South Africa #1: Out the Window

My journey from Phoenix to Johannesburg did not go according to plan. Not at all.

It began when I was at the United Airline counter in Phoenix to check my suitcase. The kiosk could not find my itinerary, which was very odd to me. The reason that happened was due to my itinerary being changed without my knowledge.

I was supposed to fly to Newark, NJ, on United, then to Frankfurt, Germany, on United, and lastly to Johannesburg on Lufthansa. My connection in Newark was only a little more than an hour. I learned that there was an Air Traffic Control (ATC) delay in Newark, and so for the next few hours planes were not being allowed to fly to Newark until the ATC was lifted. Due to that, I would miss my connection, and thus my itinerary needed to be changed.

After standing at the counter for at least 40 minutes, the United customer service rep was finally able to confirm my new itinerary. I would now be flying to Denver, CO, on United, then fly to Frankfurt on Lufthansa, and then fly on my original flight to Johannesberg on Lufthansa. Seemed like the back-up plan was going to end up being just as good as the original plan.

I actually got upgraded to First Class on my Denver flight.  Here are the new-to-me snacks I chose.  Both were yummy.

It snowed the previous day, more so in northern Arizona than in Colorado.

It was a pretty nice plane...when you're used to Economy seating on international flights, like I am.

By the time I get to Frankfurt, I'll still have soooooo much farther to go!

I am not a fan of this flight tracker view.  It looks like the beginning of a plane crash simulation.

Pasta dinner.  It was meh.  But at least they offered a vegetarian option.

Pancakes with blueberry sauce for breakfast.

When I landed in Frankfurt though and turned my phone back on, I received a text message from United stating that my flight to Johannesburg was cancelled. Greeeaaaaattttt. Once inside the airport, I went to the Lufthansa Service Center to have them figure out a new way for me to get to Johannesburg. I was told that Lufthansa was partially striking (which happens ALL the time), so that was why my flight was cancelled.

I basically had only two options to get to Johannesburg in time since all other flights there were fully booked or arrived too late.  My options were to choose between flying Egyptair to Cairo, Egypt, and then to Johannesburg, or to fly Ethiopian Airlines to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and then to Johannesburg. Neither sounded very appealing to me, but I chose the Egyptair option since it arrived in Johannesburg around 7am and the Ethiopian Airlines flight didn't arrive until about 1pm.

After waiting a few hours in Frankfurt, I boarded my flight to Cairo. The plane seemed pretty nice inside and the flight attendants were very helpful and friendly. I sat in the second to last row in a middle seat, but I was just happy to actually be heading closer to South Africa, though I still couldn't believe I was going to Egypt.  EGYPT! Talk about unexpected! The flight was a little less than 4 hours and they actually served a meal. The options were chicken, beef, or fish. I learned nothing from watching the movie Airplane!, so I chose the fish. I didn't end up eating the fish though, just the rice that came with it, so I think I'll be safe.

The meal.  I wasn't particularly hungry, so I didn't eat much.

Holy crap!  I can't believe that I am actually in freaking Egypt!  What a strange turn of events this journey was.

When we landed in Cairo and I exited the airplane, I was very surprised to see that the exit led outside to stairs, and not to a jetbridge connected to the airport. The plane was in no man's land and after a quick walk outside in the dusty, polluted Egyptian air, I boarded a shuttle bus that took us passengers to the airport terminal. So now the question is, can I actually say that I have been to Egypt since I was outside and breathed the air?

Inside the airport I was a little confused by the signage, and ended up waiting in the Immigration check entry line by accident. It turns out I turned right a little too soon so I missed the entrance door to International Connections. So, back I went and now I was in the right spot. The airport seemed to be pretty big and nice, with quite a few restaurant and shopping options, but I wasn't in the mood for either. I had a couple hours before my flight so I had a seat and waited. Passengers are only allowed to enter the gate area about an hour before the flight, so at first I had to wait out in the main hallway.

Once they allowed passengers into the gate area, you had to show your boarding pass and passport to enter, then go through a security check which had two separate areas for male and female passengers. I've never experienced that before. Everyone in my line walked through a metal detector and well as being hand-patted down by a female employee. All carry-on baggage was put through an x-ray machine also and I was told that I had to throw out my bottle of water, which was fine with me because it was only full of tap water from Frankfurt anyway.

This plane was an A330 so it was huge. There also ended up being hardly any passengers, at least in the rear section, so there were two to three times more empty seats than taken seats. Once it seemed that everyone was on board, I asked a flight attendant if boarding was complete. He said yes and so I asked him if I could move. He showed me to two open seats by a window and said that was the best he could offer. I gladly moved there and thanked him. (The guy sitting near me should really thank me though, because by me moving he ended up with a middle row of four seats all to himself!)

The more than half-empty plane.

The view leaving Cairo.

The flight went well. Everyone was given a small amenity kit, which excited me because I love free stuff! It included an eye mask, socks, toothbrush and toothpaste, and headphones.

 Even though we departed at nearly 11pm, dinner was served about an hour after take off. The only choices this time were chicken and beef. I chose chicken and again just ate the rice around it. I do not know exactly what kind of cake the dessert was, as it seemed to have only a faint flavor or perhaps caramel, but I really liked it. They also served breakfast before we landed.

Dinner.

Breakfast.

Somewhere over southern Africa.

We landed in Johannesburg on time and I was elated that I actually made it there after two days of traveling. I slept as much as I could on all of my flights, so I wasn't particularly tired either, which is very unusual for me once arriving at my final destination. The Immigration line was a little long, but not too bad, and I got through pretty quickly.

Next was the baggage claim area. (Cue the dramatic music: Dun dun dun!) The big question on my mind is whether or not my suitcase actually made it here too. After all of my itinerary changes and airline transfers, I was skeptical that it would be. And I was right. My suitcase did not arrive. So I walked over to the Egyptair baggage service counter to file a claim. It took a few minutes for the customer service rep, who was very sweet and patient by the way, to fully understand the journey I took to get there. I handed her my collection of boarding passes and my original baggage claim receipt I received when I checked in in Phoenix. Her system only allowed her to track bags back as far as Cairo, and my bag did not show up as being there. My guess is that it never left Frankfurt due to the Lufthansa strike. She asked when the last time that I saw my bag was and I told her in Phoenix.

She had me fill out a form and took some additional information from me. I was told that I would be contacted once my bag was located, which I guess really means if it is located. There wasn't anything of great value in my suitcase, but there are so many things in there that I will need, so I hope I do eventually receive it.

In the meantime, I will have to make due with what I packed in my backpack or was already wearing. This includes 3 T-shirts, 2 tank tops, 2 long-sleeved shirts, 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of shorts, 1 pair of hiking pants, 1 pair of sweat pants, 1 pair of hiking shoes, 2 bras, 2 pairs of underwear (Why did I only pack 1 extra in my backpack? They are so small!), 4 pairs of socks (1 of which is courtesy of Egyptair's amenity kit), and 1 raincoat. I also have a few tiny toiletry bottles, some snacks, an extra pair of glasses and sunglasses, 2 books, 2 cameras, 1 laptop, my phone, and all the chargers for the electrical devices. The things that I am thinking I am going to wish I had the most from my suitcase are bug spray, my shaving razor, and a hat. Luckily, these are all things that I should be able to buy here.

Upon entering the airport arrivals area, I looked through the small crowd to find a sign with my name on it. This was the driver that would be taking me to the guest house where I would be spending the day and sleeping overnight, as the journey to the game reserve takes 6 hours. The guest house is quaint but nice. It's located in a rural, farmland area outside of Johannesburg (I believe to the north of the city.)

I was the first to arrive, so I had a room all to myself all day. I walked around a bit, ate a snack (a pretzel I bought in Frankfurt), drank some tea, took an inventory of everything I had with me in my purse and backpack, took a bath (no shower), hand washed most of the clothes that I wore already and hung them by the window to dry, napped for a few hours, and worked on this blog post.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous during the morning and early afternoon with blue, sunny skies and a temperature of probably 80 (F.) The property has some roosters and ducks, so I could hear them calling every now and again. By late afternoon, the skies were cloudy and the temperature cooled off a little bit.


The view out my window.

The owners two sweet German Shepherds relaxing in the sunshine.

Mid-day, a few volunteers who had just ended their projects arrived at the guest house along with one of the drivers from the program. I was too groggy to sit and chat with them though. At 7pm, two other female volunteers arrived at the guest house. One is a Brit from Australia and the other is from Mexico and Chicago. They are both in their 30s, so I was happy to find out that I wasn't the only "older" volunteer. We were served dinner at the guest house at 7:30pm. It was a nice hearty meal, which was good since all I ate for lunch that day was that pretzel. Everyone chatted during dinner and it was interesting to hear about where people were from, what they had going on in their lives, and what they thought of the project.

Dinner at the guest house.

My first African sunset.

After a very chaotic journey to get to South Africa and having to throw all of my original and secondary travel plans out the window, it was so nice that my first day here was calm and relaxing. It certainly has already been an adventure so far, and I haven't even made it to the African bush yet!