The transport to the airport was pretty quick and took us through central Livingstone. This was our first opportunity to see the actual city. We saw a nice downtown shopping area and a few taller buildings. It seemed nice. We passed some nice looking houses -- quite a contract to our village tour of the day before.
As seems to be their practice, A&K got us to the airport very early for our flight to Johannesburg, at least two hours, maybe more. The airport, which had been closed for a few years due to an economic downturn, now seemed brand new and modern, although not very large. We had a lot of time to sit and talk, staying as a group. There were some nice shops for last minute souvenir hunting. The flight to Johannesburg was uneventful, and we were even served sandwiches on the plane. When we arrived at Johannesburg, the whole group proceeded to immigration, which took about 1/2 hour to clear. However, as we were standing in the line, we noticed that Andrea (Mac, short for MacRitchie) was missing from the line. I had been sitting next to her on the plane and detected some nervousness on her regard related to traveling on her own, and now I was concerned that she had taken a wrong turn. Well, I couldn't think of any options and hoped for the best. The mystery was solved when we met an A&K representative in the arrivals hall who was holding a sign for her. He explained that since our flight from Livingstone had been on British Airways, as were her flights to Boston, connecting through London, she had been ticketed all the way through to her final destination and could skip immigration in Johannesburg. What a relief! The rest of us in the group had independent itineraries for the remainder of our travel and weren't able to do as Andrea did.
Rob and I said our goodbyes to the group and made our way to the domestic terminal in Johannesburg. We found our gate and then hoped that the passes given to us by A&K for premium lounge access might be of some use. They were not -- only valid for a lounge in the international terminal. Nevertheless, there was a premium lounge in the domestic terminal whose fee was only about $15 each, so we paid to go in there. The lounge was very nice with an attractive spread of food and wifi for internet access. We both had salads with a few added snacks with some white wine. Our flight to Cape Town was called, so we were off.
The flight to Cape Town lasted about two hours. Neither of us was hungry, so we refused the food that was served. On landing, we found the official taxi stand inside the airport and took a cab to our hotel, the Cape Town Hilton City Centre. It was after dark by this time of day. In fact it was 9 PM by the time we checked in. We ordered some wine from room service, watched a little TV and went to bed. Our only issue with the hotel is that it appeared that it catered to an Arab/Muslim clientele. The main restaurant is Halaal certified (meets Islamic dietary standards) and does not serve alcohol. There is also no alcohol in the mini-bar, although it can be ordered (which we did). This is certainly not a deal breaker, but I am hoping not to feel uncomfortable tomorrow, as if for example we were the only westerners in the hotel -- we'll see.
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