Day 0 : 2nd June 2024 – Flight to Johannesburg

Woke up early at 5am and did our last-minute packing before farewelling Krissy and catching a Didi to the airport. It was so busy at the airport that they closed off the departures ramp, and we were dropped off at the bottom of the departures drop-off. I did notice a lot of cars queuing on the upper ramp so it was good. We simply caught a lift to the departures level. Checking bags through and getting through immigration is now very quick, and security didn’t need me to take my laptop, tablet or cameras out of my bags (unlike the domestic security). It only took about 20 minutes, and we were through.

Peter and Leanne Brown, who also joined us on the China tour last year, were just finishing their coffees, and we all went together to get some breakfast. We thought we had about 2 hours before boarding, but we ended up waiting another hour after reaching the boarding Gate 10.

Our Qantas flight was comfortable, and the service was excellent. You certainly don’t go hungry with regular snacks handed out. I didn’t expect that we were asked to put our window blinds down soon after lunch was served, and they stayed down even when the second meal was served towards the end of the flight. Food was fine, but the ice cream after lunch was excellent.

The plane made up about 30 minutes, so we landed just 30 minutes behind schedule. The immigration check was quick, and we then found the phone company shops for Peter to buy a SIM card. I had already purchased a travel eSIM from a company called Saily, which connected almost immediately after landing.

We then followed the instructions I had to walk the short distance to the City Lodge Hotel at OR Tambo International Airport. We opted to arrive a night earlier than the standard tour, and the hotel ensured we had the same rooms for the two nights. By then it was 6.30pm local time, which was 2.30am Sydney time, so we felt OK and thought it best to push on a bit further with a drink at the bar to get our body clocks in tune with African time. We ended up going to sleep around 8pm (4am Sydney).