London onward.

August 11th - We met up with follow team members Agnes & Chad Northeast, Michi Akimoto and Will Gross at the Heathrow Airport. They looked pretty bagged but we were able to carry on a conversation:-)

Michi had slept on a bench during the London layover  and was pretty quiet.  We headed down to the Gate 33 area in anticipation of loading.

Along came Colin and Ethan after a 30 minute stop at security. Seems the battery packs he was carrying caused a bit of concern but eventually  he was allowed on his way  once he explained the details etc.

Michi, Chad and Will at the departure gate.

We started loading the plane and then about half way through , several names  were called out. Our team members names if fact! Turns out that the plane taking  us down, an Airbus A340-600 could not accommodate any of the planes.

Remain calm!!

A bit strange as these boxes have been on many planes all around the world. They apologized and said they would follow us on the next flight departing in two hours time. In fact she guaranteed it :-)

Not a big deal as we will be able to square away our rental vehicles and also get the phone SIM cards. Not sure about claiming them just yet but it will all work out.

We finally took off at 19:30 local time and prepared for the 11 hour flight down. The distance shows 3554 miles to Johannesburg.

Sound of cruising jet over France, the Mediterranean, North Africa.... 

3554 miles to JNB