South Africa & Botswana

Day 19

Saturday, July 11, 2026

A late start, a few T-shirts, and the long way home

MorningNowhere to be. We slept in.
MiddayThe shuttle to the Waterfront, and some shopping.
EveningAn Uber to the airport.
LateCape Town to Amsterdam to New York to home.

And then it was over, and the last day of a trip like this one is mostly logistics. There was no dawn start, no drive, no plan, and after eighteen days of being somewhere at a specific hour that felt like an enormous luxury. We got up late — properly late — and did nothing much about it. Eventually we took the hotel's free shuttle down to the V&A Waterfront to do the shopping we had put off for three weeks, on the theory that you can't carry a wooden giraffe through six airports.

Off the shuttle at the Waterfront, and into the last few hours of being tourists.
Off the shuttle at the Waterfront, and into the last few hours of being tourists.
The African Trading Port, where I bought a couple of T-shirts — the sum total of my souvenir haul, unless you count three bars of chocolate and about four thousand photographs.
The African Trading Port, where I bought a couple of T-shirts — the sum total of my souvenir haul, unless you count three bars of chocolate and about four thousand photographs.

We stopped for ice creams, and somewhere in the middle of sitting down to eat mine I decided I had had enough of shopping and made a run for the 2:30 shuttle. Bonnie stayed on with the rest of them and took these.

Where we had our ice creams, down by the harbour — Bonnie's picture, from after I had bolted for the shuttle.
Where we had our ice creams, down by the harbour — Bonnie's picture, from after I had bolted for the shuttle.
And the great compass and world map set into the paving, with the harbour and the mountain all round it. A good last image of the place: a map of everywhere, on the ground, at the
And the great compass and world map set into the paving, with the harbour and the mountain all round it. A good last image of the place: a map of everywhere, on the ground, at the bottom of Africa.

Leaving

Then an Uber to the airport in the dark, and the beginning of the long way home: Cape Town to Amsterdam overnight, a day in transit, and on to New York in the morning.

The ride to Cape Town International, and the end of the road.
The ride to Cape Town International, and the end of the road.
The itinerary, for the record — three flights, two continents crossed, and one arrival date that isn't the same as the departure date.
The itinerary, for the record — three flights, two continents crossed, and one arrival date that isn't the same as the departure date.

The plane lifted off a little after eleven at night, banked north, and that was Africa done. I did not see it go. It was dark, and I was already asleep.