Superb Vacations in 2017
I had an early morning flight (06:20) which required leaving at the hotel at 04:30. It was a short taxi ride, however at the cab driver claimed he couldn’t take a credit card. I walked into the airport only to find the ATM machines non-functioning. The cab driver pulled out his credit card machine…
In lieu of flying to Houston then flying to Italy I decided it was easier to stop in Italy on the way back to Houston. I arrived in France on time and transferred between terminals and had a brief visit to the lounge. The view of the Alps were wonderful from the sky. I…
Being the departure day this was a relaxing day. A friend picked me up and we went to Nelson Mandela square in Sandton. They have a statue of him there and some fancy shopping malls. We also stopped by the Mall of Africa where I had Chicken Licken. It was very good and cheap….
We had a late start this morning, 0830 departure from the hotel. We started by driving to Soweto Township. We drove by Desmond Tutu’s house on our way to Nelson Mandela’s house. We had a tour of Neslon Mandela’s house (it was a fairly small 2 bedroom house. …
We left the hotel this morning at 07:30 to take the panoramic route to Johannesburg. Unfortunately the weather was not cooperating again. We skipped God’s Window and Wonderview because the visibility was 0. Luckily the weather was better when we made it to Byrne’s Luck Potholes. It was very beautiful. The whirlpools cut…
This was a very early morning. We left the hotel at 05:30 to arrive at the gate of Kruger National Park by 06:00. Our safari vehicle was provided by Eastgate Safari. We had an all-day game drive. We left at 06:00 and returned back at 15:00. We had a 45 minute break for breakfast…
This morning we left Mbabane on our way to Hazyview. We visited a glass factory that had a few other shops for about an hour. The glass factory had an observation catwalk. We then drove to the border crossing at Matsano. Two new stamps and then we visited a recreated village. There were…
Today was a very early morning. Our luggage needed to be outside at 05:15. We got a very large snack box from the hotel for lunch. It had crisps (potato chips), peanuts, banana, apple, hard boiled egg, a bit of cheese, crackers, mango-orange juice, water and a lollipop. We arrived at the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi…
This morning we departed Cape Town on a flight to Durban (British Airways). Once we arrived there we got a snack for the long drive to the St. Lucia Estuary. I got some food at KFC as we only had 30 minutes to find food. We had one hiccup – the air conditioning…
Today we had a free day. There were a couple of optional tours available (Winelands and shark cage diving), however the shark diving was preemtively cancelled due to the weather. Table Mountain opened at 08:00. We met for breakfast at 08:00. There was a heavy rain just before 08:00. We checked the website and…
Today’s originally scheduled itinerary included a visit to Table Mountain and Robben Island. However mother nature decided not to cooperate, so both were cancelled. There is no hope to go to Robben Island as the next available tour would not be until Thursday and we fly in the morning to Durban. We will attempt…
Today was our first day in Cape Town. Breakfast was at 06:30. We had a short briefing at 07:30. We left the hotel at 08:20. We took a scenic drive along the coast through Camps Bay to Chapman’s Peak. We continued through Hout’s Bay to the Cape…
After a long journey I finally arrived on South Africa. My flights were: United 44 from Houston to Washington DC (Dulles) = 2.5 hours. South African Airways 210 from Washington DC to Johannesburg (with a stop in Accra, Ghana) about 9 hours for the first section and 6 hours for the next. Then…
My first flight is on United. Their computer wouldn’t allow me to check in yesterday, so I didn’t get on the upgrade standby list until I arrived at the airport. By that time I was #6 on the list and it was already booked full. At least I’ll get free food and a drink on…
I leave in two days for South Africa. I received new memory cards yesterday when I got home. I realized I forgot to order new dry bags (my old ones have small holes in them), so I ordered that and a fancy neck pillow (since I’m flying economy this time). I should get them…
After a short nap I woke up and took the metro to Place Espagna to catch Aerobus A1 to the airport. I got on the Aerobus at 0705. I think it is silly that Barcelona spent all kinds of money finally getting the metro to connect to the city and the metro is slower than…
Because the cruise was very active (many long nights in the many bars) I intended to use this as a recovery day – intended. Sine we needed to be out of the room by 0800 I had set my alarm for 0645. I was already packed for the most part. I packed most everything…
In attempt to use some of the $150 of onboard credit I decided to take a tour arranged by the ship to Avignon, the Palace of the Popes and Les Baux. There were 25 people on my bus. Luckily it was cold, windy and out of season, so there were not many other groups…
I organized a private tour in an 8 passenger minivan. Our driver guide Benjamin was excellent. Our tour started by driving along the waterfront in Cannes. We got a few photos of the red carpet in Cannes and the ship. We then drove along the waterfront of Nice. We then drove up to a…
Today I had organized a tour of Cinque Terre. It was a private tour in an 8 passenger minivan. We left the ship at 0745 and the guide drove us past La Spezia to Manarola. The town was beautiful and empty. We explored a little while the guide got us ferry tickets. …