Safe Arrival

The Johannesburg Apartheid Museum

What!? Ethiopian Airlines gives free socks?!?

The 24+ hours of travel required to get to Africa with anything less than a direct flight is in the books. My route was a particularly round about one. My original flight intended Johannesburg as my final destination via Addis Abba, the capital of Ethiopia. Last week, I decided to tack on a final transfer to Cape Town, but only after an eight hour layover in Joburg.

Needless to say, I was not going to hold tight in Johannesburg airport for 8 hours. I had an email from Bodds and Kulsum that they planned on being at the Apartheid museum that day. I decided it would be awesome and a little unexpected if I could meet them there rather than at our departure gate that evening. To save time and hassle, I hustled out of the airport upon arrival to hail a cab. While it was certainly quick and hassle-free this approach proved costly to the tune of a 48 dollar fare. To make matters worse, I failed to locate my travel companions and their rental car once at the museum. I considered pulling "the lost child" and hailing them over the intercom, but thought it would distinctly break the mood for other museum attendees learning about the South African government's attempts to define and segregate the population. Despite our later realization that we had in fact, been at the museum at the same time, I failed to find them.

Without an easy ride back to the airport and unwilling to double down on a second expensive cab ride, I started to approach some of the guys working at the museum for the cheapest solutions to my dilemma. A guy named Johannes was already running two friends back to the city center after his shift concluded. He offered me a lift to a 'local' taxi stand back downtown (and closer the the airport). The decision would culminate with me jammed in the back of a full size van with at least 18 locals plus driver on the late night casino/airport run. It paid huge dividends-the return trip put me back $1.50, a far cry from the $48 taxi cab ride to the museum.