The Lost Day at JNB

June 29 Day 20

I made the most of my JNB confinement. By the time I ate breakfast, at KLM expense, and worked on my computer some, the 11:00 am check-out arrived. Fortunately I was put on a 7:30 pm Air France flight, rather than the 11:55pm KLM flight. So, my wait time was substantially reduced.

I made some good discoveries: my 12-hour Internet voucher was good for 12 use hours, not merely 12 clock hours, and the system worked well in the hotel restaurant and bar. Also I had a KLM lunch voucher. So, I spent the afternoon on my computer in the hotel restaurant, and then when the Paraguay - Japan Round of 16 game came on at 4:00 pm, I moved to the bar until departure time. The hours passed far more quickly than I anticipated, but we will never let on to KLM.

When I arrived at the check-in counter, the agent said she could not find my name in the system. I had been told I was already "checked in," as of the night before. I turned my back and looked at the sky. Then she found my reservation to Paris, but not to the USA. I would have taken that, just to get out of JNB, and at least halfway home. Nonetheless, she sent me to another counter, so I could get my actual ticket issued. An efficient African woman,who spoke English with a perfect French accent, quickly produced a ticket for the whole route home. I triumphantly brought the travel document to the check-in counter and received a boarding pass.....finally!

As with entry, South African immigration and customs was very fast. Other nations take note!

The Air France aircraft was an Airbus 380, the jumbo jet. There are two loading bridges, one for the top and one for the bottom level. I did not see much of the plane. As a late add-on I was given one of two seats just to the right of the entry door. The problem was that Air France has crammed extra seats into every possible space. The aisles are very narrow, and boarding passengers dragging their carry-ons had difficulty maneuvering around my seat.

Hey, I was just glad to be on board an airplane!

The aircraft departed reasonably on time for the 10-hour flight to Paris. My seat was adjacent to a very busy crew galley. I could not even stretch my legs out, because attendants were coming and going, often with carts. I did manage to sleep some; I was relaxed. My lost day of JNB confinement had ended; I was airborne and homeward bound at last.