I was not happy that I missed the first Gautrain ride last week, so I was determined to go with the kids this week.  So taking the 2 days off between the public holiday and weekend made perfect sense… and the kids got to go on a train for the very first time

Lance was a little upset that I planned this for a week day because he didn’t come with… and I invited my mom to come along too!

It was great, albeit a little expensive as an outing with R200 per person (from Sandton to OR Tambo and back again) with a lunch at the airport in between and the parking and the sweets that you end up buying along the way too… but worth it!  I was a little thankful, actually, that I didn’t have to pay for Connor as he’s still 3 years old!

A plane must’ve arrived from Ghana while we were having lunch, and we had to go and see where teh singing was coming from. It was so awesome to see this bunch of World Cup soccer supporters in the airport with vuvuzelas singing and dancing and laughing. If the kids weren’t with me, I would have gone downstairs to get closer to the action, but we watched from above.

All in all, it was an excellent experience.  The kids loved the super fast escalators that zoom down in the Sandton Station.  The train trip was awesome.  The platforms were superb, and reminded me of the Canary Wharf tube stations in London; and the security guards in the carriages and on the stations were on the ball. It was well worth it, and we’re definitely going to use it to get to the airport!

If you’re wondering what equipment I used for the photos; I only used my new Canon 24-70mm f2.8 lens, and I must say I could’ve done with my longer lens, especially when the Ghanaians were singing and dancing in the airport. I didn’t use a flash at all.

See the full set of 2010 photo-a-day photos on my Project 365 Flickr Set.

**Edited… Portfoli0 Collection has published a few more of my photos of the train too, so take a look there as well