Up, up and away

4 October 2010

Finally it’s here.  The weeks of mood swings – now incredibly excited, now anxious to the point of panic attacks – have brought us to now.  I’d like to say that it was travelling that brought on these mood swings, but more and more I’m realising that this is just me.  Ah well: the flat is packed up, cleaned, keys handed over; our stuff is in storage; our suitcases are packed.  There is nothing left to do apart from pick a few fights with the bank and O2 (both successfully achieved).  And then we’re off.

Flight 1: London – Dubai: a mere 6 hour hop.  To my delight, I discover a dedicated Disney Classics channel.    Then a 4 hour wait at soul destroying Dubai airport.  I have never seen so many people buying crap that they don’t need (and that they could buy just about anywhere in the world, for the same price).  Shopped out, they collapse on the floor, suitcases for pillows, for some much needed sleep.

Then the next flight: Dubai to Jo’burg.  Our first impression of South Africans?  We find them quite rude.  Is this just a cultural misinterpretation?  All those hours of travelling can make you judge people by the most exacting standards (i.e. how long they spend in the toilet and whether they insist on having their seat pushed all the way back the whole time – even when you’re eating).  Nuff said about flight 2.

We make it to Jo’burg, find the airport like any other, the staff very friendly.  The car collected we set off.  With not much more than 3 hours sleep between us we probably shouldn’t have embarked on a 6 hour drive, but we did.  Our sat nav found us a lovely route through the backways of South Africa.  At times embarrassingly beautiful, at others just embarrassing.    The landscape felt like home.  As did having to dodge potholes, mini-bus taxis, cows and goats.  Nick is very unimpressed with our ‘wild’ animals having thus far encountered not much more than aforementioned cows and goats.  Tomorrow hopefully Kruger will change all that for him.

With brings us to now, in a lovely B&B in Phalaborwa.  There’s a parrot here that’s learnt to imitate the sound of the doorbell.  Funny to us, probably not so funny to the people who live here.    We’ve also met the softest Rottwieler in the world.  It’s made all the more lovely by the fact that our meal out (pasta for me, fillet steak and chips for Nick + 4 bottles of beer and 2 glasses of wine) has set us back a startling £25, including a £5 tip.   We’re almost ready to move.

Janet adds: I’ve spent the last 6+ years in London desperately trying to lose my South African-ness.  Accent softened, tell-tale phrases eliminated etc.  Now I’m in South Africa and desperate to show off my country to Nick, only to find out that it isn’t mine anymore.  People find me as hard to understand as they do him. 

Nick adds: Love biltong