safaris are awesome

if dawn does have a butt crack, we saw it. got up at scheduled time and made it to the designated meeting spot with 10 mins to spare. first to arrive - that's a first! 8 other people showed up, as well as our driver/guide mos, and we all packed into the truck. because there were so few of us (sunrise game drives are not the most popular options), we could all spread out and get "window" seats in the open air truck. and my goodness it was cold, despite my multiple layers. glad there were fuzzy blankets to huddle under!

we started out in near-pitch darkness. there were 3 spotlights we could use to help illuminate the terrain. mos explained we'd see the eyes first, then should move the light to the animals body so we wouldn't blind it. other rule: keep arms inside vehicle at all times, and hopefully no one will get hurt. ha. one of the first animals we saw was a giraffe - let the checklist begin! then a zebra. some warthogs. and finally some white rhino. we saw a beautiful sunrise. unlike back home, where it's dark then all of a sudden light, there are lovely colors in africa.

in full light we could switch off the spotlights and use the increasing brightness of the sun. soon thereafter we came across a family of giraffe - so cute! but next came one of the highlights of my entire trip. a female lion came running at full speed behind our truck, and shortly after her, 2 males! they were apparently chasing her but she was long gone, and they stayed by our truck for quite a while. it was incredible how close they were, i even managed to pick up their growling on my video camera. so regal looking, and exactly like you picture in your head.

could have watched the lions all day, but they eventually moved on to continue their search for the female. we also moved on to a lake where we managed to see some hippos in the distance. this is where we learned hippos can't swim (makes sense) but instead walk on the bottom of the lake, and they can hold their breath for 7-8 mins at a time. one started to come closer (it was still very far away) and a fellow passenger totally freaked out. he knew hippos were among the most dangerous animals and was concerned the hippo would jump into the truck. seriously? hippos can't jump dude! and we just had lions all around our truck! people never cease to amaze me..

continuing along our journey, saw more giraffe, zebras, warthogs, guinea fowl, elephants & waterbok (massive!). managed to see a herd of buffalo defend themselves against a pride of female lions.. seems they were chasing the buffalo but then the buffalo started chasing the lions! everything was so surreal, and never expected to see the lions (3 out of the big 5). back at satara camp, thanked mos for an excellent drive and made our way back to our bungalow to pack up and head to lower sabie camp. jeff managed to fall asleep several times along the drive - seriously dude, we're in africa! ah well, some things never change.

along our way we saw tons of pretty birds, giraffe, water buffalo, grazers, a rhino & a massive baobob tree. pit stop at orpen dam before climbing in elevation and then descending again. crazy how on the other side of the hill (as we continued south thru kruger park) the landscape changed. there were less trees and more grasses - how i pictured our safari would be. we managed to come across another large herd of elephants in the distance. but as i turned down the dirt road towards lower sabie, realized there was another herd (very close this time) blocking our path. not about to come between a family, put the car in reverse and backed away slowly. very slowly. guess we'd have to find another way, since they didn't seem to be moving anytime soon.

back on the main road detour, came across some very irritated-looking birds. they were very mean looking and walked down the road 3 across like they owned it. i was actually more frightened of them than the elephants! crossed the lower sabie river and arrived at our camp. since we were so early we managed to grab some lunch (chicken burger this time), check in and move our stuff into our bungalow. not as cute as satara's, plus i managed to bang my head really hard into the AC unit outside. it hurt bad! and wouldn't stop bleeding. ugh. i probably have a disease now.

eventually it was time to head to our 16:30 sunset drive. and wouldn't you know it, we were met by a bus load of obnoxious american tourists. double ugh. jeff and i sat next to each other; i took the window first and we switched halfway. jan was our driver/guide this time. he had a thick south african accent, and was actually really funny but his delivery was so dry, you'd miss the joke if you weren't listening closely enough. jeff and i cracked up several times, but it went totally over the heads of most of our fellow passengers.

right off the bat we came across a lone bull elephant and learned that they're kicked out of the herd between the ages of 15 and 25 b/c "they're naughty". also saw more warthogs, storks, zebra and impalas. the sun began to set, and again saw some just gorgeous colors. soon it was time to pull out the spotlights again.

almost immediately we saw a hyena. it hadn't occurred to me we'd be seeing different animals at night (duh). i just wanted to see a sunset! jan made a joke about seeing the world's only vegetarian hyena, as he was much more interested in the grasses then the herd of impala just 20 meters away. more giraffe, buffalo, bush babies, and birds. besides the hyena, our night drive highlight was a herd of hippos on the side of the road. we were so close! eventually it was time to head back to camp, where we showered and got ready for another long day.

highway to the danger zone

despite the tire debacle, we eventually made it to kruger. after an initial morning set back that involved jeff misplacing my luggage lock i let him borrow (not super big deal), and then his passport (whoa, nelly), both items were located and we were on the road again. tzaneen is actually quite beautiful during the day. it's called "the fruit basket" and it's easy to see why - it's surrounded by all sorts of farms growing tropical fruits. yum. though i still wished we could have experienced the night astronomy safari, my year-of-thinking-positively experiment makes me see this silver lining: it's a part of the country we wouldn't have experienced had our tire not blown. satisfied, karma?

anyway, we drove the remaining kilometers and entered kruger through phalaborwa gate. stopped at reception to check in and use the toilets, and also the gift shop, where i managed to find my kruger keychain.

we entered the park and began our drive towards oliphants rest camp. even though we weren't going to stay there, we wanted to at least check it out since it was supposed to be beautiful. o.m.g. we saw the most massive poops in the road. seriously thought i was in jurassic park for a minute. there must be some crazy big animals around here! and no joke - "highway to the danger zone" by kenny loggins seriously came on the radio. okay, i know what you're thinking. yes we listened to american pop in africa. but it was only because the other stations were mainly talk radio in afrikaans or zulu or xhosa, which (if you didn't know) i am not fluent in. plus, it's not every day that you can rock out to miley cyrus's "party in the u.s.a" every hour, on the hour, during your african safari.

since we arrived around 11:30, i thought the animals would be resting and not too active. i was wrong. we were not even 20k into the park when this elephant came running across the road in front of us, followed by several others, including calves. they seemed somewhat frightened - which frightened me. i know moms can get aggressive if their young are around and they feel threatened. but i soon learned why - an bull soon came running after them. it looked like a house on legs. i never saw anything so huge before, and it reminded me of the time i saw my first moose. we crept along, all the while wondering how close really IS too close and really really wishing i had a dslr. soon came across another herd, just chilling and eating on the side of the road. i couldn't believe our luck; we weren't even in the park 30 mins and we saw elephants, my favorite land animal! those moments are seriously some of the top in my life.

drove along and took an (unpaved) road towards oliphants rest camp. around the first bend saw our first zebra! and a little while later, a lone impala. took like 1000 photos of it, only to come across an entire herd just down the road haha. there were so many! and they just stared at us, wondering what our next move would be. it was hilarious.

drove onto oliphants. it had a great entrance, and as described, a great overlook of oliphants river. stopped at the gift shop, then had some food (fish burger). saw a bunch of monkeys playing around as well as some really cool birds. could have sat there all day listening to the sounds of the animals and the river. so peaceful. but alas, it was almost 16:00 and we needed to get going so we didn't miss the gate closing at our next camp, satara.

along the way saw a bunch more impalas, and some really funny birds that ran all zig-zaggy down the road. i was afraid i'd run them over, but then this big truck went flying by me and they scattered everywhere. saw some amazing sunset views, and more zebra. then out of nowhere, another elephant. this was a lone bull and we were so close to him! it was starting to get dark and just then - a buffalo! we took some hurried pics b/c was really worried we'd miss the gate closing, and sure enough, pulled in at 15:29 - 1 min to spare. but wow - we saw 2 of the "big 5" on our very first day. pretty successful, i'd say.

checked in at reception and, after a couple wrong turns, made our way to bungalow e135. it's amazing how dark it gets so quickly without city light pollution. early to bed, since very early day tomorrow. we have to be at reception at 4:45 for our sunrise game drive, and that means jeff wants to get up at 3:45. really, jeff? you need an hour to get ready, even though you showered tonight? you more of a girl than me ;o)

oy vey

sooo, every trip has its bumps, right? mix ups and mess ups that - at the time - are minor or major annoyances, but later you can learn to appreciate them as "part of the journey". well, day 3 brought our first. now, i do realize things can always be worse and i shouldn't really complain. but this one was a real doozie.

woke up on a sour note.. only slept 2 hours. i thank the drum circle outside my room and jeff coming in and out 3 times during the night. as well as the m & m's i had at bedtime to make sure i had "food" with my malaria pills. plus, well - it sucks to be a girl sometimes, and i'll leave it at that! checked out of our hostel and got directions from the same guy that tried to direct us to dinner the first night. well, you can imagine how that turned out. drove for a bit but eventually made the wise decision to pull into a petrol station and ask. we weren't that far off, and the pump attendant was much more precise: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Left. 1, 2, 3, 4 Right." ok, on our way.

or so we thought. my god - the traffic was insane. and i thought jersey was bad! sure, the city is congested anyway, but add to that the million more here for the world cup, plus all the construction in preparation for the games. we weren't going anywhere fast, and it was 8:15 before we even really got on the highway - almost an hour later than i had planned. all i could think about was how we couldn't miss the gate closing at kruger. eventually we got out of the craziness of jo'burg, and we began to cruise along nicely. found an african pop station to keep me awake.. jeff fell asleep of course.

then BANG! out of nowhere this metal spike in the road hit my left front tire. i was already riding on the rim by the time i managed to pull off to the side. the tire was completely blown. and we had no phone! not knowing what else to do, we frantically tried to wave down someone to help. no one stopped. one guy even waved back.. thanks buddy. after about 10 mins - which felt like an eternity - someone finally stopped. we explained what happened and asked if we could use his phone to call europcar for help. then - it occurred to me - i didn't even check to see if we had a spare! duh.

gave jeff the keys and he found the spare. but thanks to my dad never teaching me how to change a tire ("girls don't need to know, that's what AAA is for!"), i had no clue where to begin. neither did jeff, and he's a boy! so the kind stranger proceeded to help us, even saying "okay, here's your lesson." it took all of 10 mins. asked if he knew how far we could travel on a spare, and he suggested continuing to pietresburg (rather than backtrack to jo'burg) as they would have a europcar branch. we thanked him profusely and parted ways, his final statement to us being "welcome to africa."

so away we went again, but it felt like we crawled to pietresburg (or polokwane, as it's now called) since we were driving well under the speed limit to protect the spare. drove directly to the airport, thinking that was our best bet to find a rental car branch. once there, jeff ran inside to explain our situation and came back to tell me they were just going to switch out the cars. sweet! so we unloaded and went in to do the paperwork, but that's when they realized it was an automatic. all they had were manual transmissions. friggin' a. they called several other branches but no one had an automatic, not even in the next few days. eventually decided we would just have to replace the tires, which would take 30 mins. super. so we went to the terminal (which consisted of 1 gate, 1 cafe, 5 tables and a few benches) to grab a bite to eat and rest.

well, once again - cultural differences. "30 mins" ended up being 3.5 hrs. and that meant that we missed the first night of our safari. no oliphants rest camp or elephants or astronomy game drive. i was so so bummed. i mean - there's nothing that can be done, and i can just hear G in my head saying "don't worry about it". but come on, it was the one rest camp i was most looking forward to since it was far from the touristy areas, plus elephants are my favorite land animal AND i love astronomy and was excited to attend an informal lecture about the southern sky. ah well, such is life. staying positive..

we finally got the car back around 16:00 and hit the road. saw some beautiful sunsets over the mountains, but the winding roads prevented us from really getting anywhere fast. it was already getting dark at 17:30 when we reached our halfway point of tzaneen so we just decided to stop. tried to find our way to the backpackers, but it was off the map we had and we got lost. so just pulled into arborpark lodge and fortunately they had rooms - for less than the night stay at the rest camp. sweet!

booked a room, and jeff wanted real food for dinner, so we set out to find something warm. unfortunately neither of us had our glasses and it was tricky to navigate around in the poor lighting. i was way cranky on only a couple hours sleep, and jeff was not making navigation decisions fast enough for my liking. finally i just said let's go to the pizza place we drove by like 80 times, and that seemed to satisfy him. maybe our brains weren't functionally well enough at this point, but i swear we ordered 2 slices each - though we both got 2 small pizzas each. ugh. couldn't eat most of it so threw it away b/c our hotel room had ants. at least we had a place to stay. so much for kruger day one!

i heart soweto

woke up early, but snoozed since we had showered the night before. got a call at 8am from soweto backpackers that our ride would pick us up around 9. today was our bike tour of soweto, the most famous of the black townships. it's full of history and culture, and i could think of no better way to tour it than by bike. sure, we could have joined a bus group or driven ourselves. but a bus doesn't allow you to interact with the community in the same way, and let's face it. despite being the richest township in south africa, soweto is still incredibly poor, most people live in poverty, there's crime and rampant disease. and i wanted to hear the people's story from them directly, not a canned narrative.

we had several choices of tour lengths through soweto bicycle tours. i wanted to get in as much history as i could on my trip to mandela land, so opted for the full day. jeff didn't seem to care either way, but i think in the end he was ultimately pleased with our choice.

so around 8:45 we decided to go and wait outside our hostel, since it was very easy to miss. and we waited. and waited. and waited. finally around 9:20, i called the backpackers to see what was up. the girl i spoke with laughed at my concern for timeliness - or lack thereof - and assured me the driver would be there soon. i accepted her answer of "soon", but soon realized cultural difference #5: time doesn't matter. around 9:45, one of the hostel owners approached us and said we had a call - the driver was outside in a blue van. well - there was no blue van. back and forth they went. the conversation went something like:

driver: "i am outside in a blue van"

hostel owner lady: "there is no blue van"

driver: "yes, i am here!"

lady: "you are not here, i see no blue van"

driver: "how can you not see my blue van, it is outside"

lady: "i am outside, and i see no blue van. you are not outside"

it was actually very funny. eventually they figured out that the driver was at 447 jan smuts, not 477. same mistake we had made other day. so in a few mins, our driver did appear, outside, in a blue van. with that, we were on our way from jo'burg to soweto, and with every mile you could see a definite difference. got a little uncomfortable and wondered if we bit off more than we could chew with this one. no going back now. arrived at the super cute backpackers, checked in and met our tour guide, philip, who was much younger than i anticipated. i was initially disappointed b/c assumed a lesser quality tour would transpire, but philip well surpassed any expectations i had. from choosing a bike onwards, i just tried to be fully open to the experience.

i think jeff and i were both a bit timid at first. it was just us and philip (apparently most people do the shorter tours). but we warmed up quickly and grew to appreciate our private tour. i came to be glad philip was our age; here is a kid in our same generation who grew up worlds - literally and figuratively - apart from us. while an older guide could have given us a more historical perspective (which, i'll admit, i usually prefer), we were able to connect with philip on a more personal level.

we saw tons! never realized how large soweto was. and we stopped frequently, which my thighs quite appreciated. saw east orlando stadium and the cooling towers (i'm certain were featured in andrew zimmern's bizarre foods). learned when soweto got electricity (to enforce curfew). visited a shebeen (once illegal drinking establishments for blacks), where we had home brewed beer (made from wheat, cornmeal and yeast) and a sweet drink (made again from maize meal and bananas).

walked around a hostel, which was the most interesting portion of our tour. they were originally built to house male migrant workers and were made up of 2 units (holding 8 men each) with a shared kitchen in between. most are now 'upgraded': individual units made of 1 bedroom and 1 kitchen. parents will sleep in the bedroom and kids on the kitchen floor. there is limited electricity and no water. they must walk a ways with 25L jugs to fill at the community tap. there are shared toilets - each is locked and only a few families have the key, helping sanitation. did see plenty of chicken carcasses hanging from doorways - which apparently protects your house from evil spirits..

and some humor: usually, small children frighten me. but i've said it before and i'll say it again - little black baby boys are the cutest kids on the planet. period. one kept holding onto my finger and wouldn't let go. i almost (*almost*) could have taken him home.

it was still astounding to see the amount of garbage everywhere; it made me sad to think people live like this. i was pleased to see the government was building permanent housing - complete with running water and private toilets. but i wondered if rent would go up. people now pay R45 - less than $7 - a month, as well as R125 ($18) per kid per month to send them to school. it may seem like a lot in comparison to rent, but considering it guarantees education as well as 3 meals a day, the cost is worthwhile. but they can't afford much more. i also wondered what would happen to the community atmosphere once everything moves indoors. time will tell.

next up was the meadowlands, more of a permanent, middle class part of soweto that's largely supported by the ANC (african national congress). stopped at an outdoor kitchen and had a local delicacy: cow cheek, and a more solid form of maize meal. this while staring at the cattle carcasses strewn about the ground.. ha. though it was tasty. learned about the mine dumps (HUGE mounds of dirt, soil and rock piled up from mining for gold). the locals call them 'blind windows' b/c it keeps soweto out of jo'burg's site. you wonder how intentional that was..

saw a public school that guaranteed an education through high school, regardless of ability to pay. the kids wear uniforms so it's not apparent what their socioeconomic status is. learned most kids from townships don't go to university b/c they can't afford it and don't have same opportunities as kids from the cities. which is also why they cannot better themselves and remain in blue collar jobs - or, more frequently, unemployed. philip is a living testament that there is hope for soweto's future generations.

next up was the albertina sisulu center - a school for disabled kids. learned about albertina and winnie mandela's role in apartheid resistance. saw the only women's hostel in soweto, and the klipspruit river, which used to be used for baptisms and other such rituals. it's now against the law b/c the current is too strong, though there are still no protective fences to keep people out.

from there, we moved to the wealthier part of town, which looked like it could be anywhere in the western world. what a difference from just down the road. learned about lilian masediba matabane ngoyi, who was put on house arrest after a women's rights march. visited the hector pieterson memorial and museum, which tells the story of the 1976 student uprising. the students marched peacefully to demonstrate against afrikaans being made the official language in schools - and 100s were killed and wounded when police fired into the crowd. in his death, hector came to symbolize the movement and attract international attention when a journalist took a photo of him being carried in the arms of another. so sad, but so necessary for the world to finally acknowledge.

of course, museums always end in gift shops - and this was no different. except the gift shop was a street lined with hawkers selling "handmade goods for pretty white lady". didn't feel up to bargaining but knew jeff wouldn't have many opportunities to shop, so browsed for a bit. found a wooden salad spoon/fork set with elephants carved at the top. probably not handmade by the vendor, but it still helps support the local economy, which needs all the help it can get. made our way across the street to a restaurant for our included meal. we had "bunny burgers" - i don't think there was actually rabbit in it, but it was tasty nonetheless. washed it down with coke with real sugar. philip couldn't believe we don't use real sugar in america.. oh high fructose corn syrup, thanks for not corrupting everything.

our last stop was vilakazi street, home to 2 nobel peace prize holders - nelson mandela (one of my heroes) and archbishop desmond tutu. mandela's home was made into a museum, which due to time constraints we didn't get to go into. bummer. philip says he has seen desmond tutu 3 times in his 1.5 years of being a tour guide. pretty cool. got bombarded by a group of little boys who ran after us blowing their vuvuzelas. world cup fever is everywhere! at this point it was getting dark, and we were pretty far behind schedule, so it was a direct and quick dash back to the backpackers. yes, thighs and blisters, i hear you loud and clear! fell asleep in the van back to our hostel in jo'burg. quickly checked internet (no message from G.. sad), and showered before planning our route for tomorrow. kruger national park, here we come!

airports and mcdonalds

pretty much what our first day in south africa consisted of. exciting, i know. woke up early (around 7am), and thank goodness. we had planned on being at the front desk around 9 to catch the shuttle back to the airport, but when we got there at 8:30, napoleon had already left. thankfully he hadn't gone far, so was able to come back to get us. and whoa, traffic. big difference compared to last night. it took forever to reach the airport, and the hostel must have called napoleon at least 5 times asking where he was - apparently the people he was picking up had been waiting for a while. oops.

in the traffic standstill, napoleon was able to point out a few landmarks and give us a brief tour of the city. it was nice to see it in the daylight. i asked if he had any suggestions for driving and parking in new town, he

just laughed and said "allison, you can drive here. it is easy." he was still chuckling from last night. he said there were plenty of parking garages, and it was safe part of town so we shouldn't worry. okay. no worries.

once at the airport, napoleon went to pick up his clients and pointed us in the direction of the car rentals. we decided to find another ATM first and look for a hat for jeff, then grabbed a bite to eat at a cafe. even at seemingly 'fast food' places - you sit down and they serve you. starting my list of cultural differences.. jeff got a banana muffin and i got a scone. yummy, but loads of sugar. we then managed to get lost looking for the rental car place. i swear. after wandering for about 20 mins, we found it and picked up the keys. asked about registering SIM cards and were told had to do it with vodaphone directly. so made our way there, but they said they could only register local SIM cards, not our international card. we tried MTN next, and were given the same answer. tried one more place and they didn't even know what we were talking about. i guess no cell phone for us!

went to pick up our car in slot A-29, and there was no car. so back to the europcar counter again (without getting lost this time). the manager was confused and went with us to find our car. he kept pressing the unlock button to find it. ah, D-29. we had a car, but of course it was a VW.. can't get away from reminders of my ex, even in africa. gave jeff a quick introduction to the jo'burg map and away we went. now, just have to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road. kept repeating "stay left, stay left". luckily, there was absolutely massive traffic, so had plenty of time to just sit and adjust. we inched our way up the road that led directly to the city center. and minus the cars that were driving backward down the shoulder (clearly, you can do that here if you change your mind and want to avoid the traffic by taking the exit you long passed), it went pretty smoothly.

parking was another matter. we kept driving to the little "P's" on the map, but those attempts proved futile. pulled into a private garage and asked if we could park there. they said no, but attempted to help us by pointing down the road. thanks guys. then out of nowhere, a man came running up to us shouting "first spot! first spot!" i had no clue what he was talking about until driving up the road a bit, saw an open spot on the street - the first spot. the man proceeded to direct us into the space. thank god i didn't have to try to parallel park! wasn't sure of his role - were we supposed to tip him? or pay? it seemed like it was free for 120 mins, so we parked and headed towards newtown and mary fitzgerald square, which according to LP (lonely planet) was a good starting point.

it was sad looking, to be honest. SAB world of beer was closed, as was museum africa (we later discovered). so just strolled and took in the sights of turbine hall, market theatre and the bus fac

tory - which was a good thing b/c ran into a worker from our hostel (totally forget his name). he introduced us to lami - who worked at one of the NGOs housed in the complex, and lami said we shouldn't park on the street and should move our car to his lot where it is safer. but that's when we discovered the museum africa was closed, so decided to head to the university of witwatersrand's origins center, one of the few places opened on a monday. it was pricier than we anticipated, but was a very well done museum. highly recommended.

quite hungry at this point, decided to go by LP's food suggestions in newtown. tried to find one with a more african feel, but alas - were unsuccessful. omg. the traffic was so crazy. people honked constantly and just made up their own rules. i was certain we would die that day. managed to eventually get into a steady stream of traffic, and rather than staying around newtown just told jeff to get us out of there, which he promptly did. i remembered hostelworld saying there were a few bars and restaurants within walking distance of our hostel, so after only making 4 errors in navigation, found our way back and asked for dining suggestions. our hostel worker friend was there, but seemed to be horrified we wanted to walk anywhere. he said as a black man he would walk around during the day, but not at night. so as white people, we definitely should not. well alrighty then. he then gave us directions to drive to a few places.

okay, so here's the next cultural difference.. unintentionally lackadaisical directions. we followed his directions, or so we thought. he said left at the first traffic light, then go 4 blocks, and restaurant is between hotel and petrol station. well we did that, but it was only residential. so we went 4 traffic lights. nothing. and we went 4 more. still nothing. stopped at a few random places but everything was closed. so we decided to try the next street. and then the next. maybe he meant go left out of hostel, then 4 lights? still no luck. everything was closed, even on the main drag. jeff then made one of my favorite quotes of the trip - "no wonder everyone is starving in africa, nothing is open to find something to eat!" i nearly peed myself and temporarily forgot my hunger. he then remembered seeing a 24hr mcdonalds. not knowing what else to do, we made our way in that direction. would our first african meal really have to be one of the grossest american foods on the planet? ugh.

fortunately, no. on our way there we happened to notice a place called dom's. we didn't know what it was, but it appeared to be a food joint. it was more or less a pub and wasn't busy, but there were enough people in it that we weren't sketched out. more importantly, it wasn't mcdonalds. jeff got a massive chicken and beef burger. i got an ostrich burger. when in africa.. with food in our bellies, we were no longer cranky. back at the hostel, the water was warm. actually hot. unlike jeff's luke warm shower this morning, and my frigid one. i had ended up not showering b/c it was just too cold to bear. so dirty girl made her first appearance of the trip. a shower never felt so good - after traveling for 23 hrs, then going another 24 without showering, it was heavenly. plus jeff managed to jury-rig the window so it wasn't freezing at night. and thank goodness for silk sleep sheets!

travel time: 23 hrs

so love going new places. so do not love getting there! my trips seem to be getting longer lately. or, maybe it's b/c i few to china from NJ and flew to south africa from seattle. way to add 5 hrs of flying time over the US for no good reason. ha.

had a bit of a hairy start this time - but what's a trip without a little excitement. checked my flight status one final time before leaving for airport. did get an email saying "your flight details have changed", but after staring at it for about 5 mins i couldn't find any differences, so wasn't too worried. took my now accustomed walk down the hill to westlake station (it was funny to not have gareth with me this time to get yelled at by the cops), and made the 35 min journey on the light rail to sea-tac. upon arriving with what i thought was plenty of time, a quick glance at the board told me that my flight had been changed from 12:50 to 11:40. whaaaaat. mini heart attack, as there was no way i could check in and clear security and customs in that amount of time. fortunately the lady at the counter affirmed my flight was indeed at 12:50. phew. way to unnecessarily raise my stress hormones, seattle.

flight to amsterdam was smooth overall. boarded without any problems, and got my coveted aisle seat. did have to sit next to 'curry guy'. my apt hallway constantly smells of a mix of curry and maple syrup (weird, i know), so maybe my nose was somewhat used to the smell. and i guess i prefer curry smell to B.O. managed to watch 2 movies, "invictus" (of course!) and "pirate radio". both decent films, tho i am partial to anything with morgan freeman in it. tried to snooze, but being a ridiculously light sleeper - it was nearly impossible. several people around me had very distinctive voices that pierced my ear plugs, and they kept opening the window, letting in the constantly bright arctic summer sun. fortunately we flew way north of the iceland volcano (eyjafjallajökull - try saying that 3, err, even 1 time.. at all), so that did not interfere with anything.

landed in amsterdam and met jeff at our connecting gate. glad he made it - take that 2 month long volcano eruption! oh i was going to be mad at the gods if a volcano interrupted my dream journey. had a 3 hr layover, which wasn't awful. tried to change our seats so we could sit next to each other, but only middles were left, so decided to wait til we boarded to see if someone would switch. did a lot of people watching - need to mention the african man with a windbreaker jacket that said "i was born in kenya - the land of obama's daddy." seems people the world over are depending upon this president to make good on his campaign promises.

boarded the plane and parted ways with jeff. while waiting for my seat, managed to have a pretty heavy bag drop on my head. direct hit to the right side of my face, ouch. the lady who owned the bag apologized profusely, but her husband still tried to convince me to switch seats with her so they could sit together. really? you drop a bag on my head, AND you want me to sit in the middle seat? um, no. despite my guilty conscience eating away at me, i stuck to the promise i made myself in new zealand that i would never again switch from an aisle to a middle for someone else's gain. funny, the guy in the window seat had no problem saying no.. in fact, he was quite unapologetic about it. i need to get better at that.. to appease karma, i explained my brother was in the back of the plane and i was hoping someone would switch with him so we could sit together. the man eventually gave up, and both he and his wife were relegated to the middle seats. at least they were in consecutive rows.

jeff ended up in an aisle seat with an empty middle, so we decided to sit separate so he could have the extra room. watched a few movies - "cloudy with a chance of meatballs" (cute and funnier than was anticipating), "sunshine cleaning" (my kinda film), "the invention of lying" (fell asleep, clearly it wasn't that interesting), and "public enemy" (love love love johnny depp). except didn't see the ending b/c it cut out with literally 5 mins to go b/c the plane was landing. boo.

what i am most grateful for is having a new memory to replace what once happened on a previous 22 may - the day i met the first guy i ever completely fell in love with. i cannot believe it's been almost a year since my world was shattered last september. and i cannot believe it still bothers me the way it does. beginning to realize i may never fully get over him, and trying to come to acceptance. amazing the impact one person can have on your life..

anyway, somewhere between 23 hrs of travel time and a few time zones, it became the 23rd of may and we landed in johannesburg. met our shuttle guys, and after a quick stop to the ATM and europcar to explain we would be picking up our rental tomorrow instead, we were on our way to the hostel, accoustix backpackers. our driver napoleon was confused why we had both a rental and a shuttle service. i explained that i didn't want to drive at night in a city i was unfamiliar with, on the wrong side of the road, after traveling for 23 hrs. he laughed and tried to convince me it wouldn't be that bad. yeah, right. after a longish and confusing ride in the kidnapper van (so glad i didn't attempt to drive), we arrived at our accommodation. after a quick bout of organizing, it was bedtime.

hello south africa, nice to finally meet you.

final itinerary

so, just finalized my accommodations today. normally i'm more of a "go-with-the-flow" traveler, but thanks to the popularity of a certain sporting event, things have booked up super quickly and it has required a lot more planning than i usually do. don't get me wrong, i'm a big fan of researching before i travel. i like having a general idea of what i want to do and can formulate a list of "must sees" and "it would be cool, but not mandatory" items, which makes things go a bit more smoothly once i arrive. but this time - things have been planned down to the final t.

22 may: depart seattle

23 may: arrive johannesburg

24 may: johannesburg

25 may: bike tour of soweto (if the weather cooperates)

26 may: kruger

27 may: kruger

28 may: kruger

29 may: swaziland, bushfire festival

30 may: swaziland

31 may: johannesburg, jeff leaves =(

01 june: debra arrives =), fly to durban

02 june: coffee bay

03 june: coffee bay

04 june: east london

05 june: addo national elephant park

06 june: tsitsikamma national park

07 june: knysna

08 june: oudtshoorn

09 june: cape town

10 june: cape town

11 june: fly to johannesburg, drive to rustenburg

12 june: USA-ENG!!!

13 june: rustenburg

14 june: depart johannesburg

15 june: arrive seattle

phew. should be a good time!