Traveling Adventures - SFO to CPT

After a nice Sunday morning ride on the horses with Judy and Dennis I was off to airport to catch my flight to Africa.  Now, I don’t know how many of you have had to pack for a 3-1/2 month trip but let me tell you, it ain’t easy.  I am traveling with one large 34" black and grey, wheeled duffel bag from REI that holds 123L (I call him Sully), my orange Thule rolling suitcase that holds 38L (I call her Nancy)  and my black Thule laptop bag.

Before I left Denver my best friend Monisha came over to help me pack.  She is a super packer/organizer!   She had to help me once before when I traveled to Australia.  That trip, in my opinion, was easier to pack for since it was only for one month.  This trip was overwhelming to pack for.  To help make all my clothes fit more easily in the luggage I got these compression sacs from Eagle Creek that you stuff with clothes, seal and then squish the air out.  They basically create a vacuum seal so the clothes compress and lay flat.  They are AMAZING!  You can fit A LOT more in your luggage that way.  It’s hard to pack for a three and a half month excursion that is actually four separate trips all of which require different types of clothing.

http://shop.eaglecreek.com/packit-compression-sac-set-sml/d/1065_c_213

When I flew from Denver to San Francisco I flew Southwest Airlines.  I went to check “Sully” in and guess what, he was overweight but not by much so I took some items from him and moved them to “Nancy” which I was carrying on with me.  “Nancy” was my “just in case”  suitcase.  That way if “Sully” got lost I’d have at least one change of clothes and some toiletries with me.  In order to make room in “Nancy” though I had to remove my camera case (with camera inside) and I carried that on separately which is how I ended up leaving my camera on the plane….. but, I digress.

“Sully” and “Nancy” both made it to San Francisco without issue.

Now for this flight to Dubai (and then on to Cape Town) I was really worried about my luggage.  I had a very long layover in Dubai and I really need all my luggage to make it to my final destination of Cape Town, South Africa.  I again was planning to check “Sully” and carry “Nancy” on the plane with me.  I went to the Emirates Airlines counter to check “Sully” in and I was sure he was going to be overweight again but luckily he wasn’t.  I went easily through security and then off to my gate.  When I went to board the plane though, guess what, “Nancy” was too heavy! What? Not my “Nancy”!   Now I know how clients feel when I tell them their pet is overweight - LOL!  Apparently your carry-on can only weigh 15 pounds and “Nancy” was 23#.  Seriously???  Fifteen pounds???  Empty, “Nancy” probably weighs 8#.  I wasn’t going to be able to move 8# of stuff out of her so I was going to have to check her.  My only saving grace is that I did have a small Camelback inside “Nancy” that I could move stuff into and then carry that on.  So I transferred a change of clothes and some toiletries from “Nancy” into the Camelback and the crises was averted.   All I kept thinking though was “If my bags don’t make it, I’m screwed”!  Ultimately, I have no control over it so I just let it go.  What will be, will be.  

Emirates Airlines is a rather nice airline.  That is a bonus since the flight was 16 hours from San Francisco to Dubai.  Their first class and business class seats are MONEY but I couldn’t afford those so I flew coach.  I was smart enough to pick my seat ahead of time and managed to get an aisle seat in the middle clump of seats with no one behind me and I was right next to the bathroom.  I had an older Muslim woman sitting next to me. She didn’t speak English but she was nice and really didn’t bother me at all. The food on the airline was pretty tasty, considering it was airline food and you didn’t have to pay extra for it!  Each seat had its own TV and they had a very large selection of movies to watch.  They also had live TV, podcasts, radio, and games you could play.  There was also wi-fi on the plane but that was not free.  I ended up watching four movies and then took some Xanax so I could sleep.  Good call (yay me) on the noise canceling head phones as there were lots of crying babies on the plane. All in all, not a bad flight.  No real complaints here.

Economy seating - Emirates Air

I arrived in Dubai at about 7pm their time.  Managed to navigate my way through Immigration without much trouble. Everyone I spoke to spoke English; somewhat broken but understandable.  Emirates gives you a free hotel voucher if you have a layover in Dubai that is longer than 8 hours. My layover was a bit over 13 hours so they issued me a voucher.   I went outside and found my shuttle bus. The hotel was about 5 minutes away. I checked in with no problems.  My room was 1066.  The lady at the counter told me to go around the corner and my room was over there on the first floor.  After walking all the way around the ground floor and not finding my room, I asked someone to direct me toward it’s location.  It turns out the first floor is actually the second floor.  Um…..OK.  So, I go to the “first” floor and find my room, no problem.  Then I get in the room and it’s dark.  Dark outside and dark inside the room.  I’m fumbling around flipping every light switch I could feel only to find that they aren’t working!  WTF?  Seriously?  I cannot be in here with no lights.  I finally managed to hold open the door to the room to shed some light on the situation and then figured out that there is a slot on the wall for you to insert your room key.  Once I did that the lights came on.  Either I’m a dumb ass or this is just weird!  I’m going with weird….Another crisis averted!  

Slot for the room key that turns the lights on

Dubai Duty Free

The hotel also gave me a meal voucher so I went to the restaurant downstairs and it’s a self serve buffet.  It was good.  Not 100% sure of what I was eating but it was good.  Next, I went back to the room to shower and get some sleep. Texted a couple friends/family, read my book and then managed to fall asleep.  Not the most restful sleep I’ve ever had but it was in a bed and you can’t beat that after being on a plane for 16 hours!  Apparently they like the rooms cold in Dubai because mine felt like I was in the ARCTIC and not the desert.  I like it cold when I sleep but this was ridiculous.  Emirates Air gives you socks on the plane and I hadn’t use mine but decided to go ahead and put them on.  After the addition of the socks and me finding the air conditioning control panel (which was in Celcius, that’s a whole ‘nother story) I managed to sleep better.  I woke up at 5am to get the shuttle back to the airport for my 10 hour flight to Cape Town.  

Arrived at the airport and made it though immigration and security.  Security didn’t make me remove my shoes or my liquids from my bag so that was easy.  I got to my gate and wanted to eat something before my flight. The only thing open at 6am by my gate was Burger King.  I don’t usually eat fast food but I figured it would be OK and at least recognizable/edible.  I get to the counter, no breakfast.  I asked about it and they said they only serve burgers and fries all day long. Duh, hello? Like I was talking crazy talk!  It’s 6am people - breakfast time. So, I had some fries and a Coca Cola Light (their version of diet coke) and went to my gate.  I have no idea how much it cost.  I just gave them my credit card since it doesn’t incur any foreign transaction fees. I guess I’ll find out when the statement comes :)

Arabic Burger King

When it was time to board the plane we actually had to go downstairs and outside the airport to get on a bus to take us to the plane.  Um…..OK.  We get on the bus and seriously, it took longer to get to the plane than it took to get to my hotel on the shuttle.  WTF??  The plane was WAY out there!  More weirdness.  I’m guessing I will have many more weird things to report by the end of this trip!

The 10 hour flight to Cape Town was great.  I arrived at about 4:30 pm local time.  Made it through immigration with no issues.  At baggage claim both "Sully" and "Nancy" were there. Yay!  My driver was there waiting for me just like I was told he would.  He was a super nice older gentleman from "Escape to the Cape", a local tourist company.  He drove me to the Atlantic Point hostel where I was to spend the night.  White Shark Projects would pick me up early in the morning to take me to Klensbaai about a 2 hour drive southeast from here.  I got settled, took a shower and then walked a few blocks to get some dinner.  Food is really cheap here!  I got a Pina Colada and a large BBQ Bacon Burger for $10 USD.  Seriously ridiculous.  They are going to love me here.  I gave him a huge tip because I felt bad that the bill was so little :)  Came back to the hostel and went to bed.  I'm doing pretty well with no jet lag really setting in yet.  Excited to see sharks soon!  Wish me luck!

Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa

Atlantic Point Hostel - Cape Town

Pina Colada at the Cape Town Brewing Company

Capetown Brewing Company

Next up - Great Whites!

I’m sad my layovers haven't been during the day light hours as I’d like to do some sightseeing in Dubai and Cape Town.  Maybe on the way home?  I don’t have a return ticket yet so anything goes! 

If there are any typos I apologize.  I'm trying hard to proofread these things!