Jennie and Adele had organized our flights. As a result of her father's status as former pilot, Adele continues to have privileges on South Africa Airways, which made SAA the airline of choice. Adele had flown in advance, so the Romich foursome (Jennie, Katie, Sharon and Barry) traveled together. Since the flight was scheduled to leave Washington Dulles airport at 8:30 Saturday morning, we flew into Dulles the previous evening. Jennie was the last to arrive at the hotel around midnight and still had work to do before she could hit the bed. Due to the questionability of flights departing on time as a result of a recent strike by SAA, we took the 4:30 AM shuttle to the airport.

Sharon, Katie, Lindsay, and Jennie (looking fairly good on two hours of sleep)

Katie and I sat in the last row on the right side. The Boeing 747 had individual video displays with on demand video access, so we were able to choose our own individualized programming. A number of the selections were South African, either documentaries or fiction, and provided a good orientation to the culture we were about to enter. It also helped to pass the time during our 17-hour journey. This included a nighttime stop in Accra, Ghana, on the west coast of Africa for an hour, but we were not permitted to leave the airplane there. Approaching Johannesburg Sunday morning, it was nice to see the sunshine on the wingtip.

We landed on schedule around 8:00 AM. After clearing immigration and customs we found Adele awaiting us in the arrivals area. After obtaining local currency and purchasing phone cards, Erica and her partner continued on to Cape Town and the rest of us settled into the Holiday Inn Garden Court near the airport.

Everyone who travels internationally has strategies for adapting to a different time zone following international travel. In this case, we were six to nine hours east of our US homes. Jennie and Sharon took naps. Katie had slept on the plane and was ready for some action so she, Lindsay, and I, after taking showers, took a taxi into the city. We crossed the Nelson Mandela Bridge and drove past Turbine Hall, an abandoned building formerly used for power generation. Erica had lived in Johannesburg for some time and once back in the US had an exhibit of photos at the Wayne Center for the Arts in Wooster. It included a number of photos of squatters and homeless people who had taken up residence in Turbine Hall.

Nelson Mandela Bridge

Turbine Hall

Our destination was the Apartheid Museum which is on the grounds of an amusement park. As we approached, we noted that an event seemed to be in progress. ABSA, a bank, had sponsored a run and had taken over the park for the day. A security person told Gibson, our driver, that the museum was not open to the public. Gibson wasn't one to give up easily on such matters, so he parked and soon returned with a man associated with the gate entry process. After hearing our story and checking Lindsay's passport, he walked us to the museum entrance. We paid the 25 rand (R25) entry fee and spent the next three hours in the museum. ($1 buys about 6.8 rand.) We could have used more time there. A well-done special exhibit even featured the desegregation of schools in the US. Katie and I had spent time at the Birmingham (Alabama) civil rights institute this past November and so were keen to understand some of apartheid. The museum proved to be fascinating, and we found ourselves disappointed that we didn’t have more time to spend in it.

Gibson had offered to return to the Apartheid Museum at the end of the three hours and to take us to Museum Africa. We were getting hungry, so started with a stop at the museum cafe. Then, because we had only a short time available, we split into different directions. Again, Gibson was there when we needed to move on. He agreed to a photo with his new friends and we said we'd try to get him a print.

Lindsay and Katie

Gibson and Friends

Gibson got us back to the hotel in time for a short rest before we joined most of the others for a short taxi ride to the local casino where we had a lovely dinner at Tribes. This restaurant had tables in what felt like a cross between a shopping mall and a Las Vegas casino lobby. Afterwards, we went into the casino area that was very much like Circus Circus. Adele has taken some flying lessons and obviously intends to continue the family tradition. At least she seemed to meet the qualifications for some time in this biplane.

Dinner at Tribe's	Adele adding to her Pilot in Command time
Trying to beat the dancing machine	Jeni and Marsha
Katie and Adele	Erin and Adele

By the time we were back at the hotel, we were all ready for bed. The plan was to be in the lobby at 8:15 AM for departure on the safari.