South Africa - Off at Last

Wednesday evening and finally under way. In the Air Canada lounge with a glass of red wine and waiting to go to the gate. Usual last day scrambles, packing and re-packing; every time I lock my bag discover something that I forgot to include or did I really pack x? Finally unpacked everything and re-packed item by item making sure that they were on my mental list (my self-awareness tells me there’s a hint of OCD there!). I have never, let me say again, never, been through security without having bags opened. Not surprising because every flight that I take, business or leisure, is accompanied by camera, iPads, cables etc. It’s standard operating procedure to begin to open my carry-on as soon as it comes through the x-ray because inevitably I will be asked to open it anyway. This time my carry-on major bag weighs 18kilos and has 3 cameras, 8 lenses, filters, camera batteries, chargers etc. My small carryon has all the assorted cables, plugs, adapters, an overnight toilet kit with razor, shampoo etc (more info than you really wanted) and all the rest of the electronic bits and pieces. My daughter Di, gave me a Scott Vest for Christmas. It has 18 pockets and allows you to pack tons of stuff in all the pockets. So, I have my Macbook, iPod, iPhone, ereader, and a small point and shoot plus all my papers and documents stuffed in various pockets. The coat alone must weigh 6 or 7 kilos. Why am I telling you all this? Because for the first time in more years than I can remember, security never even looked twice at it and it all sailed through without a glance. Why??

We have a stop-over in Frankfurt and a 10 hour wait between planes. Apparently the Frankfurt ground staff have called a 7 hour work stoppage tomorrow. Not sure how long the delay will be or what impact it will have on our flight. However, that’s tomorrow’s problem. Tonight we begin the journey.