Snoring to South Africa

Charlie and I arrived in Frankfurt in good order. Singapore's angled lie-flat sleep seat was easier for sleeping, so we got plenty of shut eye. We'd booked a day room at the Sheraton. It was an excellent idea. Snoozed for a few hours, used the health club and managed to squeeze in 22 minutes (gratis!) of internet time. The whole system went down. Rose summoned her best German to explain the problem: KAPUT!

That said, if you have a long layover and/or the lounges are not up to snuff, hanging out at the Sheraton's lobby coffee areas is a really good alternative. No dayroom cost and a far more pleasant environment than the airport lounges.

The African Queen was departing at 8:30 pm from gate B42 bound for Joburg. We ambled over to check our new ship out. Holy moley, that's one big honking bird. Once we lifted off, it was quickly apparent we were in the snoring section. Honestly - haven't had that many professional snorers, EVER, on a flight. The guy next to us settled his duvet so he looked like a corpse strapped to a guerney. Yowser! I pulled out the Grant Heathman trusty earplugs. After all, if they worked for a Formula One race, surely the snoring would be a trifling matter. NO such luck. So .. I watched 'Sex in the City (again)', 'LA Confidential', a segment of a Nelson Mandela documentary and finished up with 'Goodbye to Bafana', a South African film. We landed about 20 minutes early. Our pilot helpfully reminded us that we shouldn't despair if one of our other South African flights is late, because after all we'd just had an early landing complete with an open gate so we could get off. Oh yea .. we are back in South Africa.

We debarked, still wearing the same clothes since Monday afternoon, and made our way to the domestic terminal. We were successful in swapping onto an earlier flight, tanks to our porter. We got to Cape Town on time, and our driver had gotten word to pick us up early.

The Radisson is a little further down from the waterfront than the Cape Grace's central location. Lovely entry lobby and a great restaurant to eat outdoors. Weather is very clear but clouds will build this afternoon and evening. It's cool here.

Room is supposed to be ready about now, so I will gratefully peel out of this outfit, catch a few hours of sleep and be ready to ROAR at the Baia dinner this evening. Charlie's shopping.

Cheers, Rose