Cape Town South Africa 2016

Learning a lesson for the second time – that’s what happened with the flights from Portland to Cape Town via San Francisco. I’d forgotten that the Bay Area can be fraught with wind and fog causing take-off and landing delays.

Lured by Lufthansa’s flights to Cape Town via San Francisco with less than two hours layover between connections :o), I jumped on it. Later remembered why that wasn’t such a wise choice…. A weather-related delay between the first leg – Portland to San Francisco – created a snowball effect of tight connections resulting in running down boarding ramps minutes before two connecting flights took off. The situation kept me on my toes! Miraculously all flights were made and I survived the fire drill a little tired but otherwise unscathed.

There were interesting European passengers on the flight from SFO to Munich and I sat next to a German digital techie who had just attended a conference in San Francisco. He was fun and had interesting perspectives about Americans, Germany, and Europe.  He even provided some history on the symbolism of the glockenspiel.

During the flight to Cape Town I sat next to a tall, quiet Turkish-looking man. He must have taken several flights and was rummy and tired. He fell asleep into his glass of orange juice spilling it everywhere. Two overnight flights in a row can befuddle anyone.

It’s been five years since my last visit to South Africa. Getting back into the swing will take a few days. For some reason my brain resists the metric system. Also, driving on the wrong side of the road :) is scary when you’re not used to it, not to mention operating a strange rental vehicle. It’s all part of the learning curve.

An accident on the N2 Highway from CPT airport to City Centre bottle necked traffic and made it a slow drive. During the delay an unexpected delight was watching the morning fog delicately drape itself over the top of Table Mountain – lovely sight!

My apartment hotel in City Centre is near the waterfront. It’s comfortable and close to Greenmarket Square. The weather is warm – 90s today and 100s forecast for tomorrow – good beach time. Yesterday a southeaster blew everyone’s socks off.

Still spaced out and jet lagged I decided not to drive today thinking it might be dangerous for everyone concerned. Walked around the city, enjoyed café stops and chatting with locals, shopped for groceries at Woolworths, and got a South African SIM card for my iPhone.

Purchasing a local SIM card, activating it, and then adding airtime is interesting but not difficult. You present your passport to register with the carrier – Vodacom. With a local cell phone number, I’m beginning to feel more connected.

Hoping jet lag is gone tomorrow. More later…