Our flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg took 15.5 hours and covered over 8300 miles, most of it over the Atlantic Ocean, across the Equator. Delta Airlines has fine tuned their profit margins by creating four classes of seats, ranging from economy, to Comfort +, to Comfort ++, to Delta One. Each upgrade gets you a slightly larger seat, more leg room and eventually in Delta One you get lie flat seats, halfway decent food and some pampering. We settled for Comfort +, but it didn’t live up to its name on the long flight. The food was disgusting, the seats were not very comfortable, and trying to get some sleep was not easy. Still, we arrived on time, stretching the Airbus 350 to the limit of its range, which is listed as 8200 miles.

It was dark already in Johannesburg at 7:30. Acrid smoke filled the air as we left the airport and headed for the Peech Hotel. Patty and Steve were already there and waiting with wine and food. Day one was over. A good night’s sleep and a day at leisure tomorrow, and then we’re off to Botswana on safari.