The first Memory of our trip

At long last Lars, Joe and I reached South Africa. We arrived in Johannesburg's OR Tambo Airport on Egyptair flight 839 from Cairo. After some minor logistical hurdles we decided the best thing to do next was to eat at Wimpy. You could maybe say that Wimpy is equivalent to Denny's in the USA. Our waitress at Wimpy was a nice young woman named Memory (pictured above with the three of us). 2 of her other colleagues were named (according to their badges) Charity and Prince, so maybe people like to make an impression with names here. Wimpy was good and cheap, especially for an airport. Memory was hoping we would take her back to the USA with us when we left, and we told her that we would pick her up when we came back through Johannesburg. Watch this space...

After eating at Wimpy, we flew to Cape Town. We had come to Cape Town from San Francisco via London, then Cairo, and then Johannesburg. 37 hours of transit (with stops in 3 Business Class lounges and a trip to downtown London just to get breakfast) made for 3 very weary travelers. After we collected our bags, we met the legendary Fawzi right at Cape Town Airport arrivals. It was now official: the trip had truly begun.

Everything went smoothly today, my first in Africa, from the flights to getting cell phone service, to getting our match tickets printed at the FIFA World Cup kiosks, to picking up the car, to getting the keys to our apartments. One small note: driving on the left side of the road is doing my head in! It takes all my admittedly inconsiderable powers of concentration to stop myself from killing us all. Anyway, time to rest, more to come...