Image credit: Andrey Belenko, January 2010

The first stage in taking a flight, particularly for the first time, is to get to the right airport and the correct terminal.  Many airports are so large these days that even being at the right airport but the wrong terminal may cost you your flight because it can take so long to get to the right place.  And if you arrive at the wrong airport you will likely stand no chance of getting to the correct one before your flight leaves.

Our advice is to ensure well ahead of time that you know exactly which airport your flight departs from, and the terminal that you need to get to.  You should find this out for all of the airports that you will visit on your journey.

Different cities, different problems

Finding the right airport in New York can be quite daunting for a first-time traveller.  The Big Apple is served by: JFK airport, LaGuardia, Newark,  Westchester and Long Island airport.  JFK alone has 7 terminals.

At the other end of the scale, in some cities it is pretty easy.  For instance Cape Town has a single airport serving commercial flights.  After the massive rebuild there, there is now a single combined terminal, with international and domestic arrivals and departures all within the same concourse.  There are still challenges though as the rush hour traffic can add an extra hour’s travel from the Cape Town central business district to the airport.  In the Cape’s wet winter it can get a lot worse.

Modern airports are big.  Beijing Capital International Airport, the main airport serving the Chinese capital, has three terminals and is truly gigantic – one part of terminal three is separated from another by two kilometres!  And worse yet, it is not the only airport: Beijing Nanyaun Airport serves domestic and regional flights operated by China United Airlines.

Moscow has three airports: Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo (which is for domestic flights).  Sheremetyevo has two groups of terminals (totalling six in all) that are a 20 minute bus ride away from each other.  In common with most large cities, Moscow traffic is bad and you need to allow at least an hour extra to get to the airport.  You can also get to Domodedovo by train, a journey that takes two hours.

The apron-side shuttle bus at Dubai airport takes 30 minutes to travel from terminal 2 to terminal 3.

In Paris there is the Charles de Gaulle airport.  There is also Paris Roissy airport.  These are two different names for the same airport!  To complete the confusion, it was originally known as Aéroport de Paris Nord.  The other main Parisian airport is Orly.

Transit passengers

Do not think that because you are transiting that this will not affect you.  It may!  In some cases you will even need to obtain a visa for the country you are transiting in.  For example, at Heathrow airport, only BA fly out of terminal 5.  So if you arrive on BA but depart on another airline, you will need to go through customs and catch the tube to another terminal, in order to continue your flight.

On one of my China trips I had to go through customs, leave the airport and catch a bus on the freeway to get to the right terminal of Being Capital International for my regional flight!

Even if you do not change flight number, you may still end up in the terminal if there is a refuelling stop.  (Refuelling stops are not always indicated on the itinerary.)  I do not know of any transit passengers (with the same flight number) who have had to move to another terminal to resume the flight, but very often the gate you enter by is not the same one as the exit one.

Size of terminals – finding the gate

With airport terminals so large, even when you have the right airport and terminal, you may still be faced with a Herculean task to get to the right gate.  Emirates have exclusive use of terminal 3 in Dubai.  So if you are travelling on Emirates you may think you are going to be fine.  If you are flying to London, then you probably are – you will usually depart from one of the 24 “A” gate numbers, which are in the main building.  But if you are flying to maybe Dusseldorf then it is another matter.  You are going to have to walk rather far.  After you have walked the full length of the main terminal you will turn right and then keep walking.  There are another 50 “C” gates!  Here’s the ugly little secret – Concourse C is actually part of the old terminal 1.  You have walked all the way to the next terminal.  The area around the “C” gates looks old and out of date.

In Dubai a brisk walk from terminal 3 to the far end of terminal 1 takes 45 minutes!

V&A Waterfront Cape Town Harbour - Copyright DIY Travel Expert

Cape Town is definitely a destination and not just a ‘stop-over’.  It has something for every taste.

People from many different African nations mix side by side with South Africans as well as having a fair amount of European expats living in the CBD and suburbs.

If you have a day in Cape Town, what attractions should you aim to see?

Long Street is popular for nightlife and is a good place to go to if you are a night owl.  It is lined with pubs and restaurants that are frequented by locals and foreigners alike.  From the chic to the dowdy, and the downright seedy.

By day Long Street is an amazing street for shopping, by night it is “party central”.  Either way, if you can’t get in Long Street what you are looking for then it is probably not available anywhere else either.

Below are a few suggestions of the top major attractions that can be seen in one day.

Table Mountain Aerial Cableway

Taking the cableway up Table Mountain is a must-see.  It is weather dependant, and closes when there are high winds.  You get a panoramic 360 view from the car as it rotates slowly during the short journey up or down the mountain.

There are lots of great photo opportunities from anywhere on the mountain.  A return ticket costs approximately $25 per person.  This goes up and down based on the rate of exchange.

Tickets can be booked online at the Table Mountain Cableway website.  Online tickets are date- and time- specific.  You will save yourself 10% by booking online rather than at the ticket office.

Further outdoors activities that you can fit into a day in Cape Town could include a visit to the world-famous Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens on the lower slopes of the back of Table Mountain.  Hundreds of acres are left wild in the upper reaches to conserve local flora and are beautifully manicured lower down.  It has first-class facilities, two restaurants and ample parking and in the lower, landscaped section, the names of all the plants are indicated.  You will find surprisingly familiar plants here: marigolds and geraniums (pelagoniums) hail from the Cape.

A final outdoor treat is a drive around the Peninsula, which should include a visit to Cape Point, the most south-westerly point of Africa and the meeting point of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, despite what hydrologists may say.  The Cape Point nature reserve comprises approximately the lower half of the peninsula and has abundant local wildlife.  You may spot kudu and ostriches, baboons (which can be pesky because of ill-advised feeding, which is prohibited by law) and the seemingly ubiquitous “dassies” (hyraxes) who brazenly sun themselves on any warm rock.

Castle of Good Hope

This fort is the oldest building in continuous use in Southern Africa, built between 1666 and 1679.  (There are ruins from a lost civilisation at Mapungubwe near the Limpopo and further north at Great Zimbabwe.)  It is simply called ‘The Castle’ by locals and has a wealth of history.  It was built on the site of an earlier, rudimentary fort constructed in 1652.

It is perhaps the finest example of Dutch military architecture remaining from their Golden Age, and was built as a VOC (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie – the Dutch East India Company) outpost to victual ships travelling between the Netherlands and Indonesia via the Cape.

Entrance fees are nominal at R25 (under $5) and one can wander around at leisure, walk the battlements or look at the artefacts displayed in the military museum.  There is also an unrivalled collection of VOC tableware.  You may also witness the firing of a 4 pound field gun in the courtyard.

There is a restaurant on site serving teas and lunches.  For more information on this attraction, see Castle of Good Hope.

If you wish to keep to the theme of antiquities you can walk up to the Slave Lodge by way of the Golden Acre where, remarkably, the first dam built at the Cape is preserved within a modern shopping centre.  From the Slave lodge (a cultural history museum, which includes an unexpected collection of Masonic memorabilia) you can walk through the original Company’s Gardens (then used to grow vegetables but now dominated by lawns and exotic trees brought by sea captains from faraway places).  To the right of the entrance to the gardens, past St George’s Cathedral, is the National Library, the main repository for copies of any book published in the country.

At the top of the Gardens there is the National Gallery on the left, the South African Museum in the centre, and one of just two planetariums in Africa on the right.  Very close to the National Gallery is the Cape Town Jewish museum in the Old Synagogue, and the more modern Holocaust Centre in the same complex.

Robben Island

Robben Island has become famous for having served as a prison home for a number of leaders of the ANC movement, most notably the venerated Nelson Mandela, who were imprisoned there following their convictions for politically-motivated crimes.  The tour takes 3.5 hours, which includes transport there and back on the modern Robben Island Ferry that leaves from Cape Town harbour.

If you like your tours strongly didactic then you will enjoy the rigid program with a strong educational slant.  You will not have an opportunity to wander about independently and there are no opportunities to view the extensive wildlife on the island.  It is very much a guided tour with a fixed programme.

Tours cost R220 (approximately $30 subject to the rate of exchange).  Tickets can be booked online, but are date- and time- specific.  Note that boat trips can be cancelled when the Cape of Storms lives up to its name in winter and spring months (June to November).

Tickets can be booked online here. 

The Robben Island Ferry sets out from the Waterfront.  If your visit is cancelled due to wind you could hardly wish to find a better place to console yourself.  Otherwise, on your return you can shop at a wide range of places from African curios to haute couture, and there are any number of restaurants and drinking-holes.  Capetonians hang out at the Waterfront too, so it is not merely for tourists.  You may be surprised to see rich and famous persons here, who have slipped in unannounced and whom the locals tend by nature to give the space and relative anonymity they desire.

Climate

The Cape Town weather is generally moderate.  In winter (the sometimes wet, “green season”) there can be rain storms, but the temperature seldom gets below freezing overnight.  If you dress for the season the chances are that a visit at any time of the year will prove to be a pleasant one.

Personal safety

Robbery on the mountain has been reported in isolated areas.  You can still enjoy the experience, though, by being cautious.  No robberies have occurred in the general area around the restaurant and curio.

The British Foreign Office has this general safety advice about South Africa:

Most cases of violent crime occur in the townships. Consult a reliable tour guide if you visit a township. The risk of violent crime to visitors travelling to the main tourist destinations is generally low. The South African authorities give high priority to protecting tourists. Tourism police are deployed in several large towns.
Incidents of vehicle hi-jacking and robbery are common. You should be vigilant of the risks, particularly if driving after dark. Keep to main roads; park in well – lit areas.

There are frequent incidents of car windows being broken and valuables (e.g. handbags) taken whilst cars are waiting at junctions (smash and grab). Keep valuables out of sight.