d43

I am planning a trip to South Africa this Dec/Jan.
I have a very rough itinerary right now and would love to see if anyone has suggestions. I'm also a bit nervous about the flight. I have a little fear of flying and am wondering if anyone has suggestions , tips or reassurance about the long flight from NY to SA. So....
Flying from NY to JBG to Durban around Dec. 22. Spending about 10 days in that area. Then flying to Port Elizabeth on Jan 1. Renting a car and driving the Garden Route for about 5 days??? towards Cape Town / winecountry and spending time there until returning home on Jan. 12.
As you can tell ...there are really no details just yet. I am looking for some high end and some low key places. All reccomendations are welcome.

Thank you.

gard

Hi

I have a wife from South Africa and due to this I have had the pleasure of visiting SA three times. I have posted trip reports and pictures on my homepage www.gardkarlsen.com. Maybe you can find some useful information there. We did drive the Garden Route some years back and it was great And Cape Town is stunning so you have something to look forward too

Get in touch if you have any questions.

Regards
Gard
STavanger, Norway

girlpolo33

Flying SAA coach can be more pleasant if you request the Upper Deck. There are only about 60 passengers, which makes it seem more relaxed and private. If you are flying Business or First Class, no worries!

You may want to consider a 2 or 3 night stay at Phinda Game reserve. It is about 2 hours from Durban by car. Their website is www.phinda.com
I enjoyed my May visit to Phinda immensely and hope to return soon. Enjoy your trip!

Sassyrn

How do you apply for the upper deck?...we had our seats assigned by our travel agent....is there a way we can have them changed? joan

sandi

Sassyrn -

Call the airline and ask them to change your seats. But there are only 12 rows up top (3x3), so space here is limited. If you can't get seats changed for your outbound flight, maybe for the return flight.

sundowner

I read somewhere that on January 1st, SAA will be using different planes and there will be no upper deck.

The upper deck seats really make that trip tolerable so I hope they don't change.

Sassyrn

Thanks for all the info...i was able to get our seats on the upper deck going & coming back...yeh.....any other suggestions? joan