The Big Trip: Blue Train

We had an early wake up call to get the train provided transfer to the station. We pulled up and "checked in" with a porter and immediately had our luggage whisked away with instructions to either be stored, or brought to our room. We then proceeded to the lounge where we continued the check in process. Here we had a surprise, someone had discovered the double rooms only had a bath, and wanted a walk in shower, so they swapped with our twin room (which we had only booked because it was all that was available).

After a coffee and a bit of a wait we were brought to our cabin. It was very nice, I'd describe it as just big enough, with ample seating when the bed was up, and lots of storage.

And then we were off! Our day on the train was about what you'd expect, a lot of time spent looking out the window, first at the city and towns and then the country side. At various times we went by gorgeous mountains, fields and farms, small towns and townships, desert (the Karoo) and small lakes.
Meals were an experience, 3 courses with a decent size wine list. Dinner was formal attire! They had a full kitchen on the train, it was definitely better than airplane food, and better than I expected.

In the afternoon we stopped for supplies, and had a short excursion in to Kimberly to see "The Big Hole" for a long time the largest diamond mine in Africa. We learned a bit of history of the town and the mining industry there. Then we were off again.

We returned after dinner with our bed made and had a relaxing evening before sleep. It was a bit challenging to sleep with the train racing and bumping around, but we both got some rest. In the morning we had a nice breakfast (One of the best we've had here actually, a delicious eggs benedict)

The train was a bit late coming in, causing a flurry of activity of coordinating transfers. Since we were just taking a taxi to our friends it was no big deal.

We arrived at John and Laura's excited to see them and start our adventures!