Briefly in Johannesburg

Like Munich airport, O R Tambo airport is also very modern (in part). There are lots of people off various flights in the Immigration Hall but the queues move swiftly and I'm soon walking to baggage reclaim. My checked bag arrives promptly and I'm soon in the Arrivals Hall. I've flown to Johannesburg so that I can have a meeting with one of my firm's suppliers. A car and driver have been pre-booked and I meet up with the well-spoken young man and we walk to his 'people carrier'. We're past the worst of the morning rush and bowl along the complex network of motorways, reaching our supplier's works in good time. A useful and pleasant meeting takes most of the morning and then my driver returns me to the airport. This time, he has to avoid part of the motorway route because of delays caused by roadworks. My large bag was already checked in and labelled for Cape Town at Manchester and I have my Boarding Pass for this third leg so I only have to find the 'Bag Drop' and make my way to the South African Airways domestic lounge.

There are plenty of computer stations available and the internet connection is fast. All too soon, they're calling my flight to Cape Town so I make my way to Gate D1 where they're already boarding passengers.

This time, the aircraft is a Boeing 737-800. As I walk down the glass-sided airbridge to the aircraft, I notice the last three letters of the aircraft registration painted on the nose wheel hatch cover - 'Sierra Juliet Foxtrot'. The seating is 2+3 and a moveable bulkhead makes the first seven rows business class. I'm in 4A again and, again, the whole aircraft is packed. It's around two hours to Cape Town and they serve us a reasonable meal on the way. On arrival, we park at a separate stand and disembark through portable stairs. A modern shuttle bus takes us a short distance to the terminal. More later!

All my pictures from the trip are here.

Transiting Munich

Boarded an Airbus A319-100 at Manchester for the first leg to Munich with Lufthansa. We're a few minutes late departing, awaiting a 'slot'. The seating is 3+3, with a moveable partition to create a 3-row business section at the front. The Business rows are allocated as 2+2, with an empty seat in the middle. The flight is heavily booked, but apparently I'm the only person in the front section so the two stewards are quite attentive in plying me with drinks and a simple-but-good meal. The one steward even offers to make me a takeaway snack for my wait at Munich - a kind offer which I decline.

As we approach Munich, I notice another aircraft flying parallel, about 3/4 mile on our right, a little ahead of us and lower. We descend and come level with the other aircraft, still flying parallel. I correctly deduce that there are two parallel runways so we land on 'Left', the other aircraft on 'Right'. We do some fairly heavy braking to be able to take the high speed turn-off on our right and taxi past the lengthy, modern terminal buildings to a stand out in the open. We disembark using old-fashioned steps and join a modern bus. A five-minute drive takes us to the terminal building, passing close to a South African Airways aircraft which I guess is my aircraft (it was). After a few moments to check on the screens for my flight and its Gate, I walk through the fairly-quiet terminal to the departure gate. There are a lot of people clustered near this gate but much of the terminal is deserted. There's one Duty Free shop open. I check it out but the prices dissuade me from making a purchase. Quite early, they start boarding the flight. With a separate business channel, I'm soon on the aircraft in seat 4A. This time, the whole aircraft is full so there's a gentleman from South Africa in the aisle seat alongside me.

The aircraft is a large, four-engined 'Airbus' - an A340-600. It takes some time for all the passengers to embark but we get away about right time for the ten-hour overnight journey to Johannesburg. Once we're under way, they serve a very good evening meal. There's plenty of alcohol on offer, but I stick to lemonade. The entertainment system is not quite state of the art, apparently using videotape judging by the not-terribly good quality at times. But I watch 'The Tourist' before converting my seat to flat-bed and getting a few hours fairly good sleep. I wake about 0630 and have a quick wash before they serve a decent breakfast. By the time we arrive at Johannesburg (a little late after an air traffic delay) I feel reasonably human.

All my pictures from the trip are here.