Cape Town: December 2019: Day 2: Arrival in Cape Town

Cape Town: December 2019

Day 2: Cape Town

Alllmmooosssttt here. Pre-arrival "meal."

None of us in the back have died yet, but we're definitely getting restless... or excited.

At the gate.

Deplaning process seems ordinary so far.

Long glass-enclosed jetbridges at CPT as viewed from the terminal.

Arrival celebration!

Media with cameras, passengers with phones = cameras everywhere.

Traditional face painting.

Flight crew flies the South Africian flag to celebrate the inaugural flight.

Boeing 787-9, United fleet #3973.

Some of United's most famous fliers who made this flight, including Tom Sturker and Zach Honig.

And one of United's least-famous, least-important fliers.

What $60 buys you in Cape Town.

All the goodies from the inaugural flight.

Sunset over Lions Head. Chefs Warehouse & Canteen.

Chefs Warehouse & Canteen.

Ordered most of the tasting menu, plus pork crackling and Vietnamese oysters.

Not sure adding dried onion and seaweed makes raw oysters Vietnamese, but they were still tasty. As was the pork crackling.

Seared tuna. Avocado puree worked surprisingly well.

Reasonably busy but not packed on a Monday night.

Shrimp buns. Can see the Asian influence here.

Deep fried squid atop corn. Not an expected combo that would work, but it was a nice contrast of flavors and texture.

Trout was good, but a bit too much cream sauce.

Venison tartare and pork belly. Both were best described as solid with missed potential.

If you're used to 16 or 17 hour flights, 14 doesn't seem so bad. Still gets long though, and the arrival into Cape Town was met with great excitement. Even had a band to celebrate the arrival-- it was quite an experience. From two of United's most famous fliers, Tom Sturker and Zach Honig, to United VP of International Planning Patrick Quayle (who actually worked the Polaris cabin on the flight!), it was actually one heck of an arrival experience if you weighed it by seniority. And while passengers in Polaris got quite a bit of schmooze time with Mr. Quayle on the flight, some of the European office executives were kind enough to talk to those of us in the cheap seats on arrival. Quite impressive!

A beautiful sunset and then a solid meal at Chefs Warehouse and Canteen for dinner. Pork crackling and Vietnamese oysters were both solid, actually just about everything was pretty good. Nothing was out of the park, but it was a meal that held up well all around.