Arrived at Cape Town International Airport on Friday morning, 10 December. We disembarked to glorious sunshine and that Cape Town breeze. We left negative temperatures in London boarding the plane and arrived to mid-20's the next morning.
Cape Town airport has changed so much, thanks to the World Cup. We had no forms to fill out, didn't have to stand in passport control queues that snaked all the way to the door (as we do now landing at Heathrow), and actually had pleasant banter with the officer stamping the passports. OK, so the luggage collection wasn't as efficient as what it could be, but going through the green exit was the easiest I've seen it for a long time. Usually the 6 tables are packed with open luggage and Customs officials elbow deep in the bags, but not this time. There were officials looking official, but not looking to catch out the unsuspecting tourist.
After being met by excited family with lots of hugs and kisses, I was desperate for a coffee. The arrivals hall isn't small and there are quite a few people milling about, but absolutely no place to grab a coffee or a quick bite to eat. Apart from the family coming to pick us up, the place was pretty uninviting or inspiring to say the least. As we had decided to wait for other family arriving from London on another flight, I went looking for that illusive cup of coffee. There is a little walk from the arrivals hall to the departure hall where all manner of shops are located: Woolworths (SA's version of M&S), chemists, bookshops, fastfood joints etc. But there was nothing in between. In fact, the airport looked like it wasn't quite finished.
Surely there is money to be made in the arrivals hall for the right businesses? There are always people waiting for flights.
We left the building via the departure hall and I was quite impressed - it looks like an international airport. Pity about arrivals. Overall I thought Cape Town International was somewhere in between a small town airport and a proper international airport - it has some growing up to do.
The parking bill for a 2 hour stay was R12 (£1.10 give or take), which is far cheaper than the £2.50 for half an hour at Heathrow. I heard people complaining that they had to pay R8 for an hour's parking.
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