30 hours later…From New York to Cape Town!
No that’s not a typo. 30 hours later, I have arrived! It was surprisingly a very smooth journey for which I’m very grateful.
A Jersey send-off
As I mentioned in my last post, I spent some time home with my family for several days to feel pampered while doing last minute prep for my trip. While there was a lot of anxious packing, there were also so many lovely moments.
I live on a plane
The 30 hours consisted of:
JFK > LHR (Virgin Atlantic) - Short 6 hour day time flight that ended up being only 5:15. Easy peasy! Was an early start (8 am flight + early subway in), but caught up on pop culture from last year. I love airplane food but unfortunately this one was very mediocre. Was very grateful for booking this flight back when I still had Delta status because it meant I got a free checked bag.
LHR > JNB (Virgin Atlantic) - An 11 hour red-eye flight turned into 10:15 hours. Guess the winds were behind my planes! I didn’t realize when booking just how far away London and Johannesburg are (I know, dumb American who only learned one side of the map). Thumbs up for airplane food and for an empty economy class - I got to sleep across an entire row.
JNB > CPT (Airlink) - Because I’d booked this flight using Capital One Venture X’s travel voucher (Mom would be so proud) and had searched for the cheapest flight, I thought this would be a budget airline. False! There was free checked baggage AND a sandwich for a two hour flight. Amazing.
CPT > Hostel - Ordered an Uber thanks to Airport Wifi (bless the Internet) as I’m not planning on getting a SIM card for South Africa. Great travel hack - You’re still able to use Uber as long as you have internet during the ordering process. Sometimes the WiFi doesn’t extend to the pick-up zones so I’ll just wait until the Uber is a couple of minutes away before leaving the WiFi safety net.
At long last - Cape Town!
Not sharing the hostel name just quite yet for security reasons (this site is public) but I’ll share later on if it’s one I’d recommend or avoid for the future.
I arrived in the evening and was pleasantly surprised to hear that I got upgraded from a 6 bedroom dorm to a private room with an ensuite bathroom. I think it’ll be nice to have my own private space for a week before I head off to the next stop, which is a 49 day tour of Southern Africa (more to come on that later).
I originally chose this hostel because it’s supposed to have a great community, so hopefully I’ll get a balanced mix of quiet May time and social time. The hostel has free yoga mats so I got to sneak in a quick yoga session to unwind before preparing for bed.
I’ve got a couple of things in mind that I want to do here, but I think what’ll be more important is just getting accustomed to the fact that this is now my life!