Signed, Sealed, Delivered!

In terms of aesthetic beauty Cape Town may very well be the most stunning city I have encountered. It's natural setting in a bowl surrounded by the flat ridge of Table Mountain on one side and the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean providing it's frame on the other combined with cultural history, beautiful Victorian parks and buildings fused with more modern architecture means Cape Town has everything one could ask for. I made Blue Mountain Backpackers on Long Street my home for the next two weeks and as soon as the Swedes and I had settled in I bumped into Maayan and Andrea once more, they had been here a while now and were "working" at a local restaurant. I joined the Swedes for one last drive in Radovan which took us down the coast looking at penguins to the Cape of Good Hope and it's harsh but amazing surroundings. We also went up Table Mountain together before the three musketeers left their Land Rover for shipping and caught flights back to Sweden while I stayed on a bit longer as it had come to my attention that Manchester United would be coming to town.
I'm not a great believer in fate but I made it my final mission to see the team and when a group of drummers, who were going to perform at the official launch of the new away-kit, slept at the same hostel I decided it couldn't hurt to attempt to sneak into the closed event now that I knew the venue. So I made my way to the Castle and surprised at the benefits of being white was left alone for the majority of the four hours I spent lurking in the tent waiting for the players to arrive. Finally they did arrive and I mingled with other likeminded football fans by the open-bar before being offered both a ride to the open training session that evening and a ticket to the friendly match the day after. It poured down with rain and the United faithful were completely drenched by the time the practice was over, I followed a group of supporters to the railings where Sir Alex Ferguson was heading, I first offered him the sleeve of my wet jacket to sign but he looked bewildered and instead I managed to stretch my George Best T-shirt far enough for him to reach. It may seem pathetic to most of you, but this could be the absolute highlight of my entire trip, not many can claim to have an autograph from the person or thing they closest consider to be God. The following day's match was an average affair, but I wasn't to bothered and had now made my mind up and purchased my flight home. My shark-dive was cancelled due to rough conditions and instead I said my farewells to Cape Town, the hostel and Andrea, got on the third-class train which I had been warned from taking by so many people and set off for Johannesburg. The dangerous and horrible trainride proved to be a very pleasant 27 hours with lots of space and fantastic views. In Johannesburg Maayan was waiting at the station having made her way there a few days before me. She showed me where to get cheap stuff before we said goodbye for the umpteenth time and she caught a flight to Ethiopia. I spent a couple of days in Jozy visiting the brilliant Apartheid Museum, and exploring the nightscene with help from Simon a South African I met in Istanbul many months ago. After this brief encounter it was time to concede, the trip was over and I got on my homeward bound aeroplane. I could only watch the small dots on the inflight map disappear, as cities I had traveled through over the past 10 months whizzed by beneath me. A quick stop in Qatar before getting on my final flight, and I was back where it all started, Stockholm, Sweden!