Day 20 – Victoria Falls to Johannesburg

This morning was not as early as we thought. We had time to get up, have breakfast and enjoy a leisurely morning before being picked up by the Thompson’s guy to go to the airport and fly back to Joburg. This time the plane was a British Airways 737-300 so it was quite comfortable and allowed Susan to carry onboard all of her “stuff” which she had purchased. The flight to Joburg was uneventful, but for the first time there was no Thompson’s guy to meet us! Our planned trip was at an end and we had to fend for ourselves!!!

Actually, I had booked a rental car and hotel with Thompsons, not a meet and greet so we were all on target. With Greg perched beside me in the front seat I began my first right hand driving experience in almost 20 years. It was a bit overwhelming at first as the road signage is not ideal there, but Greg adapted and found a way to get to our hotel. It was a bit out of the way, but it ended up being faster than the alternative because traffic was rather heavy. Once we found our hotel there was a McDonald’s not far away, so we parked, unloaded our stuff, and then walked a few blocks to Greg’s first McDonalds in almost a year. He was delighted and proceeded to eat two burgers and a chicken burger, fries and a drink. He was in heaven!

After dinner Greg had to head out to meet up with Jennifer at a backpacker’s hostel. He had accidentally left his wallet in Sabi Sabi, and Jenna, our sweet young Durban girl hostess there, organized for it to be shipped to our hotel in Joburg. Greg was THRILLED to receive it back again as it had quite a bit of cash in it. He took a taxi from our hotel and that was the last we have seen of Greg. I believe that he is now in Mozambique practicing his rusty Portuguese on a beach somewhere as I write. He has almost another month before getting back to Ougadougou, Burkina-Faso to start the new school year on his birthday, August 12th. He has one more year there before seeking out a new assignment.

Meanwhile, Reese, Susan and I went back to our suite and watched some television for the first time in quite a while. It was mostly the news we wanted to see, but it was not particularly interesting, so we went to bed and read some more.