Namibia > Back to the airport

Today is the last day in Namibia. I’m dreading the long journey a bit. Not only is the flight back long, but getting to the airport isn’t easy either. This leads to quite a bit of discussion. The travel itinerary states that day rooms are reserved in Windhoek to freshen up before the return flight. Cheryl, however, knows nothing about this and says it’s a five-hour drive to Windhoek Airport. She says there’s no time to change in Windhoek. At one point, we would have to leave before six.

Namibia - The salt lake with trees that have been dead for hundreds of years

This causes some debate and irritation in the group. Suddenly, rooms do become available. We decide to drive to Windhoek anyway, agreeing that if anything goes wrong along the way (like a flat tire), we’ll drive straight through. Everyone agrees. This means we must be on the bus promptly at seven, packed and ready to go. Thomas turns on the air conditioning in the bus, creating a slight overpressure that keeps dust out. This is handy in case we can’t shower. For the rest of the trip, the AC had been off on purpose. Thomas thinks using AC makes you less connected to the country itself. The journey proceeds smoothly without problems. At 11:45 a.m., we arrive at the hotel to shower. We quickly get ready and then drive to the lunch spot. The waitress points out what can be prepared quickly, since we only have half an hour to eat. At exactly 1:00 p.m., we arrive at Windhoek Airport. We say goodbye to Cheryl and Thomas and go to the check-in counter. Fortunately, the luggage is checked all the way through to Amsterdam, and we receive all our boarding passes at once—a huge difference from Schiphol (or maybe it was British Midland’s fault?). Sander and Susan aren’t allowed to take their giraffes as hand luggage; they must be checked in. My little statue meets the hand luggage size requirements but not the weight limit. I quickly place all my hand luggage on the scanner myself. With the last of my money, I buy a bottle of wine and a Brenda Fassie CD. This CD has played nonstop on the bus throughout the trip and I’ve really enjoyed it. Then we have a beer and wait for the flight. Around six, we land in Johannesburg. We have just under two hours to make our connection. All the security checks take quite a while, so everything is barely on time. The next plane is practically full except for the seat between Guust and me. We have a comfortable three-seat row for just the two of us. The plane departs more than an hour late. Someone has lost part of their boarding pass. Finally, the plane heads toward England. After a meal and a few games, we start to doze off.