Day 17 : Home. Meh. Reflections...

I manage about 5 hours, and then give Vicki back her seat so she can get some more shut-eye. She’s managed a few hours in the upright seat, but looks much more comfortable once reclined. We’re about 3 hours out from landing. I briefly wonder about having a drink, but realise I’m not too fussed. With about 90 minutes to go, the lights come up, and we’re served an almost inedible breakfast. As we land, we come down through thick, low lying cloud. The ground is wet from overnight rain, and the temperature is hovering around 10C. It feels quite nice actually…

A few reflections:

1) South Africa remains one of my very favourite places to travel. The food, people, wine, scenery are all brilliant, and for a Brit traveller, represent AMAZING value. We struggled to spend more than £60 for a high quality, slap-up dinner for 2 with a bucketload of wine.
2) Franschhoek / Stellenbosch in January = a hard no. Climate change is happening, and the likelihood of 40C+ weather there in the peak of Summer is growing quickly.
3) This was the safest I’ve felt on a trip around South Africa. It feels like change is continuing in this rapidly evolving society. You still don’t wanna act like a dick, but I felt less conscious walking around places than I have done previously.
4) Society may be evolving, but it continues to face serious challenges. The ANC government is not running the country well. Basic facilities are failing, investment in public services is monumentally low, and corruption in the government is rife. While there’s huge evidence of a burgeoning middle class of people of colour, there remains far too great an indigenous population living in abject poverty.
5) Load-shedding is a ball-ache, and we would definitely bear it in mind more when planning a revisit to South Africa - assuming it’s still in place (which it will be…)
6) Well made Biltong is the best snack on the planet.

Thanks all for reading. That’s all for now - until our trip to Lapland in 9 days time…Baca lagi