Forgive me that I’m not a frequent poster in this forum.
My wife and I are going back to Africa to visit my good buddy and his family this August (probably too darn close to harvest for comfort, but that’s my problem!). Will be in country for 14 days doing lots of food/wine stuff, sightseeing and a 4-5 day hunt thrown in just for fun.
The lady who booked the travel is an African specialist that we used back in 2002.
Anyway, in checking over the flight info I see a painful 8 hour layover in Joberg on the way home. I asked her about possible activities with that much time to kill. There’s always the worry of securing baggage (let alone traveling with a rifle) if your going to do something while laying over. She says the Joberg airport is super nice with lots of restaurants and shopping and that we’ll be fine. Thoughts?
Well Casey, I guess you can see how many people fly through JoBurg. We have only flown in and out of Cape Town ourselves.
There is a lot to do in the Joberg airport. It’s almost like its own city. Do you have an Amex Platinum card? If so, hang out in a business class lounge. If not, some airlines will let you pay a fee to use their lounge.
I would not recommend leaving the airport as there is a lot in crime in and around Joberg. The agents who arranged our trip strongly suggested staying put due to the crime.
Do not bother to leave the airport. Nothing to see and horrific crime. When we last flew through there and had a layover the tour agent insisted that we stay in the airport and that their tour rep came and escorted us the whole time at the airport…
Thanks guys. Well aware of the crime factor around Joberg. I know folks who have to overnight in the area and use a hotel/pick up service with great security.
When we had a similar situation in Capetown years ago we took a taxi to the waterfront and burned a few hours walking around and having lunch etc. Saw a guy snatch a purse from a woman while we were there. I’m such a country hick, I’d be an easy target in any big city.
Sounds like we’ll be exploring all corners of JHB airport!
FWIW we’ve cancelled our trip to South Africa in August. Harvest is going to be even earlier than last year and I was driving myself crazy worrying about missing too much of the start. I first part of harvest is really crazy as many customers are wanting updates to sugars etc as well as getting the sparkling harvest moving.
We’re going to reschedule for July 2016 when hopefully nothing can mess with us.