South Africa
Probably eight or ten hours in to the fourteen hour flight, decided to try one of the mid-flight snacks. Cold sandwiches on thick bread turned out to be rather decent pastrami, although it was still a lot of bread. Pre-arrival meal (despite it being early afternoon in Cape Toen) of oatmeal was actually pretty good, and things only got better when air traffic control let us do a few loops at 6,000 feet over Cape Town to give us an extra-scenic arrival.
On the ground was as big a deal as SFO-BNE was three weeks ago, although a bit different as the inaugural return (CPT-IAD) was happening just a few hours after we arrived. Plenty more speeches although way less media presence, and a band who performed seemingly forever-- from the first passenger arriving all the way to the cake cutting.
The late afternoon drive to the Protea by Marriott Hotel Dorpshuis and Spa Stellenbosch was pretty smooth; definitely getting better at driving on the left side of the road after so many visits to countries where you drive on the left-hand side. The Protea Dorpshuis is definitely feeling its age; according their website the regular guest rooms are renovated, but the two level one-bedroom loft I was upgraded into was very dated (and had uninvited guests visiting in the bathroom), as was the hotel lobby and restaurant.
Barely had time to squeeze in a quick dinner a short walk away at Hudson's. Their waygu burger was pretty solid, although hard to say if it was that good because it was, or if I was just starving from my flight and from the five hours of work I knew I had to do after dinner.