Day 109: Durban to Johannesburg — Trampolining at the Mall
Last night I was on the phone from 8pm to 10:30. I had a call with my brother, catching up and talking through some Headfirst business items. Then chatted with an acquaintance from HBS about a potential investment he might make in a youth sports tech company.
Today was a travel day.
We returned to Jo’burg after our one night there with Lobsy on our way from Cape Town to safari. We’re back at the Peech Hotel and it’s the first and only time all year that we actually know what our accommodations will look like before arriving. This trip also marks the 4th of six times we’ll go through the Jo’burg airport during this 9-week visit to Africa.
We had a leisurely breakfast at the Oyster Box. Willa is feeding a passion fruit addiction and when there weren’t any at the buffet we decided to ask the manager if they had any in the kitchen. He returned with “the last 3 in the hotel.”
The sun was starting to peek out for the first time since the afternoon we arrived five days ago. If this was our one beach vacation of the year we would be pissed — but it’s hard to be too frustrated given the beach time we have in front of us in 2019.
We finished packing and then drove our rental car back to King Shaka International Airport in Durban. The rental drop off and airport experience is about as easy as it can be. Nobody else was returning a car to Bidvest. It’s a new, clean well-organized airport with few travelers.
James had been a little out of control the whole morning, except when tranquilized by his iPad. As we were checking into the Peech Hotel in Jo’burg he was literally running circles in the lobby. After 5 rainy days in Durban he needed to release some energy.
The woman at the front desk felt our pain and recommended Bounce, a trampoline facility at a local mall.
As we’ve written here before, don’t recommend something to us unless it’s good because we WILL go.
After lunch at the hotel we Uber’d about 25 min to the Fourways Mall. The kids bounced for an hour and forty five minutes. I watched and took some videos while Margaret shopped for some refresher clothes for the kids.
We Ubered back around 6:30, bypassing the food court pizza and opted for dinner at the hotel. Both kids were pretty beat and things went downhill fast.
But we finished the meal, got them showered, finished reading Toys Go Out and they zonked.
We have tours planned for each of the next two days. I’m worried those two will object early and often despite our attempts to bribe them into good behavior.
We’ll see what happens.
