johan rebel

Wow, Lalibela is sure home to an eclectic collection of animals. Many of the species are extralimital.

Johan

Flyingboy200

Wow Stu, thanks for taking the time out to share such a fantastic travel experience with other flyer talk readers. This is some trip! I have to say, I always love reading your amazing trip reports but this one is outstanding and has really got me excited for my own hols.
I'm heading out to the Alps next week for a bit of mountain time, then I've got a long haul coming up to southeast Asia in May flying J on EK.

I certainly want to get out to Capetown sometime, seems an awesome city and your photos were outstanding man.
Happy Travelling!

mike&co

Over 100 replies Stu - sfo777 will be getting worried

stu1985

Thanks Chancensam, I'm really glad you have enjoyed reading.

Yes, such a diverse variety of animals.

Thanks Flyingboy200 for your nice comments. It is very kind of you. I'm glad my photos of Cape Town have inspired you - wait until the Table Mountain instalment!

Hahaha I'm not sure SFO777 has much to worry about with me

stu1985

Once I was checked into my room (one floor down from the last stay), I nipped downstairs to the lounge for a G&T. After a while, I headed back to the room to grab some pictures of the sunset over Table Mountain which was beautiful.





I'm going to post this next picture a bit bigger so that you can see it all....





And then after the sun had disappeared, I went back down to the lounge for some nibbles - some spicy sausage thing and a nice curry.



I decided that I would head down to the waterfront for my last evening. I didn't know where I was going to go for dinner so walked around for a while and eventually settled on a restaurant with a great view over the marina.



Ordered a game kebab which was gorgeous.



The waitress was amazing. A lady from Zimbabwe. We chatted for a while and she told me what life was like growing up there. About how State sponsored hooligans would make sure that they voted for the 'right' person. About how she had to keep quiet with her true political views even from her family just in case one of them outed her to the government. About how her uncle was taken away by the police when he had protested against Mugabe. About how eventually she couldn't stand it any longer and moved to South African for what she considers to be a better life. I wished I could have chatted to her all night but I was, by this point, the last person in the restaurant and I didn't want to keep her too late. She made the evening just that little bit more special and made me appreciate living in the UK.

Back at the hotel, I packed a few things into my cases and headed to bed. I woke up in the morning - usual ritual: shower, coffee, breakfast and out.

I grabbed a taxi and went up to the Table Mountain Cable Car point. I had to wait in queue for about 15 minutes for the lift up to the Cable Car itself so not long at all. Of course, I had to go through the whole rigmarole of "Hold this sign which says 'Table Mountain' and smile for the camera and you can buy the photo once you come down"....Before long, I was on the Cable Car. The guy announced that the floor on the cable car moves around as you go up the mountain. I'm not one normally scared of heights but when this thing started moving around......Jeeeeeeeesus! That coupled with the fact that the ascent seemed to be so steep and the cable car was only on two cables......I was glad when we got to the top.

I had thought that I would be at the top for maybe 10-15 mins - quick walk to the spot you see in all the photos, grab a selfie and go down again. Three hours later, I was just making my way to the Cable Car to go down. Wow - this place was out of this world. I think it may just have been my favourite day of the holiday. The views from the top were awesome. I headed to the right hand side first and saw over to Camps Bay and then I walked all the way around the top - went a bit off piste and did a wee bit of hiking (yes, easy hiking as I didn't have the right shoes on!) and gradually made my way around to the front of the Mountain. What struck me was just how quiet it was up here. I loved just finding rocks where nobody was and sitting down for a while taking in the sights and sounds around me. I'll let the pics do the talking.



























Just stunning.



Arty....





I love how the cloud just rolls in over Table Mountain - they call it a tablecloth





Just chillin'





Legs over the edge!!!







Even the small creatures appreciated the view......look on the rock!



And another panorama....



I was surprised how hot it was at the top of the mountain too actually. When I had probably used all of my phone's memory with photos, I headed to grab a bottle of water and buy some postcards. The lady in the shop told me that if I wrote them there and then, I could post them at the top and they would get a special stamp on them. I wondered whether they would actually make their destination but they did! I headed back to the Cable Car......don't look down.........



At the bottom, I grabbed a taxi and got dropped off at the parliament. I wondered whether there was a tour I could go on given I had a few hours to spare but I didn't have my passport (which it turned out you needed). No worries. I walked back through the city, took a wrong turning and ended up somewhere I hadn't seen before. After a while, I saw something familiar and knew the way back to the hotel from there.





I arrived back at the hotel and had an hour or so to kill before I was thinking of heading to the airport. I went up to the pool, grabbed a lounger, listened to some music and had my last two Castle beers in the sun. It was bliss and I was starting to reluctantly realise that I was heading back to Aberdeen which was less than half the temperature Cape Town was.

I retrieved my bags from the concierge and changed into jeans and a shirt for travelling in. The concierge hailed a taxi for me at 2pm. My flight was at 5pm but people said to give myself an hour to get to the airport at that time of day. Oh, and Comair were supposedly striking from 4.40pm that day because of a pay dispute. So I wasn't too bothered when we arrived at the airport at 2.30pm.

I headed to the check-in desks and think I left the agent there with some sort of heart condition. I had three separate bookings to get me back to Aberdeen. The reward flight in F (JNB-LHR), the connection from Cape Town to Johannesburg which was paid and another connection from Heathrow to Aberdeen which was paid. Well, this poor guy had never even heard of Aberdeen before let alone seen 'ABZ' on his computer. I was getting stressed out because the guy behind me in the Club line was getting agitated. The poor agent was getting hacked off with his computer and he was furiously tapping away and getting help from the supervisor. Anyway, after about 20 mins, bag tags with ABZ popped out of his printer and my cases were on their way. Pheeeeeeew!

Off to the Slow Lounge I went......

Linda VH

Great trip report. I'm afraid of heights so I had to squinch my eyes closed on some of your Table Mountain shots Thanks so much!

T8191

Likewise ... my stomach turned looking at a couple of them, so I may not indulge in the experience, on what I've read!

brg

Looking forward to your description in 60,000 words of course.
It is a country I have always wanted to visit.
We have the pictures.
I need the words to convey the sounds.

brg

Good to know
The Doubletree at Beijing was only 4k points a night before the devaluation
Wonderful bargain.

mustang281man

Awesome report! I've been wanting to make it to Africa and after reading this report it might happen soon rather than later. Looks like there are tons of things to see and do and the lodge and safari looked amazing. Great report, great pics and I've also been following you on IG.

stu1985

Thanks! I was slightly cautious at the top because of the sheer height and lack of any barriers but felt safe at all times.

THanks mustang281man! Hope you manage to get a trip booked!

stu1985

I went upstairs to the second floor of the lounge which was slightly quieter than downstairs. I grabbed some soup and some cheese and crackers along with a nice glass of red wine. Saw this big bird ready for her trip home later that evening!



The SLOW lounge was a nice place to spend an hour or so before the flight. As I think I said before, there are loads of staff here and you're never left longer than 30 seconds with a dirty plate or empty glass on your table. The lounge was filled to the rafters by the time I was getting ready to head down to the boarding gate. I popped to the bathroom just to grab a pic of the view



BA6422, CPT-JNB, ZS-OAG

There was some semblance of priority boarding at the gate but non-priority folks were still getting boarded at the same time. I took my seat in 2A (middle seat between me and the guy next to me free......unlike the opposite side of the plane). Club was full - 25 of us. The Cabin Controller (love that title) and his sidekick did well to get us all fed and kept topped up with drinks.

Pre-departure bevs were offered and I went for a glass of fizz. And then the hot towels were given out.





There were some great views to be had after take off and all the way up to JNB with the sun setting as we made our way north east.





The usual drink and pretzel round was done before the meal service.





Meal trays were given out with a very tasty salad to start with with a nice balsamic dressing.



I can't remember what the choices were for main course but I went with the pasta and oxtail which was really tasty - I was pleasantly surprised!



Was slightly worried where we would end up after seeing this......!



Some nice cake thingy for dessert.



And the sun was starting to drop beneath the horizon.







Unfortunately no Glenlivet......! Oh, and the coffee actually tasted nice!



After finishing my coffee we were about 15 mins from Johannesburg. Another great flight with Comair with some very tasty food. Very impressive and definitely on a par with (if not better than) Club Europe!

After landing in JNB, I transferred from the domestic terminal to the international one, made my way through passport control and security and walked a pretty long way to the BA lounge It was relatively busy. I didn't have anything to eat, just had a few glasses of fizz before the flight. The food selections looked not too bad though.







The most interesting part of my visit to the lounge was that there was nearly a murder. Some guy was playing youtube clips on his phone without his headphones in. The guy next to him was getting more and more agitated (understandably) and eventually asked the guy to either stop it or put his headphones in. Said noisy guy took offence and ended up telling the other guy to F off if he wanted peace and quiet. Then some more choice words were used.....Eventually noisy man walked off somewhere else!

I headed to the gate about 30 mins before boarding and was greeted with a masssssssssive queue. It didn't take too long to move though and before long, I was back in the confines of my suite in First

stu1985

BA54, JNB-LHR, G-BNLP

Ahhhhh bliss!



It wasn't long before another one of BA's excellent cabin crew members, a Chinese girl ("A"), popped by to say hi. Surname used in every single interaction she had with me. We hit it off at the start of the flight and I loved the fact that she was serving my side of the aisle. I must say, I seem to have been extremely lucky with great crews this holiday. I've said it before and I will say it again: when you get a great crew on BA , the experience is made all that more special.

Drink before departure? Yeeeeees!



Menus handed out on the ground along with PJs.









Top ups of fizz offered while the rest of the plane was still boarding. Obviously accepted And then off we trotted to the runway.



Bye bye South Africa! I was sad to be going home because I had had such a great trip. That's an excuse just to book another one soon though!



Hi hot rag!



A was up and about with pre-dinner drinks. Kir Royale please. Served with the usual warm nuts.



And table set with a taster of two of the wines from the list (which, I'll add was no problem at all!). Oh, and the Intern on the screen - a very good film!



Amuse bouche - lobster with some herby thing on the side and a spicy tomato dressing. Very tasty!



Starter - tartare of venison. Pretty decent although could maybe have done with some more sauce.



Soup - fire roasted pepper. The soup was brilliant as it always seems to be on BA and those cheesy straws on the side were amazing.



I chose the main course of scallops, prawns and chorizo. I was so tempted to go for the beef but we all know that BA can't do beef in the air for some reason. The seafood was a good choice and it was presented very nicely!



My wine was constantly topped up during the meal by the attentive A. And it's small things like the attention to detail here. I went to the bathroom after my main course and, when I came back, she had folded my napkin and placed it on the table - very good, A, very good!



Dessert - pear and almond cake - soooooooo good. Washed down with some dessert wine.



And then I had to have some cheese



And to finish it all off, some coffee, whisky and some of those lovely chocolates you get in BA F.



The lovely A made my bed and I slept on and off for maybe 6 hours. It got very, very bumpy over central Africa (enough that it woke me up). I managed to be violently rocked back to sleep eventually though and then woke up to my new best friend gently calling "Mr stu1985, Mr stu1985......good morning!". I turned round and she was there smiling and said that we had just about an hour left to go. She hadn't managed to sleep - said that it was way too bumpy back in the tail when it was too bumpy. Poor thing! I freshened up and when I got back to my seat, a coffee and some orange juice was there waiting for me. Nothing better than just chilling out watching the sun rise from a vantage point of 38,000ft....



Breakfast time! Bircher muesli to start with.



And then I decided to go with something sweet - the hot cakes. A had to go check that there were some left because they only loaded two portions of them but I was in luck! They were ok. A bit dry but there was a lot of sauce on the plate which was good.



And then the croissants were presented to me and I took one for the team!



I changed back into my jeans and shirt and enjoyed another couple of espressos while we gradually made our descent into London.







And then we plonked down into Heathrow a few minutes after 7am and made our way to the B gates. I told A that she was awesome and then made my way to the rain across to the A gates. Ugh, I won't even go into the mess that passport control was in. It took well over an hour to into the CCR after landing. Never mind though!

So, a great flight in F back to London made all that much better with an excellent crew member who gave it her all and genuinely seemed to enjoy interacting with all of her passengers. Thanks BA!

I'm nearly there with this TR - just one more instalment to go! Thanks for continuing to read and follow my journey!

LivelyFL

I've absolutely loved your TR. (I would have went with the hotcakes too.)

TheSafariMan

I just ordered the hot cakes for my J breakfast coming back to JFK from LHR next week - hoping they're the same, as those look quite good!!!