Waiting in Joburg and arrival in Cape Town

Currently waiting for my connecting flight from Johannesburg to Capetown. Sadly  not in the lounge, since I'm inadvertently booked on the Brittish Airways flight, instead of the Cathay code share. Still, that meant that I got a chance to explore the airport, which will be useful when I transit through here later. The facilities are pretty good - pretty much everything except free wifi, which is an issue largely because the systems are down in both cellphone shops so they can't activate a sim card for me.  I think this might be the furthest I've ever been from home - if not in distance, then in transit time - i think almost 40 hours with layovers? Its a bit disorienting with the time and date changes - like, i think i entirely lost Thursday this week. As much as I like the lounges in HongKong (the best showers I've ever used, noodle bars, coffee lofts, and yummy melon martinis) if I do South Africa again, I route through Europe. The crazy miles I'm earning do kinda make up for it though, and I did hoard some munchies from the other lounges to snack on now.  Anyways, trip uneventful so far - a trend that I hope continues through to meeting B in Capetown, and getting to the hotel. The only hiccups so far is that I'm not sure I packed properly - at first I was concerned I forgot my swimsuit - but now the more pressing concern is that I didn't pack warm enough... ------- Posting this from the lobby of our Cape Town hotel, waiting for the hotel car to come get us. The weather is all rainy and miserable right now, and was yesterday too. Pretty much all we've done is relax in our room, though we did head to the waterfront for dinner and some shopping. It's way too cold to enjoy the outdoor pools, so just picked up another jacket. First impression of the city beyond the rain is that its newer and cleaner than I expected, though we are right downtown. Plans for today will similarly indoors - had been considering one of the Saturday markets, but it's too wet to be outside. Maybe high tea and shopping?

Hello from sunny Palma!

Currently on the vintage train heading from Palma to Soller. Taking the day off from the conference, partly because we only got home from the gala at like 2am, so had a late start this morning. Thegala itself was kind of meh - we got there late and there wasn't a table for us, and the food was all meh. The view was spectaculor though, and the little dace party after was kind of fun.  To finish off Barcelona. After the cathedral, we had lunch at one of the buffets nearby - fun because there was a huge salad bar, refillable drinks, and also, I had gotten coupons for it waiting in line for tickets to Sagrada Familia. afterthay we wnt to Parc Guell, for the fantastic view and Gaudi's famous mosaic worth. We got off at one ofthe nearby metro stations, which is where everyone said to get off. It meantz.s walking up a hill thats only partly services by escalators, and then a fair walk to get to the more famous parts of the park. On our way back we discovered that there was a bus that pretty much went from really close to the fancy stuff to our hotel. Next time. After that, back to our room for a siesta and a quick shower, then off for dinner. We had been planning on just doing one of the restaurants down the street, but just kept walking, passin the plaza D'Espana and hitting the old city before grabbing food and coming back.  The most notable things about our second day in Barcelona was the weather and then the flight delay. In between, we visited the cathedral, passed through a Sunday market in the old city, and  during the worst part of the rain, ran from the port to the nearby maritime museum to dry up and get some shelter. Not to mention getting my dad boat themed souvenirs.  Our stay in Palma had been good so far. We ended up missing the game getting to our hotel, but had goals announced asthey happened on the plane, inthe airport and on the bus. We made it to out hotel just in time to join in the celebrations. Our hotel was kinda awesome. On a main street - intact closed of to cars for the game - but at the same time totally soundproof. After wandering around plaza Juan Carlos and Passeig born, we grabbed a pizza and called it a night.  The past two days in between conference activities - and the programming is ridicous, starting at 8:30, and me leaving at lunch means not leaving till 3:30 - we've managed to explore some f the old city and see the port. The welcome reception was in city hall, which was really impressive inside, and the gala I mentioned before was on the waterfront so all in all saw quite a bit. Still though - super excited for the day off, and being able to see outside of Palma. If we get to go to the beach even better.  ---- Posting now because heading to the airport soon to go home. Will write in the air, and post when I find wifi.