My trip to South Africa almost didn’t happen. Between a war rerouting flights through the Middle East and unpaid TSA agents walking off the job, I didn’t know if I was even going to be able to get out of New York.
I had been wanting to go to South Africa for a while. While living in Korea, I made a lot of friends from there. Actually, most of my friend group was either South African or English. At one point I was the only American in the mix.
Getting There
At the time of my trip, the Iran war had been ongoing for a couple of weeks. When I initially booked my flight, I had the cheaper option of a Middle East layover, but opted to go for the fourteen and a half hour direct instead. I’m glad I did, because otherwise I might not have been able to make it.
At the same time, TSA agents were walking off the job because they hadn’t been paid in six weeks. Stories were everywhere. Lines snaking through terminals to outside the airport, people cutting the queue to make their flights. My mom flew to Florida and barely made her boarding. My sister’s fiancé had to sneak into the line otherwise he would have missed his flight. My boss flew to Chicago and spent an hour and a half in security. My flight was at 8:35pm out of Newark and I had originally planned to leave my apartment around 5pm. I ended up leaving at 2pm.
It was my first time flying out of Newark and it turned out to be easier than I expected. Probably even better than flying out of Laguardia or JFK. All I had to do was take the G train from rightoutside of my apartment, transfer to the A/C (which is right across the platform), get off at Penn Station, take the NJ Transit to the airport and a short monorail to Terminal C. Simple. Now that I’ve written it out, it doesn’t sound so easy, but it really wasn’t bad.
TSA
As soon as I got to terminal C and walked through the doors, there were two lines exactly in front of me and it wasn’t clear what the difference between them was. After asking around, they turned out to be TSA PreCheck and CLEAR. I still don’t know what CLEAR is (it isn’t clear to me). Neither looked terrible and both were moving. I let an older guy who had been waiting in the wrong line (CLEAR) go ahead of me. He had already been standing there and I would have felt bad sending him to the back. I was through in about half an hour. There was only one agent checking passports until they opened a second lane right as I reached the front.
With five hours to spend, I tried to get a day pass to a lounge. There was a sign out front of two of them saying they weren’t doing them. It was probably because so many people were getting to the airport early, they were full. I wandered the airport instead and was surprised by how much I liked it. Natural light everywhere and views of the city from almost every angle. The one thing I didn’t love was the seating at the gates. Almost no traditional chairs, replaced by bar height and tables with seats bolted to the ground. Great if you’re working at the airport, I guess.
On the plane, I got lucky that the kid in the middle seat moved back to sit with a friend who had a spare seat. I ended up with extra room and made a friend with the guy across the aisle. Our South Africa plans didn’t overlap, but it’s possible I made a new connection in New York.
Getting Back
Getting back was a journey. I spent the morning of my last day with my friend Nicara and her family at the Durban uShaka Marine World aquarium, the seventh largest in the world. My flight to Johannesburg was at 4pm. We got to the Durban airport around 2:30pm and I was through security in minutes. Durban airport isn’t exactly the most crowded.
I landed in Johannesburg at 5:30pm, four hours before I needed to board my flight to Newark which was at 9:30 pm. I was traveling with a backpacking pack, a carry-on backpack I wore in front, and my suit that I needed for the wedding (the whole reason for the trip). A lot to be walking around with, especially if I needed to use the bathroom or get something to eat.
I decided to buy a single use lounge pass. At Newark they hadn’t been allowing it, in Johannesburg it was a different story. I stored my bags in a cubby, showered, ate, charged everything, and sat down without worrying about anything for a few hours. It was $45. It’s a shame I don’t drink because the alcohol alone would have paid for the price of the pass.
When it was time for my flight, I almost waited too long to leave for the gate. Since I was boarding group 5, I thought I’d wait a little until after boarding had started. However, United was rechecking bags again after security. I had just filled my water bottle in the lounge before heading over and they made me dump it. I never understood the water thing through security. What has anyone ever hidden in water? I was annoyed at having to go through a security check-in again and to have the worker meticulously go through my bag. It was like when your bag gets chosen from the TSA line.
After one more boarding pass check (it was like the fourth at this point), I got on the plane and was surprised to find that I had the middle row to myself, or would have, except a lady moved into the aisle seat on the other side. We left Johannesburg at 10pm and arrived early to Newark at 7:30am, sixteen and a half hours later. I took the air train from the airport to NJ Transit, NJ Transit to Penn, A to the G, and walked into my apartment at 9:30am. Tired, but content after a long journey and an amazing trip to South Africa.
Stay tuned for more blog posts to come about the actual trip!
Very interesting, i’m so happy everything went well & you had such a good time seeing old friends!! LOVE YA, GRAM