Trip Report:
Two Weeks in South Africa, January 1999
Richard's Version
Day 1
Friday, January 8th-
I'd been working frantically in the days leading up to our departure, taking care of the last details for my symposium (with Claire Lyons) on 'The Archaeology of Colonialism'. Alison and I were up late packing the night before our departure, and did not appreciate the alarm ringing at 4am (our flight was at 7:30am, AA from LAX to MIA, then SAA from MIA to CPT). Our cats stayed in bed while we showered and ate. They only reluctantly rose for their own breakfast. Our cab arrived to take us to the airport and we were officially on our way.
Even at 5:30 am LAX was busy. Most of the line at the American Airlines desk was for our flight. Louise Hitchcock (whose former job I am now occupying) and John Papadopolous (from the J. Paul Getty Museum) were both there, with John's wife Sarah Morris (many people going to WAC brought their wives, too good (and expensive) a trip to pass up). I figured there were a few more WAC folks around and spent the time in the terminal playing 'spot the archaeologist.'
Our American Airlines flight was on time, but packed. We were lucky to have a 2 seat row by the galley, so no neighbors. I guess it had been a while since I've flown a long haul domestic flight, because I was shocked that they wanted $5 for headsets! I've been spoiled by British Airways! Well, I didn't want to listen to 'Practical Magic' anyway (even if there was some visual appeal...).
Miami was warm and humid, probably like it always is. I had fun watching the Everglades on our approach. The Miami airport sucks, at least if you are trying to find a non-AA connecting flight. There is no gate information inside the terminals, so we had to go all the way into the hub to find out where our departure gate for South African Airlines would be.
At the gate I started playing spot the archaeologist again (with great success I later learned). The flight was not crowded. Up until the last minute we had an empty seat next to us, but an annoying nebbishy man took it and stayed for the whole flight despite lots of empty seats elsewhere.
Alison wsa ga-ga over the SAA goody bag! Very cute! We settled in, had dinner (decent Asian vegetarian. Always order the special meals when you fly!), and I watched most of 'Armageddon' (sucked just as much as I expected it to). Then we both pretty much crashed (I mean slept!) until breakfast and landing.
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Notes/Resources
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Last Updated 23 February, 1999
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