Now I might be far too used to flying with Flybe to and from the Isle of Man to really know what long haul flights are like these days but all I can say is that Rich and I are massive fans of Turkish airlines!
Rich usually gets excited about meals on planes (I’ve still not got to the exact reason why but I’m guessing that for someone with slight OCD, having everything arranged in a neat serving tray is a pretty exciting thing?!) So when we got handed our food menu, realised that we had a choice of meals and all the alcohol was free there were two very excited Lambs on the plane. The seats had plenty of leg room, we were given eye masks, flying socks, ear plugs, toothpaste and toothbrush and a lip balm but best of all was the entertainment system. It allowed you to watch films from the second you were in your seat until the second you left it, every flight I’ve been on before turns the entertainment system off at least 20 minutes before landing, so this was amazing in my eyes and ensured we watched the X-Men movie all the way to the end (thanks to the long taxi to the stand).
Our journey to Cape Town saw us fly 4 hours to Istanbul with a 2.5 hour layover, 10 hours to Johannesburg with an hour layover before our final 2.5 hour flight to Cape Town. The descent into Cape Town had fantastic views, the sun was shining, the mountains met the ocean and we had a birds eye view of the one and only Table Mountain.
We were shattered to say the least when arriving in Cape Town but headed straight off to pick up our rental car, our wheels for the next 5 weeks whilst touring the great South African Garden Route.
“If that is our upgrade, what were we supposed to have?!”
Being two very weary travellers at this point, the car rental guy made our day when he told us we could have a free upgrade! With our backpacker budgets meaning we had booked the smallest car possible, we were very excited to hear what our upgrade would be. When we found out that we were upgraded to a Nissan Micra, Rich and I looked at each other, burst out laughing and then asked the guy, if that is our upgrade, what were we supposed to have?!
Being grateful for our ‘upgrade’ and with Rich at the wheel, we headed off to our first port of call, Hermanus, 75 miles from Cape Town and a beautiful coastal drive away.
Once we were checked into our room at Hermanus Backpackers we headed out for some dinner before spending our first night in South Africa.
Lambs on the loose 