the city. She didn't abandoned me, I hop on the bus and I'm wondering how can she change gears with the left hand. We exchange some impressions, steering on the right, driving on the left side (or on the "wrong" side as they are saying, as opposite of the "right" side) of the road, we arrive pretty soon in the city. 3 band highway, exists, pasage ways ... modern country. Blue sky, sunny, 25 degrees, a bit windy ... exactly how I like the summer to be. I can't be sorry that I left the -6 from home. But wait, in a blue sky as long as one can see, there was a small area with a black cloud in the middle and white at the margins. It was a mountain like in Adam's Family, the cloud was only on top of it, that you couldn't see the very top. Wonderful, so I pulled out the camera and shoot a few photos (powered by Adi Stan, the man). So that I have something to come home with, 'cause everybody was shouting "pictures, pictures, you have to make a lot of pictures". I won't put them right now because the internet is limited, I will probably put them from the other hotel.
At the office, nice people. Each and every one of them. I liked them all without exception, I was treated very well. One of them even offered me a personal sim card, because it would've been hard for me to get one there (security issues they said). Offered me to drive me daily from the hotel to the office, but I refused, there were only 15-20 minutes walk so, no need.
First thing at the hotel I made a shower. I was stinking ... as if I've stayed 24h with the same clothes on, sweating repeatedly :) and my nose is not sensitive :) I don't want to think about how did I smell to others ... I called at the airport and leave them my phone number hoping in a miracle - that my luggage will arrive tomorrow - and then I went out, in the mega commercial center Canal Walk Shopping Center. I believe our mall is a quarter of this one. Still ... not even a quarter. It's huge. Surrounded by a canal (somebody said that the water comes from the ocean), although there was reed growing in it so I believe it's fresh water. This shopping center is super safe, has very clear safety rules posted on each entrance: we select our customers, rules, rules etc. Being surrounded by the canal, one can only enter and especially get out by crossing some bridges over the canal. In about 2 hours I managed to loose myself in it, losing all my landmarks.This happened also because there were no high buildings around to help my orientation. I've eaten some KFC, the prices are pretty much the same as back home but not as good, so I avoid it while i'm around. Subway sandwiches were looking very good, somewhere near 20 R meaning about 2 EUR.
I've used the card to pay till now, but let's see where I can change some EUR to have some Rand (local currency) on me. I had 20 EUR on me, i find an exchange office but when trying to exchange the lady attentions me: it's not quite profitable to exchange only 20 EUR because the tax is 68 R (aprox 6.8 EUR) any sum I'd change. Whaaat? Hey lady, are you insane? Never mind, I don't need your Rand. Of course, i couldn't see anywhere neither the exchange rate nor the exchange tax. She was alright, she told me, didn't let me make the exchange without telling me, so it was ok.
Going back to the hotel. Nice hotel. Especially nice people at the reception. I arrive in the room: surprise! the power socket has a triangle shape, with the upper hole twice as big as the other two. The distance between each two holes is bigger than the one between the 2 pins of the european plug. impossible to use. How do I charge my phone or my laptop?
I ask at the reception for an adapter ... the lady pulls out a bag with all kinds of plugs, but nothing. And she doesn't understand what I want ... never mind, i'll come with the cables. She pulls out an entire drawer with adapters and Evrika! I found it, Yupii, I can go to my room. In the meantime I asked for some info regarding the internet and the answer (price) was not so nice. I connect to a wi-fi network and see: the best offer is 39R for 100M. On the other hotel i've seen 100R for 1G. So only mail and some facebook for now.
So I take it. But it's not that easy ... you need an account. To make an account, you need to provide a passport, address, zip code, good phone number ... I try with my romanian number: not good. They sent an activation code ... no roaming, no code. Try again, use the South African number .. it's ok. of course, the code has an I (capital i) that can be also l (small L) and 0 (zero) that can be also O (capital o) and you never get it well from the beginning. Eventually, after half an our i have an account. To write this i had to go offline, to take care of my traffic.
Well, keep in touch. I'm going to sleep, tomorrow I'll move to the other hotel and then pray for my luggage.
I've used the card to pay till now, but let's see where I can change some EUR to have some Rand (local currency) on me. I had 20 EUR on me, i find an exchange office but when trying to exchange the lady attentions me: it's not quite profitable to exchange only 20 EUR because the tax is 68 R (aprox 6.8 EUR) any sum I'd change. Whaaat? Hey lady, are you insane? Never mind, I don't need your Rand. Of course, i couldn't see anywhere neither the exchange rate nor the exchange tax. She was alright, she told me, didn't let me make the exchange without telling me, so it was ok.
Going back to the hotel. Nice hotel. Especially nice people at the reception. I arrive in the room: surprise! the power socket has a triangle shape, with the upper hole twice as big as the other two. The distance between each two holes is bigger than the one between the 2 pins of the european plug. impossible to use. How do I charge my phone or my laptop?
I ask at the reception for an adapter ... the lady pulls out a bag with all kinds of plugs, but nothing. And she doesn't understand what I want ... never mind, i'll come with the cables. She pulls out an entire drawer with adapters and Evrika! I found it, Yupii, I can go to my room. In the meantime I asked for some info regarding the internet and the answer (price) was not so nice. I connect to a wi-fi network and see: the best offer is 39R for 100M. On the other hotel i've seen 100R for 1G. So only mail and some facebook for now.
So I take it. But it's not that easy ... you need an account. To make an account, you need to provide a passport, address, zip code, good phone number ... I try with my romanian number: not good. They sent an activation code ... no roaming, no code. Try again, use the South African number .. it's ok. of course, the code has an I (capital i) that can be also l (small L) and 0 (zero) that can be also O (capital o) and you never get it well from the beginning. Eventually, after half an our i have an account. To write this i had to go offline, to take care of my traffic.
Well, keep in touch. I'm going to sleep, tomorrow I'll move to the other hotel and then pray for my luggage.
