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A Day of Rest
This is my luggage. My clothes. My cosmetics. My safari clothing. My vitamins. It has arrived. Hallelujah!
It was a day of settling in. Unpacking for me. Shopping. Cooking. Enjoying. Unwinding. You really don’t know how wound up you are until you are sitting with a Zebra and have nowhere else to go. I haven’t wrecked the car yet. Mastering driving on the wrong side of the road while sitting in the wrong side of the car is not particularly easy for an older brain. But I have spent the day turning on turn signals instead of windshield wipers and not driving into the gravel on the left side of the road. Another Hallelujah! Today we say zebra, warthogs, antelope, mongoose — looking forward to elephants, lions and giraffe. Tomorrow I think a quiet day at home just sitting and enjoying the natural environment and all that is has to offer. Cooking and reading a good book. Don’t get bored! The real adventure begins on Thursday….
The Great Arrival
The ship has landed! The wheels touched down in Hoedspruit, South Africa at 11am this morning.
We had a glorious day of settling in. Though my luggage is still not here – but I am assured it will be available for my retrieval at the Hoedspruit airport tomorrow morning at 11:25. Needless to say, the very though causes me to swoon with joy.
We are here at Bush Baby Haven until our first 3-night Safari on Saturday. Being at the house is like a safari every day. In addition to the beautiful Kudu in this picture, we have seen duiker (antelope), warthogs, baboons, vervet monkeys, impala, dwarf mongoose and the gorgeous go-away bird. That is simply 1/2 of the day. We are planning a game drive and dinner in the bush on Thursday, and a trip to the elephant orphanage on Wednesday.
On African Soil
I am in Africa.
We did finally arrive into Johannesburg tonight around 7;45pm.
We are settled into our hotel for the evening before we fly again up to Safari land.
That is the good news. The bad news is that MY luggage is still in Newark. I want you to know that I have been wearing the same clothes, the same jewelry and no make-up since I checked my bags into Newark on Wednesday morning. I will not be getting my luggage any earlier than Monday at 2pm. That will be the same clothing for 5 1/2 days. For those of you who know me — do you get how horribly wrong that is?
Lisa, Kim and I are here. I am enjoying a wonderful South African Pinotage — a luscious red wine and getting ready to rest.
We have a 10:30am flight tomorrow to Hoedspruit, our final destination until September 27th.
I am hoping to find some clothing tomorrow somewhere!
Stay tuned. I promise you that an elephant is on the way.
Love, Denise
Could It Get Any Better?
I am still not in Africa – but much closer.
It is Friday morning. We have rested for 24 glorious hours in a very nice hotel close to the Newark airport. The 5 hours of chaos is completely gone — in fact you would never really know anything happened here. Amazing really since 1-1/2 days ago there was 5 feet of water everywhere, abandoned cars littering the roads and highways and we were so exhausted.
I just passed our second required Covid test — which was necessary because we ended up on the other side of the 72 hour guidelines. It cost $250 for a 1-hour response but a blessing that the testing facility was right on airport property, and United is going to refund the cost of the test so all is well.
I also just found out that our luggage (which we haven’t seen since before the hurricane) IS on our flight which is really good news. We have been in the same clothes since Wednesday and will continue to be so until Saturday night when we land in our hotel in Johannesburg. Yikes~!
I am knowing easy flow for the rest of the trip and am grateful on so many levels for how well we fared during the kerfuffle. Not everyone faired as well — and I am not traveling alone which is a blessing as well.
I will post a few pictures of Johannesburg though we won’t be there for long — but we will be at our beautiful Airbnb by Sunday afternoon which we call home for the next 3 weeks.
Thank you to those who have reached out with your prayers and words of sympathy. I needed some.
Much love,
Denise
A very cranky me on Thursday morning after 25 hours in the airport
The motley crew !
Could It Get Worse?
I am not in Africa.
I was so happy that hurricane IDA decided not to go through Fort Myers because it meant a clear path for the flight to Newark. Sad to say that IDA decided to meet up with us in Newark right about the time our 8:45pm flight was scheduled to depart to Johannesburg yesterday. This hurricane not only shut down all flights but prevented anyone from leaving the airport due to massive flooding. So not only are we ALL (meaning 1,000 people) spending the night on the floor of the Newark airport, but our luggage is unattainable.
Unfortunately the next available flight to Johannesburg for us is Friday night, so after our night on the hotel floor, we will go to a Best Western Thursday night and then back to the airport to try again.
Of course this required re-booking everything – our hotel room in Johannesburg, in country flights from Johannesburg to Hoedspruit on Friday and our rental car.
So here I am. It is 3:30am. We are all sprawled trying to be comfortable.
It is pretty dismal but fortunately once we arrive we will still have 25 glorious days of recuperation in amazing beauty.
I would much rather be sending you glorious pictures of elephants than a soggy United Fight 188. But isn’t that just the way. We have our plans. God laughs!
Cheerfully,
Denise
P.S. Though there are no comments on this travel blog, feel free to email me directly:)
Tested Negative So Off I GO
Welcome to my travel blog. You will automatically get anything I post once a day. If I upload a bunch of pictures to the photo gallery I will include the link.
Step #1 was to obtain a negative COVID test. DONE! I didn’t realize how nervous I was about that test until I broke into tears upon hearing everything was good. All three of us are good to go so we will gather in the International Terminal at the Newark airport in about 4 hours with an 8:30pm take off to Johannesburg.
I am not going to share how crazy I am to have brought 4 pieces of luggage – one of them to heavy for me and one of them with only 2 wheels so it has be dragged behind me. The amount of time, money and frustration to get from point A to point B was insane. And if you are wondering if people are out traveling again? YES. Packed United flight to Newark and packed Newark Airport. The only thing not packed due to Covid are employees- no airport porters or hotel bell hops. I survived and once in my hotel after a glass of red wine, a hot shower and 3 ibuprofen for my achy hip, I am ready to go again after a great night’s sleep.
Lisa arrives from North Carolina soon, will leave the airport and come to my airport hotel to gather me and my ridiculous luggage. Yay!
I miss you already. Hold us in your prayers and I will check in next from the continent of Africa!
Love
Denise