This was our official last day in South Africa. We started the day with a game drive. This was our last drive with James, which made me very sad! He was a big part of why our trip was so successful!
After a final breakfast it was time to gather our luggage and check out. Our shuttle driver arrived on time, and we started the 3 hour drive to the airport in Durban. From there we made our connecting flight to Johannesburg.
Our experience at the Johannesburg airport was the least pleasant part of our day. Once we arrived, we had to get our bags, take them to a different terminal for international flights, re-check them, go through security and then passport control. We arrived at 4:30, and had almost 4 hours until out flight left. This entire process took just over 2 hours, and was a pretty negative experience. The line for security was as long, if not longer than the busiest U.S. airports, but there was no air conditioning. By the time we made it through security I was pretty done, but then we still had to go through passport control. As with our previous experience, this involved waiting in line to have a human stamp your book. They had 16 stations available, but only 4 with workers. This meant another long wait. By the time we made it past that point and headed to the British Airways lounge. I was SERIOUSLY ready to sit down somewhere comfortable and eat!
The BA lounge in Johannesburg was very nice. We ended up having just under 2 hours there to relax, which was all I needed to decompress from our day so far. Our flight boarded on time, but we had a 30 minute delay in leaving the gate due to something they called a “passenger convenience issue,” whatever that means.
I came prepared for another successful sleep on this flight, and it turned out that I slept about 6.5 hours, which was great. The breakfast we were served in Business Class before landing in London was awesome! I felt pretty good energy-wise, which was important with the busy 1st day in London I had planned!
Carpe Diem...seizing life's adventures 