15 Sep 2014 - We are in Africa!

Holy Mother of long distance aircraft pain.....we have arrived! All flights left/arrived on time, KLM has awesome service and excellent food and once we can stand up straight again, we will be fine.

We did the bus to Montreal and had no problems finding the KLM spot. It was a full load but 6 hrs to Amsterdam wasn't a big problem. The seats are so damn cramped...I was in the middle which is fine but once the individual in front of me put his seat back, I was 'in for the night'. Now Wayne won't understand this but within a half hour of the flight leaving I had my leopard skin eye mask on and the blanket wrapped around me and only came out of a sound sleep when I smelled the roast beef dinner but wasn't even tempted. Both Corky and I slept through whatever dinner was being served and probably woke up about an hour before we landed. We only had about an hour to find our gate in Amsterdam and get a quick snack before we got on the l-o-n-g haul to Cape Town.

The 11-hr ride was definitely long and Corky's back is much worse that mine so he was in real pain. He was a trouper though and we both ate, dozed, and watched tv or read. The last two hours were agony and all we could think about was getting off the plane and finding out how we can upgrade our seats on the flight home. I was seriously locked in my seat and the poor girl next to the window had to wake me from a sound sleep because she couldn't wait any longer to go to the washroom. In this case, it's definitely NOT about the journey but about the destination.

Once we got off the place in Cape Town and collected our luggage we headed for the arrival area. I did not have my camera to take that 'once in a lifetime' photo of someone standing in line holding a placard and our name on it....damn. We were driven through the city to the waterfront and pulled up to the most beautiful hotel. From the moment we opened the van door we were pampered and treated like royalty. Our room is magnificent and the highlight was the rose petals on the bed and on the little floor mat beside our slippers. Yep....Corky is definitely able to see where all his $$ is going.

We have a tour to Robben Island tomorrow to see the prison and museum where Nelson Mandela was held and while we wished it wasn't a morning trip, we won't miss it.

And so the adventure finally begins! I know it will go quickly and we have both said we will be savouring every moment of the next three weeks.