Taken for a fool by a “porter” at Johannesburg Airport – $200 SAR (South African Rand) = about $30…stupid currency conversion to take me on a 5 minute walk to my terminal…. I am so annoyed I make him buy me a diet coke. It’s like Mexico circa 1987 all over again where I spent $30 for two braided “friendship” bracelets… What is it with me at $30????
I finally get my bag and get to the cab area and the guy tells me the fare is 250SAR. I tell him I was here 10 days ago and it was 200 SAR to get to the Westin. He tells me petrol has gone up. I am not amused. We argue a little bit and I finally have to get in because I just want to get to the hotel and have no other options. He gives me his card and tells me to call for my ride back to the airport and he will charge me 200SAR. Guess who couldn’t find his card when I was going to leave… Actually I was the dumb one… I asked the hotel how much a cab to the airport is and they told me it’s 250SAR…. Oops. I guess someone needs to give the cab driver something to tell his friends about… the little cranky Korean…
Poor kid never saw it coming… When I got to the Westin, the kid at the desk was nice but said they only have rooms available on certain floors. To have a room like the one I had 10 days ago, I would have to pay an extra 400SAR a night. This is after learning on the last visit that if you book your room via hotels.com you don’t receive Starwood points. I canceled my reservation with hotels.com and re-booked with Starwood. I could have had two new Louis Vuitton handbags for what I have spent at this place in 6 weeks… I am unhappy and want to cancel my next reservation. He “talks to the manager” and magically I have a double upgrade with access to the executive club, wine and canapés are from 5-7. So as you all know I am self-funding this year. I am trying to make my points work for me, with miles from one of my accounts, I have about a month of hotels covered for in Asia! Yea!
I decided that I would really need a massage after only 45 minutes of sleep and the long day of traveling, so I call the Westin Spa from Johannesburg and made an appointment for a massage. After my fantastic massage I head up for a glass of wine. I meet a father and son from Florida who build boats. I meet another person named Jeff. He is from Conn, went to school in Boston, was in finance in NY, and now is volunteering for a year with “MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES (MSF) (Dr’s Without Borders) in Kampala, Uganda. New buddy Jeff says he is going on a downhill mountain bike adventure in the morning down Table Mountain tomorrow and do I want to go? I ask is there uphill or just downhill? He said only downhill… I’m in!
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Thanks for the heads up about cab rides - I've already asked how much I should expect to pay from the Cape Town airport to the convention centre.
Umm...was Jeff cute?
Are you going to be there when I arrive May 14th? It would be so fun to see you!
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