Paul and his partner John are in South Africa for two weeks, exploring Cape Town, the Wine lands, the Garden Route and other popular destinations for our clients. They’ll be visiting and evaluating over 40 properties on their trip, as well as keeping an online diary for us to follow. I just hope they leave enough time to sample some of the excellent South African wines on offer…I suspect they will!
Saturday 12th May
Today we flew out of London Heathrow on South African Airways. First of all we were lucky to get an invitation to the Star Alliance Lounge. This is opposite the World of Whiskies Shop in Terminal One. The lounge allows you to have drinks and snacks in a quiet upmarket environment. From the lounge we had an approximately 20 -25 walk walk to the gate.
The 340-600 Airbus holds 317 people and has excellent leg room (33 –34 inches) however the seats are quite narrow. It was hard to get to comfortable and little sleep was obtained. The South African Airways crew we found helpful and friendly. For dinner I had chicken with spring onion mash with veg and John had a beef stew, the chocolate éclair pudding was the best dessert we have ever had on a flight. The entertainment system on board was also good with an excellent choice of films and tv shows to watch. For breakfast John had a cooked breakfast and I the continental option with cold meats and cheese. The flight landed 30 minutes early.
Sunday 13th May
On arrival at Johannesburg O.R. Tambo International Airport we were met by Maggie from BidAir.
The service is well worth the money as she fast-tracked us through passport control where the main queues were starting to get quite long. She then assisted us with our luggage collection and then to the bag drop off point/check-in for our flight to Cape Town. Finally she assisted us through security and into the Domestic Departures Lounge where we said our goodbyes. The reason why BidAir’s service is so worthwhile is because it can be quite confusing moving between the two terminals. The South African Airways flight to Cape Town was operated in a Boeing 737-800 series these seats were extremely uncomfortable however the crew were friendly and efficient. We were given a light snack on board. We arrived into Cape Town approximately 10 minutes early.
The weather in Cape Town today is beautiful with a wonderful blue sky and Table Mountain looks stunning.
On arrival at Cape Town International Airport we collected our luggage and then walked to the Budget Car Rental desk. The walk takes approximately 15 minutes from the luggage collection area to the car rental depots.
We collected our group C Car (Toyota Corolla) and had a steady drive to Four Rosmead Boutique Guest House. The drive took approximately 20 – 25 minutes.
Four Rosmead really is a beautiful boutique guest house. Jade one of the duty managers met us on arrival and showed to our room. We are staying in one of the Deluxe Rooms which is situated on the first floor with a beautiful view. The guest house offers a guest lounge, reception area, breakfast room, terrace area overlooking the sparkling pool. By the pool you can also find the Suite room which is a separate building with a lounge area, separate bathroom and bedroom. All rooms offer Wi-Fi, satellite television and IPod docking stations. There is very little to fault about this lovely guest house. Would certainly recommend this to Real Africa clients.
Jade from the guest house recommended as great deli for lunch called Liquorice and Lime which was a 10 minute walk away from Four Rosmead in Kloof Street. We both had salads thinking this would be the healthy option but we are now debating if we need dinner!