When we got to the airport, we had 3 hours to check in and go to all the shops. Over the last few years OR Tambo airport in Johannesburg had really been upgraded, and their are plenty of shops before going into the departure area, including plenty of restaurants.

Coming to check in we were told we had 47kg, and were 1kg overweight. However the nice young lady (sorry we forgot her unpronounceable name!) told us we weren’t going to be charged as we couldn’t afford it, and our money would be better spent buying gifts for us or our children. Who were we to argue with that!

Our hand luggage was also overweight by almost 2kg, but they let us off for that too. Couple with the fact you don’t have to fill in those annoying departure or arrival cards, travelling to and from South Africa is great! (Hint hint to other airports!)

Once we had quickly looked at the shops on the outside of the departure areas, we went through customs and had about 90 minutes. We decided to quickly get something to eat. All the major restuarants were outside so we settled on the Ekaya foodcourt which prepares meals and looks very flash.

We had to wait as they made Rheanna a chicken burger, while I had a beef potjie. We got our drinks which was a major balancing act, and as Rheanna couldn’t hold them, she put them on my tray, which had a large plate of food. Now Rheanna had gone to sit down with her food, and I had my suitcase trolley, a laptop bag and a tray of food with a can of grapetiser and a large glass of coke (in a large fancy glass) which was quite heavy. I didn’t think I could carry this safely, but put the laptop bag on the suitcase, and thought I could make the 10m to the table Rheanna had.

The laptop bag started to shift however and as it moved, my natural reaction was to try save it, meanwhile the tray with the coke goes flying! I had manged to save the glass and the food from spilling, but still stood there drenched in coke, with coke all over the floor, and plenty of sniggers and comments of “what an idiot!” It was very embarrassing!
There was coke all over my clothes, the suitcase and latop bag. Not the best thing when you still have 20 odd hours to travel for. We quickly scoffed our food, and it was not the planned shopping experience we had hoped for!