Vacation in Cape Town is really awesome! Although it got off to a rocky and bumpy start (literally) when I took the ferry from Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam on Thursday afternoon. I have taken the ferry many times before but this time was especially bad as I was sitting on the lower level right in the front. This meant that I could feel every single motion the boat made which was rough and add to that the people who were throwing up all around me. Not pleasant!
I arrived in Dar and paid the same amount for a taxi to Mikocheni in Dar as I did for my ferry ride to the city! In Mikocheni I was just supposed to be meeting up with my travel buddy and our YCI country manager for dinner then we were heading off to the airport to wait for our 2:30am flight to Johannesburg. All of this did happen, except the unexpected also happened. When we arrived at the airport at 1:00am we were expecting to be able to check in straight away but the security was closed...got a good sign when your flight is supposed to leave in an hour and a half! I went to the information stand and the lady there put me in contact with someone over the phone who told me that the Dar to Johannesburg route on British Airways stopped running in early July. Thanks British Airways for relaying that information to us!
Clearly we had no idea of this and since no one was in touch with us from British Airways or Kulula we also weren't aware that British Airways had rebooked us on a South African Airways flight leaving Dar at 6:45am (the same morning). Unaware of this rebooking, we headed back to Mikocheni at 2am and spent the night in Dar only to wake up early the next morning and head into the city centre to sort out the whole situation. It actually worked out easier than what I had imagined. We went into a British Airways office and they arranged for us to be on the next South African Airways flight to Johannesburg at 6:45am the following morning. They also rescheduled our Joburg to Cape Town flight. Unfortunately, they did not bump us up to first class for our "troubles."
So, after all of this, we finally arrived in Cape Town only 1 day behind schedule! What have I been up to since Saturday afternoon? Well, I have been experiencing some culture shock here that's for sure! Cape Town is not the "Africa" that I am used to, in fact I have a new take on K'Naan's phrase T.I.A (This is Africa). My new phrase for Cape Town is T.I.N.A - "This is NOT Africa."
Coming out of the Cape Town Airport Sabrina called me out on being overly excited about big city buses like those at home and not daladala's as well as the "Xelerator" hand dryers in the washrooms...you know, the ones that actually dry your hands! Yes, simple things make me happy!
My days have been jam packed with amazing sightseeing which I will blog about tomorrow, hopefully with some pictures added to it. I have 2 days left in this amazing city and since I have already done most of the tourist things I think I will spend my 2 days shopping and exploring the city.
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