After a grueling final 6 hours of traveling, we finally made it to Cape Town! The flight had some major turbulence. So much that I vaguely remember sitting up mid-sleep with my eye mask on and blurting out to Erika something along the lines of "IT'S LIKE BEING ROCKED TO SLEEP BY A CEMENT MIXER!!!" before crashing back down and falling back to sleep. But we made it safe and sound. We were near the first off the plane so cleared immigration and customs quickly. Didn't even have to fill out any paperwork! Our bags were near the front (things are going our way so far and will soon get better!) so we grabbed them and walked out to the main terminal.
Unlike Turkey, where our pick up ride never arrived, we had a sharp dressed gentleman holding up a big sign with our names on it. We walked over, exchanged pleasantries, and he proceeded to confirm our entire itinerary down to the minute of our pickups! Pretty impressed with Thompson's Africa so far! After confirming it all, he passed us off to another very nice gentleman who would be our driver to the hotel. He proceeded to give us a mini city history lesson. Then we got to the hotel, checked in (our room was ready early. Whoop whoop!), collected all of our various travel vouchers that were included in the Groupon package, and came up to shower and get some rest.
Did I mention Cape Town is a magnificent city? It really is beautiful. Amazing landscape, amazing climate (the weather is beautiful today). Amazing diverse cultures. Amazing (though controversial) history. I love it already and I've been here less than 12 hours. I will return. Guaranteed.
Prior to arriving, our friend Lisako (major shout out!) had introduced me to one of her friends who lives in Cape Town. We had been exchanging Facebook messages for the last week or so and it just happened to work out that we could all meet up for drinks today. We had an absolute blast! Drinks and Asian tapas for 4 hours with tons of laughing and stories thrown in for good measure. It was a great end to our first day in Cape Town with plenty more great days ahead.
Unlike Turkey, where our pick up ride never arrived, we had a sharp dressed gentleman holding up a big sign with our names on it. We walked over, exchanged pleasantries, and he proceeded to confirm our entire itinerary down to the minute of our pickups! Pretty impressed with Thompson's Africa so far! After confirming it all, he passed us off to another very nice gentleman who would be our driver to the hotel. He proceeded to give us a mini city history lesson. Then we got to the hotel, checked in (our room was ready early. Whoop whoop!), collected all of our various travel vouchers that were included in the Groupon package, and came up to shower and get some rest.
Did I mention Cape Town is a magnificent city? It really is beautiful. Amazing landscape, amazing climate (the weather is beautiful today). Amazing diverse cultures. Amazing (though controversial) history. I love it already and I've been here less than 12 hours. I will return. Guaranteed.
Prior to arriving, our friend Lisako (major shout out!) had introduced me to one of her friends who lives in Cape Town. We had been exchanging Facebook messages for the last week or so and it just happened to work out that we could all meet up for drinks today. We had an absolute blast! Drinks and Asian tapas for 4 hours with tons of laughing and stories thrown in for good measure. It was a great end to our first day in Cape Town with plenty more great days ahead.
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| Making new friends. The most underestimated best part about traveling. |
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