Day One - Sydney to Johannesburg

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Friday 13^thJanuary 2017







Well we made it and are finally on our way - Grant went back to the surgeon yesterday, had the rod removed from his finger (which he said was a strange and ouchie experience) and was given the all clear to get it wet and a stern warning not to surf.. It is what it is, but we brought the board anyway.. Yesterday we were advised that we had got an upgrade to business class for the 14 hour flight so that was a blessing! And that’s where I am coming to you LIVE from right now!







So yesterday afternoon we dropped Frankie to his minders (Emma and Coby) and said our good byes to Jimmy and set off for Sydney. We chose to stay overnight at the Holiday Inn which gives you 10 nights free parking along with your room rate – almost makes it cheaper to stay there than to park at the airport! Once we had checked in we headed downstairs to “Biggles Bar” which served food and drinks – we had a sandwich on the way but were still a bit puckish when we arrived. Grant and I just had a salad and the boys had the most terrible looking chicken and corn soup I think I’ve ever seen. Grant and I shared a bottle of Pinot Noir and then had a couple of games of pool before retiring for the night.







Up after 6 this morning and caught the shuttle to the airport - the boys successfully managed their bags (packing, getting them on the shuttle and checking them in) which has always been the plan to let them control it a bit more. Easy check in and we went straight through to the Qantas lounge for breaky.. We had just under 3 hours there before we were due for boarding.. A bit of a hold up when boarding but we finally got away about 45 mins late. Grant and Kai are at the front of the plane – can’t go any further or you’re sitting on the captain’s lap! Grant’s a bit excited.. Taj and I are back in row 7 or something, I can understand the business class lovers – man, my seat folds out to a full bed.. an airhostess says “Mrs Bridge I will just make your bed for you”.. Ummm.. What? Pretty damned cool.







At the moment I think we have about 6 hours to go? I’ve watched 2 movies, eaten lunch, read a few mags and had a half hour kip.. Taj is currently asleep.. Going a bit stir-crazy.. I went and looked out the window near the bathroom(they have the cabin dimmed as it would be night at home right now) & It must have been Antarctica? There was ice and snow and not much else.. Really pretty but kind of strangely freaky at the same time.







Made it to Johannesburg – not without a drama, Taj vomited twice on the plane and when we finally got to Joburg we had one bag missing from the carrousel – now given that there was one bag LEFT on the carrousel, that looked very similar to ours we put two and two together and figured someone had grabbed ours instead of theirs.. Luckily (or unluckily), it was our bag and not the boys so Grant and I were the ones left without clothing or toiletries for the night. Went through the rigmarole of reporting to Qantas and then left the airport to head to our hotel for the night.. I’d like to say that check in at our hotel was without drama but we got there and nope, no reservation.. I promptly showed my confirmation and after they had jumped online and yes, could see our booking, we were allocated two rooms.. We then quickly turned around, feeling very weary and headed downstairs for dinner – being a Holiday Inn it was actually much the same menu as Sydney Airport (but cheaper).. The boys had lamb skewers and spaghetti, Grant had chicken and I had a mammoth steak baguette which was more than I could handle.. Around the time that we were getting our meals we received a phone call saying that they had located our bag. YAY!!! The conversation to work out where we needed to go to locate the missing bag was another story but anyway – will see…







We finished dinner and headed for bed, with very little sleep on the plane we were all a bit messy but all is well in Joburg.. #southafrica2017

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