2025 South Africa, Zimbabwe & Zambia - Day #19 - Livingstone to Johannesburg

I wrote this blog entry using the Wifi on the British Airways flight from London to San Francisco.

from our Rothschild Safaris Itinerary

TRANSFER
Departure time 10:00AM: This morning, you will be transferred to Livingstone International Airport for your flight to Johannesburg where you continue on to your international flight home.

LIVINGSTONE-JOHANNESBURG
SA Airlink 4Z483 - Departs 13:25 - Arrives 15:10

MEET & GREET
Upon arrival in Johannesburg, a special meet & greet has been arranged to assist you through the airport and on to your connecting flight.

Donna and Kevin
JOHANNESBURG-ISTANBUL
Turkish Airlines TK43 - Departs 17:55 - Arrives 04:40 (+1)
Note: (+1) Flight will arrive the following day.

Sharon, Mark, and Thomas
JOHANNESBURG-LONDON
American Airlines AA7105 - Departs 21:15 - Arrives 07:30 (+1)
Note: (+1) Flight will arrive the following day.

We were up just before 6 am. We did our final packing; I had a hard time getting my bag closed. I did two 5 minute Peleton Core workouts on a yoga matt on the deck in front of our room.

We joined Donna, kevin and Tom for breakfast at 7:30 am. I had an omelet.

Although I am never coming back to Zambia, I really enjoyed the Tongabezi Lodge. The service was top shelf.

They picked up the bags at our room at 9:45 am. We loaded up at 10 am to go to the airport. I am terrible with names but the activities guide that we had for the last four days took us to the airport. Donna thinks that his name was Phixion.

Livingstone is a very small airport, but the international terminal was nice. There were a lot of shops. I ended up buyging Sharon a Christmas Ornament. The SA Link flight from Livigstone was on time and eventful.

When we landed in Johannesburg, we were meet at the end of the jetway by two greeters. As Donna said, "the greeter service is the bomb." The greeters shepherded us through passport control, to baggage claim, to the check-in for our next flight, through an assisted security line and then to our gate. It made the whole process very stress free. As part of the post trip observations, I need to talk more about Rothschild Safari. Everything about the trip has been excellent.

While Donna and Kevin had less than a three hour layover, Tom, Sharon and I had six hours. We had a drink and a cheese board at Bottega Whisky and Wine Bar. It boasts the world's largest whisky and wine collection available at any airport.

Eventually, we wandered to our gate. The plane for the flight is an Airbus 380, a very large quad engine jet. British Airways configures these planes for 470 passengers!.

We had a very late dinner on the plane. It was close to midnight by the time that we ate. I had chicken. We were somewhere over Congo.