An 8 hour stop over in Jo'burg what could possibility go wrong!
So I needed to get to Europe way back in 1996 which is a story in itself but that is for another time. Now I want to get my South African stamp on the travelfeed map. Back then you back had to visit your local travel agent. I was young and had already done a fair bit of overseas travelling, working at ski resorts and hand picking well paying construction jobs in different parts of Australia. I asked the travel agent for anther option to Europe other than flying via Singapore and I ended up walking out of the shop with a round the world ticket via Perth to visit a friend, a short stopover in Johannesburg and home via America. I felt pretty clever and was looking forward to another new thing and a bit of a round the world Adventure.
I may have been a little over confidant as I have already back packed solo through South East Asia, Kenya and Egypt with only the lonely plant books as a bit of a rough guide.
So instead of just hanging around the for 8 hours I thought I would just zip into town on the local bus and check the city out. Photo by Suganth on Unsplash
Photo by Keenan Constance on Unsplash
I checked a few of the maps out on the bus and worked out a simple route.
It pretty easy to forget what day it is when your travelling, It was day light and I thought I was just going to kill a few hours checking out this big city center then catch another bus back to the airport . I thought I was good at not looking like a tourist and walking purposely, like I knew where I was going but I only got a couple of hundred meters from the bus stop before being mugged by a group of youth that appeared out of no where on a main street. They came from behind and jumped all over me before I knew what was going on, then split in all different direction when they finally got my day pack out of my hand. I must have been angry as I chased the guy that had my bag until he got scared and throw it at me. I had lost my wallet it still had my passport in my waist belt. Photo by Ingo Stiller on Unsplash
It maybe have helped if I actually read a bit of the guide book instead of just looking at the pictures.
After being mugged, a few other locals directed me to a police station because I had lost my bus ticket and had no cash. It was a bit of a wait but the police actually gave me a lift in one of there cars back to the airport with plenty of time for my next flight. The Policeman had a few thing to do on the way to be airport and we had a bit of a chat. Not the experience I was thinking of for Jo'burg but still another new thing!
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