I’ve arrived in Cape Town after two days of travel! My initial impression? It reminded me of Arizona with its sharp and rugged buttes and mesas in the close distance around the city. As a special birthday treat for me, the weather today is beautiful…but hot. 80 degrees. Someone forgot to send the memo about my temperature preferences to the powers that be, lol. But the sun is just beautiful.

The flight from Munich was very, very long – 11 hours. When I flew direct to Israel many years ago, it was a 12 hour flight and I swore I would never fly directly for a trip that long. I came in just under with this trip so I didn’t break my sworn promise to myself, but still! But flying Lufthansa is a good choice for the longer trip; the food and the service was good, we departed and arrived on time, all those good basics you look for in an airline.

The flight was, essentially, a straight line south from Munich to Cape Town, straight through the very heart of Africa. The flight data screen filled with names of towns that I had never heard of. For a brief moment I thought, ”You’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy”. What a big continent! 11 hours of flight, top to tip.

I’ve always loved watching those flight data screens and appreciated the sense of place they provide as you watch them while flying through space. (It’s space, right? I mean not outer space, obviously, but inner space. Is that a thing?) The data screens have been fancied up a bit since my last international flight. New views and stats, a more sophisticated look and feel, but still all the original bits of information still there.

I had the pleasure of watching the flight data on the center seat screen while watching movies on the screen directly in front of me. (The latest Bond movie, No Time to Die; is James really dead? Is it the end of the movie franchise? Respect – the Aretha Franklin biopic and may I say how amazing Jennifer Hudson is; and the ending of Sing 2 which I missed out on when the flight into Munich arrived before the end of the film. Oh, the horror!) But I digress…

The big news? (before my cinematic diversion) I was on a flight that was not completely sold out! Sweet! I haven’t experienced an an entire row of 3 seats to myself in years. And to have that on an 11-hour flight (have I said that before? 11 hours!) was the best possible time to have that joy. I took advantage and stretched out to sleep. It’s still not very comfortable but I luxuriated in the extra space anyway. I did sleep a bit – an hour or two here or there. I am famous (yes, famous! At least to the 3 readers of my blog, you know who you are) for not being able to sleep on a plane so I appreciated the occasional nap. It may have been because it was my second night in a row on a plane – the body needs its sleep, clearly.

The sun was coming up over the horizon as we breakfasted on the plane. As someone who is definitely not a morning person, I had to snap a reflection-filled picture of the sunrise through the plane window. Obligatory picture here…

My driver from the airport was a wonderful gentlemen who told me and Lena (a fellow adventurer who joined the ride to the hotel) that he learned his English from his grandchildren. He was a lovely man. It’s always so nice to interact with local folks when you’re traveling internationally.

He talked about how early he left his home to pick us up due to the traffic. I saw the proof of that flying in, several slow-moving rows of car lights in the early dawn light. It may be a third world country (my driver called it that; I am taking his word for it), but they also deal with first world problems. I don’t think it’s very nice of us first-worlders to export one of the very banes of our existence…

I was immediately gratified to see my luggage within one minute of arriving at the baggage carousel. I had forgotten the thrill of happiness – yeesss! – at seeing one’s luggage after a long international flight. It is all about the little things, my friends, always.

I am writing this blog from my hotel room where I was able to nap for several hours. Am feeling refreshed and ready to meet the tour group for dinner this evening. And to meet my roommate, who’s stuff is in the room but whom I have not yet met. Note to self – next group trip, get over your sense of injustice at the cost of the single supplement, and pay for it. I’m sure my roommate will be fine but who am I kidding? My preference is now, has always been, and forever will be, for my own room. Duly noted. (But I still think the single supplement is a big, travel-industry rip off that they need to end. Rant over.)

That’s all for now. Enjoy!