Arrival In Johannesburg

Backpacker's Ritz
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After a quick flight (14 hours) from JFK, we arrived to find a loud thunder storm.  As the Hostel owner said "you're lucky to be here for the first big storm."  Lucky indeed.  We are staying at the Backpacker's Ritz (no affiliation to the Carlton). We quickly became friends with an aussie (Brenda) and a brazilian dude (Felipe) who is "on his way home" from 2 years in Perth.  After a few formalities, (ie, dropping our bags in a 20 person dorm- wendy couldn't sleep, so she counted all the bunks) we found the bar, and REALLY got to know one another.  The bar tender "B" was kind enough to indulge us in her creative shot mixing skills, she even let us linger on her side of the bar.  BY the way, beers- Windhock Lager or Castle- are 10 rand (that's about $1.50).  "B" forced a shot of Absinthe on us, against our wishes, remembering the bottle Wendy brought back from Prague with her that we devoured, making Senior Year welcome week literally unmemorable.

Side note: South Africa Airways is one of the best airlines eiher of us has ever been on, good food, ondemand movies, personal tv's, goody bags, and an endless flow of beverages.  Plus the flight attendants are big beer/wine pushers, which made up for one of them spilling wine all over tovah and her "electronics."