As anyone with children would know, holidays can be a trying experience. Throw in a long flight, missing baggage and a car hire company not wanting to honour your booking, and it could turn into a nightmare. Despite suffering those misfortunes, this week’s trip report turns out to be anything but a nightmare.
Many years ago we lived in Namibia and have always wanted to go back. So after a bit of planning we head back in just over a week with the whole family, hubster, Mr8 (who will turn nine over there), Mr7 and Miss6. We have about three weeks to do this. Flying over on Qantas after an overnight in Sydney.
The first sign things may not go quite as planned came with parking the car at the airport. With prepaid parking offering significant savings, it should be easy. Drive up, put credit card in, gate opens. That’s the theory, in practice; it was a 20 minute exercise in patience. Eventually, entrance was granted, and the holiday could begin. After an uneventful series of flights to Sydney, the first night sees our family bedding down at the Airport Mecure, a hotel we have looked at previously.
The next day starts with breakfast in the setting of the Qantas First Class Lounge, thanks to one of the travellers holding Platinum 1 status with Qantas. A popular choice amongst our members is the Eggs Benedict and once again this proves to be the selection, accompanied by a glass of French bubbles. With the family fed and watered in fine style, it’s time for the long flight ahead.
Flight (QF63) was uneventful, kids watched lots of movies and one of them didn’t sleep at all. The other two fell asleep in the last 2 hrs. So we get into Johannesburg and find out one of the car seats had been lost, after an hour of trying to sort it out we decided to go to the hotel. The eldest doesn’t need one as he is just out of the range, I had put in a booster so he could have a better view out the window. Found out the next day it had not been loaded in SYD and would be on its way to JNB the next day or one after that. Don’t think we will see that again.
One of the best things about trip reports is being able to benefit from the experience of others. As many would know, airport hotels can be expensive; sometimes looking just beyond the airport can result in significant savings. It certainly seems to be a worthwhile exercise for our traveller when it comes to Johannesburg.
Spent the night at The Aviator Tambo. It is an airplane theme hotel, with the best looking front desk. Looks like a wing off a plane! They have a transfer bus that runs every half hour from the airport and it was a quarter of the price of the hotel right at the airport.
So it seems our family has survived the first few days of the holiday tantrum free. What’s in store for them over the next few weeks as they head in the wild lands of Namibia? Will the rental car company deliver on its booking, and will those car seats turn up, join the experience HERE.
