Africa 2022- An absolute trip of a lifetime, so much so it’s taken me several months after coming home to even comprehend what a life changing journey it was for us.
This trip was in the making for several years and was originally planned for 2020 by our friend Jamie who had previously taken this trip and knew all the ins and outs, then the world shut down and for obvious reasons we didn’t go. After much anticipation and debating if it was safe, we finally decided to book the trip for August/ September 2022. At this time almost everywhere had opened back up with little to no restrictions including wearing masks (although Lufthansa still required it while boarding on and off flights) and no proof of negative tests or vaccinations.
A group of six friends (5 from the US and 1 from the UK) started this adventure when we booked flights, accommodations, and excursions in February of 2022. We used JetAbroad to book our flights, and while the trip worked out great, I don’t know that we would use the service again. Customer service just wasn’t very available and when some of our flights got canceled with Lufthansa, we we’re basically on our own to get them rescheduled and it was super stressful trying to keep six people together on all of the flights. Lots of hoops to jump through and anxiety with everything we planned, like seat assignments, but thankfully in the end it all worked out.
Our full itinerary is here. Our monumental journey began at Tampa International Airport for a 9-hour 15 min flight to Frankfurt Germany where we had a 13-hour layover. The passport and customs line here were the longest of the trip, but with such a long layover we wanted to get out and explore. We found a baggage hold service where they stored our carry-ons for a small fee, ordered an Uber and hit the streets! My first time in Germany!
We visited a sweet little German village called Römerberg, only 20 or so minutes from the Frankfurt airport. Römerberg is a historic square and has been the center of the city of Frankfurt since the Middle Ages. We did some shopping for souvenirs and added a lock to the Eiserner Steg footbridge, or Iron Bridge. This famous iron and concrete footbridge, crossed by over 10,000 pedestrians every day, connects the city centre and Römerberg with Sachsenhausen on the southern banks of the Main River. We chose a lion lock from Amazon for obvious reasons – we couldn’t wait to see lions in the wild in Africa! We also ate lunch at Zum Standesämtchen and enjoyed German staples and of course, beer! After a couple of hours, we headed back to the airport, found our gate, and took naps. We also connected with our friend from the UK who would fly the rest of the 11-hour 45 min flight to South Africa with us! Okay, so this post was mostly about Germany, not South Africa BUT next stop… Cape Town South Africa. Stay tuned…
*** All photos taken on iPhone 12 Pro Max or Insta360***
Did you miss any of the other posts?
Read our full trip Itinerary here!
Read Day One – Germany here!
Read Day Two – Cape Town here!