WOOOO HOOOOOO Luggage just arrived!!!! We can now start relaxing and enjoying! I actually bought a pack of smokes from someone who worked here, for zar20, which I am guessing was a mark-up. It was only 2.00 us and I would've paid 20. us at the time. David also found the glasses he never lost too! They were in the room the whole time.
We went on our first safari and it was fabulous! We saw white rhino, cape buffalo, giraffe, several types of buck type animals, monkeys and lots of cool birds. I have lots of pictures, but cannot get them up.
The night was interesting staying in a "tent". Although it is nicely done inside, the monkeys scratching on the canvas, lizards running back and forth inside, and the bat footsteps crawling in
between the canvases in the morning were a little unnerving. I will freak if a bat starts flying on the inside, or if I run into spiders. Through most of this Dad slept. I myself, barely. At least I got to watch the lizards, they kept me company.
Ok off to lunch, then another game drive. This time with clean clothes(for David, I had a spare pair) WOOO HOOOOO
Gudrun you are the BESTEST!!! Thank you much for following along and trying to help!! Also, you are correct. We had a whole tour bus of Germans this morning, and I made the mistake of saying, you know, Guten Morgen. Yep, didn't understand a thing!
Love you all,
Julie
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
November 1st
REWARD for anyone who can get us our luggage! Especially my smokes! Although it may sound funny I am just shy of crying. It is not like there are lots of stores in the area. We have called the Johannesburg South African Airways and all they said was they don't have it. Is it in Dubai or what? Ok, so it was supposed to be in Richards Bay airport. Our baggage numbers are SA244822 and SA244823. GUDRUN HELP!! lol
Other than that, last night David was "seeing wierd" which means onset of a migraine. So he went to bed at 4:30pm. I wandered around, keeping an eye on the last 5 smokes in my pack, and finally gave in to boredom and went to bed at 8:00.
We were just informed that sometimes people never receive their baggage and it happens all the time. I never realized how much I loved my suitcase. It was a thing of beauty.
OK, I am signing off for now. Hopefully I will have a better report next time. You You I am trying to stay positive, but it is not looking good.
Julie
Other than that, last night David was "seeing wierd" which means onset of a migraine. So he went to bed at 4:30pm. I wandered around, keeping an eye on the last 5 smokes in my pack, and finally gave in to boredom and went to bed at 8:00.
We were just informed that sometimes people never receive their baggage and it happens all the time. I never realized how much I loved my suitcase. It was a thing of beauty.
OK, I am signing off for now. Hopefully I will have a better report next time. You You I am trying to stay positive, but it is not looking good.
Julie
October 31
Happy Halloween!!!
Although it doesn't look like we will be able to add pictures, I can at least update you for now.
Our flights were long but not too extremely bad. Our connecting flight on KLM was actually decent. We were upgraded to business class on a 747! and had some room.
We caught a KILLER thunderstorm that stretched probably 500 miles and it was non stop lightening. I have heard they are like that, and the guy we ate breakfast next to this morning at the airport confirmed that. He was from Chicago, but lives here now and says they scare the crap out of him.
We got in on time last night, and was picked up by a guy (who was holding my name up) at the airport who drove about a '73 toyota, personal car. It wouldn't start when it was time to go. We weren't sure at that point if we were going to our hotel or some scary alley. He didn't speak english either. We were happy to find we did in fact go to the hotel. Also kind of scary. But we did sleep a little and left for the airport early.
Our plane to Richards Bay was a prop. Kind of scary landing but that isn't the scariest part.
Our luggage made it all the way from Seattle to Jo-Burg, but didn' make it here. It was supposed
to be on the 3:00 flight, but didn't make that one either. The people at the Lodge here say that it sometimes takes 3-4 days!!!! Holy Crap!!! That would really suck. So we just sit and wait.
We chose to kick back instead of going on our first game drive this afternoon. We're a little tired. But we have seen some animals, lizards, and some awesome birds. The weather is totally overcast, but comfortable. Our room is a tent, canvas and all but sturdy and seems to be bug proof for the most part. So it will be interesting if we do get one of those thunderstorms. Davids saw on the news they were calling for it.
We have some Seattle-ites around us...all won auctions. The rest seem to be German.
The guy who drove us from Richards Bay is a Zulu. Very interesting to speak to. I will give you more input on him later, but stories like if he were to get married he would have to give the father of the bride 11 cows. They cost R5000 ea which is a whole bunch of money for these people.
Ok we are going to the bar now to drown our luggage sorrows. Maybe if we drink enough we won't worry about whether or not we have clothes.
Love to all, more tomorrow.
I will see if I can figure out the picture thing.
Julie
Although it doesn't look like we will be able to add pictures, I can at least update you for now.
Our flights were long but not too extremely bad. Our connecting flight on KLM was actually decent. We were upgraded to business class on a 747! and had some room.
We caught a KILLER thunderstorm that stretched probably 500 miles and it was non stop lightening. I have heard they are like that, and the guy we ate breakfast next to this morning at the airport confirmed that. He was from Chicago, but lives here now and says they scare the crap out of him.
We got in on time last night, and was picked up by a guy (who was holding my name up) at the airport who drove about a '73 toyota, personal car. It wouldn't start when it was time to go. We weren't sure at that point if we were going to our hotel or some scary alley. He didn't speak english either. We were happy to find we did in fact go to the hotel. Also kind of scary. But we did sleep a little and left for the airport early.
Our plane to Richards Bay was a prop. Kind of scary landing but that isn't the scariest part.
Our luggage made it all the way from Seattle to Jo-Burg, but didn' make it here. It was supposed
to be on the 3:00 flight, but didn't make that one either. The people at the Lodge here say that it sometimes takes 3-4 days!!!! Holy Crap!!! That would really suck. So we just sit and wait.
We chose to kick back instead of going on our first game drive this afternoon. We're a little tired. But we have seen some animals, lizards, and some awesome birds. The weather is totally overcast, but comfortable. Our room is a tent, canvas and all but sturdy and seems to be bug proof for the most part. So it will be interesting if we do get one of those thunderstorms. Davids saw on the news they were calling for it.
We have some Seattle-ites around us...all won auctions. The rest seem to be German.
The guy who drove us from Richards Bay is a Zulu. Very interesting to speak to. I will give you more input on him later, but stories like if he were to get married he would have to give the father of the bride 11 cows. They cost R5000 ea which is a whole bunch of money for these people.
Ok we are going to the bar now to drown our luggage sorrows. Maybe if we drink enough we won't worry about whether or not we have clothes.
Love to all, more tomorrow.
I will see if I can figure out the picture thing.
Julie
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
October 29, 2008
This is Shannon with an update to the just begun adventure of Dad & Julie (aka: David & Julie). Well they've officially left for the airport but to there dismay have already run into drama. On they're way to the airport, the airporter almost left David stranded at one of the multiple pick-up points because he (literally with a long sigh and abrupt slam into park) felt David's bathroom run was unacceptable, even though "usually" there is a lengthy wait for on coming passengers. Okay David 's back, now to the airport. They got there and Airfrance is delayed 1 & 1/2 hrs which would mean they wouldn't make there connecting fights in Paris on time. SOOO......now they're flying Northwest Airlines to Amsterdam with a 2 hr layover for a quick "ROYAL CHEESEBURGER" (Pulp Fiction to all that can't remember.) and maybe a little "SPECIAL" dessert. As of this point they do not have, and can not get they're boarding passes from Amsterdam to Johannesburg until landing in Amsterdam so all I can say is good luck to them and we'll see.............
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
October 28
One more day..yay! As usual, we got up yesterday morning and found that Air France had canceled us again(that would make 5 times!). While David wrote down what I had just entered to make sure I didn't enter incorrectly, which I didn't, I went to my other computer, pulled it up and all was confirmed. Hmmm, do you think they are just messing with me now or what! I guess this is what to expect when you use frequent flier miles and only pay $99.50 a ticket. But since we will be traveling within 24 hours, I will be printing out our boarding passes real soon so they can't re-neg on me.
I am including some photos of my family, so I can have my shiny familiar faces just a click away while in an unfamiliar world.
If anyone runs into something that looks like this:
Could you please give him a hug and kiss for me?This is mostly for me, I will be missing him while I am gone.
12:00pm Ok, I just tried to print our boarding passes, and conveniently, Air France ticketing through the website is down. Hmmm. I think I have a flagged reference number. We'll get to the airport and find we won't be getting on! Arrrrrggghhhh
3:30pmOK SO THIS IS IT. I am officially holding 2 confirmations saying we are checked in. Although they aren't boarding passes, it's the next best thing. I wish my back understood that-it's prrrretty tight at the moment.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Hello,
Since I have so much time on my hands before we leave (in 3 days) for our long anticipated trip, I figured I would give this a shot and see if I can in some way bring you with on our Safari experience. I have absolutely no idea if we will have any kind of internet in the "bush" but at least I will be ready if we do. It is also for myself, so I can document the trip for reference.
As of yesterday, our plans are completely booked, confirmed and paid for. I couldn't even fathom a guess as to how many hours I (well me and Gudrun with Wild-Wings Safaris) spent pulling this trip together, expecially since we have a 9 hour time difference as she is in South Africa. If you are making plans for a long awaited trip such as this, do NOT book 3 weeks before you go. You will want to book at least 3-6 months in advance. Most of the places we are staying only have 8 to 10 accomodations at each camp, so squeezing us in at the last minute has been a challenge. It is also high season.
Although I have sent most of you our general itinerary, I will post it here so if you wish, you can check it out as we go.
Since I have so much time on my hands before we leave (in 3 days) for our long anticipated trip, I figured I would give this a shot and see if I can in some way bring you with on our Safari experience. I have absolutely no idea if we will have any kind of internet in the "bush" but at least I will be ready if we do. It is also for myself, so I can document the trip for reference.
As of yesterday, our plans are completely booked, confirmed and paid for. I couldn't even fathom a guess as to how many hours I (well me and Gudrun with Wild-Wings Safaris) spent pulling this trip together, expecially since we have a 9 hour time difference as she is in South Africa. If you are making plans for a long awaited trip such as this, do NOT book 3 weeks before you go. You will want to book at least 3-6 months in advance. Most of the places we are staying only have 8 to 10 accomodations at each camp, so squeezing us in at the last minute has been a challenge. It is also high season.
Although I have sent most of you our general itinerary, I will post it here so if you wish, you can check it out as we go.
OCT 29 Depart Seattle for Paris 2:55pm arrive 8:50am
OCT 30 Depart Paris 10:30am arrive 10:00pm Johannesburg
OCT 30 Overnight in Johannesburg Don Jo-Berg Hotel
OCT 31 Depart Jo-berg 9:55am for Richards Bay arrive 11:35am
OCT 31 Road transfer to Zulu Nyala in Zululand, Kwa Zulu Natal
OCT 31-NOV 3 3 nights http://zulunyala.com/accomht.htm
NOV 3-6 3 nights http://zulunyala.com/accomgl.htm
NOV 6 Road transfer back to Richards Bay where I am hoping to stick my feet in the Indian Ocean http://www.proteahotels.com/protea-hotel-richards-bay.html#Content
NOV 7 Fly back to Jo-berg to catch direct flight to Kings Camp http://www.kingscamp.com/gallery.html
NOV 7-10 Kings Camp located in country of Mpumalanga-Kruger National Park-Timbavati Nature Reserve
NOV 10-12 Still in Kruger NP but travel by bush plane to Inyati http://www.inyati.co.za/album_select.asp in the Sabi Sands Nature Reserve
NOV 12 travel by road transfer to town of Sabie
NOV 12-14 Lone Creek River Lodge http://www.lonecreek.co.za/riversuites.html
NOV 13 Bus tour of Panorama Route of the Drakensburg escarpment http://www.southafrica-travel.net/north/a1mpuma3.htm
NOV 14 travel by road to Nelspruit-Kruger airport for our trip back to Jo-berg
NOV 14 Leave Jo-berg 8:30pm arrive Paris 6:00am
NOV 15 Leave Paris 10:00am arrive Seattle 11:55am
NOV 15-22 SLEEP!!
South African Currency
Below is the currency for South Africa. It is called Rand
$100.00usd =zar 1120
The currency represents the "Big 5" which is the main attraction for African safaris. The big 5 includes the rhino, elephant, lion, buffalo and leopard. Most people feel their safari is a success if they see the Big 5. We are looking forward to all of it, that would just be a bonus.
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