Victoria Falls

I’m alive!

I have written about my tour and edited loads and loads of pictures.. but it takes me about 5 minutes just to check my email on Zim internet. I’ll try to post update from the tour on previous dates, so go to october and look for it..

I havent done much here in Vic Falls, but its been good to relax a bit.. if only there was reliable internet. well.. if only there was reliable ANYthing really welcome to africa!

today i’m flying over to Harare and will get picked up to go start my volunteering at Imire Safari Ranch. It’ll be nice to start a new chapter of my journey, although i’m still missing people from the previous chapter.. alot !

It probably wont be possible to update this blog until im back in South Africa.. I’ll try to send out some emails, so if you’re not on my email list but want to be, let me know.

Cape to Vic with Nomad!

I’ve been thinking alot, and there is just no way i can write about this tour and do it proper justice.. there are too many “you had to be there” moments.. too many “shit, I cant write THAT” (hi mom!) .. and too many moments that are just.. indescribable..

But… you people still want me to say something, so here it is: fully censored, familyfriendly highlights of Morrisons Avocado Experience..

Roadmap

Day 1: Cederberg Mountain Region

*annoying music in the truck.. especially this one song where the word “avocado” kept being repeted for a good 5 minutes.. CD on repeat as well.

*getting to know some of the cool people on tour

This goes where now?

*putting up our tents for the first time

*adorable and hyperactive local guide that ran around putting poisonous scorpions in his pocket and told us stories like the time he had to pee in his own eye to heal it from snakespit.  awesome!

*being COLD at night and wondering if camping is really my thing..

Day 2: Orange River

*wondering how long the annoying music is going to repeat itself before someone stops it

*The best.showers.EVER.

*realising how fast you learn to appreciate a good shower when camping.

*watching weird “fireworms” at night infront of the bar.

Orange River Entertainment System (ooor.. just bugs flying infront of a light)

*being less cold at night and thinking camping is OK (heavily influenced by previously mentioned showers)

Day 3:  NAMIBIA Orange River/ Fish River Canyon

*Fun ride in the back of a pickup, driving up the river before canoeing back to the campsite. 1st hour on the river was fun, 2nd hour was spent thinking “are we there yet?”

Julia and myself on Orange River

*bordercrossing guards needing to ask what sports every individual on the truck liked before letting us move on..

Just a really, really old hole in the ground.. no?

*thinking that fish river canyon isnt all that impressive.

*thinking that I really dont get impressed alot..

Day 4: Namib – Naukluft national park

*loong drive…

*exploring the ratio between number on temperature reading (say, 45) and number of complaints per hour (also close to 45)..

*having to put up our tents before going to the pool (+5 complaints)…..

*the sensational feeling of jumping in the pool after putting our tents up.

*getting out of the pool, walking 50m and wanting to turn around and go back to the pool

*deciding that duneclimbing would take me too far away from a pool and seriously increase the already high complaints per hour rating.. making it the first optional activity skipped.

Day 5: Sossusvlei dunes – Namib – Naukluft national park

*walking up dune 45 and watching the sunrise, thinking that the desert is an AWESOME place between  7pm and 9 am.. otherwise its too hot to care.

*realising that our “local guide” of the sossusvlei is a crazy Japanese woman..

*also realising that having a crazy japanese guide is the ONLY way you can enjoy walking around in 40-50c..

Desert Sculptures

* finally getting to the sossusvlei and being impressed for about 15 seconds and then wanting to go back but needing to wait for 22 other people who were impressed for much longer than me..

*Cattle class ride

*avocado song being played on request! addiction succeeded.
*Solitaire (which is the BEST name for a camp in the middle of nowhere). Celebrating Johnno’s birthday under the moonlight to the sounds of laughing gekkos and an ipod until being told to go to bed by security. Unforgettable.

Day 6/7: Swakopmund

*going from bitching about being too hot and bothered to bitching about how cold it is, just like that..

*quadbiking (“what bike i want? put me on the equivalent of an old worn out horse.. I’m happy to be in the losergroup, i just dont want to go that fast, OK?”)

Why is my hand the only one up....

*sandboarding! is awesome.

*wanting to go skydiving but taking too long to decide and ending up not getting booked

*getting to sleep in a BED!

*wondering why dorm showers was so horribly bad compared to any camp shower experience..

*the odd sensation of having nothing at all to do after being hurried around for 6 days..

Day 8: Spitzkoppe

*going from bitching about being too cold to bitching about how hot it is, just like that.. !

*Bush camping. No facilities.. No Pool. No shower. No fun.

* Singing the avocado song to bushmen

* a much wanted cave party failed as everyone just wanted to go to sleep and dream about swimmingpools and showers and icecream..

Day 9 : Himba Tribes

*realising that running water really does make the world a better place.

Himba Children

*experiencing the himba people

*getting to know everyone better around the campfire.

Day 10/11: Etosha National Park

*lions! ellies! giraffes! rhinos! zebra! and so on..

What can I say? a Giraffe.... and a Zebra... there you go

Thirsty zebras waiting for their turn..

Sitting by the waterhole at night was surreal...

Day 12: Windhoek

*realising that the capital of Namibia is very dead on Sundays.

*mistakingly eating a whole chili pepper at dinner, effectively ending any remaining appetite.

*saying goodbye to 6 of our new friends…

Day 13 : Ghanzi, Botswana

*racing to get Hubert to the airport in time

*saying hello to 6 new people.

* trying to find a way to enjoy repetetive Bushmen songs.

*lightningstorm show in the distance

Day 14/15/16: Maun – Okavango Delta

*going on scenic delta flight in a very hot 7 seater plane… failing to be impressed

*being transported in mokoros (traditional canoes) into the delta by the locals… succeeding to get impressed.

*trying to survive 40c+ without any means to cool down.. resulting in some of the worst hours on tour

*mokoro “gamedrive” to the hippo pool at sunset.. forgetting about all the bad stuff

Hippoooo!

*trying to do the 5 minute walk from camp to designated swim area by myself and running into an elephant…

*getting a coke from the local village, ensuring delta survival

*the BEST mac&cheese dinner followed by an even better punch and throwing a delta party with the locals

African Sunset

Day 17: Gweta

*Shooooweeeeer!

*Morrison (the truck) getting stuck at campsite

*going to bed early for a change (but not before having another shower)

Day 18 Chobe National Park

*game drive in chobe .. lots and lots of ellies!

Just two of thousands...

*sunset cruise on the chobe river, not bringing enough to drink and ending up being hot and bothered..

*last night of camping was… surreal.

Day 19/20 Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls

Reading it now i think it looks very dull compared to the actual experience.. all i can say is if i had to choose again, i’d go again. i’d even go camping again. I might have choosen to go a bit earlier (june/july/august) to escape some of the worst heat, but i survived. no regrets!

Credits:

Chris - Thank you for being such a bad influence everything <3

Caitlin – Anyone who knows how to appreciate a good pool is my friend. thank you! also thank you for letting me use some of your pictures on this blog without asking first ..
Johnno - Thank you for running the complaints department took some pressure off me there i think..

Julia - Thank you for being my teammate   couldnt have asked for better.. wish you were with us till the end

Hubie Dubie – Thank you for being such a complete weirdo. it just wasnt the same without you..

Anne – Never met a female rugby player before, and never expected one that looks like a model as well.

James - You’re a cool guy! wish you were with us from the start

Tara - because what is life without drama?

“Mr Bean” – the name says it all.. thank you for all the laughs

Joe and Victor - The BEST crew! Thank you for good cooking and perfect driving. and sorry for keeping you up at night…

I’ll be back….

Tonight I’m experiencing the downside of spending too much idle time in Cape Town… I’ve been shopping too much! Yesterday I went to a megamall and well.. I slightly overestimated the amount of room I would have after buying a new daypack..

Tour leaves tomorrow at 8 am, and I’ll be offline from now until at least october 27. Then I probably need a couple days to write and edit pictures before you all get to know what happend…

Cya!

The Cape Peninsula is made of win!

I’m having another lazy day.. spending almost two weeks in Cape Town is starting to seem like too long, and I’m ready to move on soon.

on thursday morning I went out with Anna and Laura. We went to the Castle, where there was not much to see. Then we went for a little shopping and lunch.

In the evening we had plans to visit the Gold Museum and have dinner, so while waiting for that I went back to the Backpack and wrote about the wine and big fish.

At the museum we got our own guide to the place which was semi-interesting and then we had a set menu of african dishes for dinner in the museum restaurant.. It included the following samplings:
Butterbean mash with Puri crisps with Dukka, Smoked Fish Frikadells with Apple and Mint relish, Spicy sweet Potato Wedges with Peanut Satay Sauce, Peri-Peri Prawns with Oranges, Chicken pie, Lamb Tomato Bredie, Slaphakskeenkies, Morog with Coconut and Peanuts, Stampkorig with Onion and Tomato, Boeber and fresh fruit.. needless to say, out bellies were filled..

On Friday I got up early for a Township tour. It started with a trip to the District Six Museum, and then we head out to various townships. I tasted the local beer out of a bucket… it was a homebrew at around 3% alcohol and to me just tasted like beer.. bad.

then we went inside a “hostel” type housing and saw how they lived, then we got a couple minutes to browse a small sales booth outside and now of course we were all feeling bad for all the poor people so we had to buy something. Somehow I thought it would be more special but it was all the same things as I’ve seen everywhere else.. still i ended up with an overpriced pillowcase. I hope it gives them dinner for a couple days at least.

next stop was a pre-school. The kids were intense.. they came running out of the building and instantly started climbing on us and demanding to be part of the photoshoot. I didnt get to take alot of pictures because there was hardly a second where there wasnt small fingers all over my camera.

Smilies all over the place

Then we went to visit a local “healer” or medicine man. When we came in he was wearing a nascar cap…. then he changed to his animal hide cap for the picture oportunity.. I didn’t like him, nor did I like his place. Imagine a dirty, dirty garage full of old cans and boxes full of god knows what.. herbs and animal parts.. skeletons and snakeskins, “voodoo” dolls and fur hides.. bits and pieces of things i’m sure i am much better off not knowing about.

the final stop was a womens project center, which had a bunch of women working with prints and weaving of leftover fabric from the big factorys. Good for them, slightly boring for me.

I wanted to ask some of the people how they feel about being a tourist attraction, but I didnt. I know that they are real and that their problems are real.. but i still couldnt help but feel that the whole thing was very “touristy” anyway, and not at all like a unique experience. All the kids running towards you are there to make you feel special and loved and then feel sorry for them. but these kids see the group of tourists every day.. how does it affect them? “I remember when I was a kid we used to climb on the white people every day at lunchtime” …

Oh well..

When I got back to my room I had got another new room mate (people come and go alot here, after 3 days I am the “veteran” in my room.) It was a guy from Israel with one of the few names I will definately remember from my stay here in Cape Town; Guy! We decided to head down to the waterfront together to catch the last light of the day, followed by a good steakhouse dinner.

Yesterday I got up early again for my big Cape Peninsula Tour day. the guy at Detour booked all the things for me this week and so I didnt know exactly what the plan was.. when I got outside to get in the tour van, I discover that it has a hanger with lots of bikes behind it…….. oh. my. god. no. I do not go on bike. this is going to SUCK!

Sometimes, I’m wrong !! It was a small group of just 8 people. the tour guide was excellent and filled us with information along the way. the weather was great (although still some cold winds), and most of our stops were interesting.

First was Hout Bay, where we took a 45 minute round trip cruise out to a small island of seals. I was a bit worried about losing my breakfast again after my incident with the shark boat, but I didnt feel any sick despite some rough seas.. every big wave had japanese tourist “aaaah” sound effects attached to it as well.

Seals all over the place..

You has a flavour?

Then it was off to Boulder Beach… African Penguins!! completely adorable little comedians.. If a penguinwalk doesnt put a smile on your face, there is something wrong with you.

Penguins, Penguins, Penguins!

Lonely Penguin is Lonely..

On our way to lunch we had to slow down due to Baboons on the roads.. the baboons are considered a pest to many people because they raid property for food. If you try to protect yourself with bars infront of your windows but you forget your window open, the baboons will send their children through the bars to raid your fridge. I say if you don’t appreciate the baboons, just move. sadly the baboons are also being poached for bodyparts.. I saw several baboons missing a hand.. most likely being victims of the township “healers” wanting an extra potent love potion or some other bullshit remedy.

Never let a Baboon think that you have food... they WILL come for you, and they have learned how to open car doors as well..

After lunch the bikes was unloaded… but it turns out the bikeride was optional. I was a bit worried that I would miss out on something though, so I had to ask.

“uhm..what will I miss if I don’t go on the bike?”

“oh.. you know, being out in great nature, fresh air and all that.. I’ll be driving behind you on the same road though so its OK if you don’t want to”

“ok put me in the car, I’ll open a window if i need the fresh air”

I didn’t miss anything. We stopped at every photo opportunity, and I could spend my time taking pictures instead of swearing down at the two-wheeled transportation device from hell. (yes, i DO have something against bicycles, OK?)

Antilope?

other kind of antilope?

We stopped at the Cape of Good Hope:

We learned that this is actually NOT the southern most point of the african continent...

before going on a scenic route walk. on the way we met some totally adorable Rock Hyjax, or Dussies as these overgrown ginnypiglooking creatures are also called:

I had to resist the urge to try and pick one up to cuddle it...

On the way back to Cape Town we stopped at an Ostrich farm where we got to feed the ostriches! it was a bit scary but very cool and I didnt lose any fingers

I think they are cute in their own tiny brain sort of way..Kind of like blondes

I didnt want to get too attached though, because i AM planning on having a proper ostrich steak before i leave town..

All in all it was my best day so far. If you have just one day in cape town, go on a Cape Peninsula tour.. I went with www.daytrippers.co.za and I have no complaints.. our guide said they have overland trips from Jo’burg to cape town, but I didnt see any of that on their site.. I’ll have to contact them and ask about it for January..

Tomorrow I have no plans yet.. I am comfortable with not doing anything though, so it might be another lazy day. On tuesday i have booked some time at a SPA, so i’m all relaxed and ready to go for the big ride on wednesday morning. But I’ll try to get another post up before then.

White Shark Cage Diving

Now I’ve already said I’m not that into fish. But sharks does have some great aura about them that demands respect.. I find them very “cold” and calculating creatures, but still well worth a closer look.

I would probably freak out completely if i fell in the water, but here was no way i could convince myself that inspecting them from a diver’s cage would be dangerous, so I wasnt there for any adrenaline rush.

I’m here to collect wildlife encounters, and this was definately such.

Everything was going great up until the boat was ankered.

If you are ever going on important once-in-a-lifetime seaborn adventures, take motion sickness pills. Even if you don’t think you have to. just do it. trust me on this one. I have never been seasick. I thought it was one of those “either you do, or you dont” kind of deals. like if you have been on the ocean before and didnt get sick, you’re not a “seasick” type of person. Oh, I was WRONG.

the ride out to where we did the diving was no problem. I think it kind of snook up on me while i was putting on the wetsuit and when you’re under water you have other things to think about. I got to see a couple sharks swim by just a few feet from my face. It was cool.. Not awesome, just pretty cool. If it wasnt for all the images we have in our head of what a shark can do, it’s just a big fish.

but as soon as I got out of the cage, i started feeling ill. so i sat down on the the opposite side of the boat (where we were instructed to go if we were ill, as puking inside or on the divers might cause even more people to lose their breakfast) and watched the horizon (another trick we were told). completely missing any action going on around the cage, and not getting any photos.

Several people became sick, and in the end my breakfast was airborne as well. twice. 

The tour was then cut short because the wind was picking up and waves were about to start breaking, so we went back to shore about an hour earlier than expected. Would have been sad if I was still in the diving rotation, but as it was I was just glad to get out of there.

We had a filmcrew with us, and after a very bumpy ride back we had a viewing and offer to purchase a dvd from our day for R300. since i didnt take any pictures myself and wanted to see what else happend when i was hanging over the rails, i bought it. Then when i came back i shamelessly screenshotted some images from the video so i could share some of it with you guys:

 

This is me in the cage!

 

an example of what we saw down there

 

Getting out of the cage

and this is where i spent my remaining time on the boat...

Back on land

On the way back we stopped in Hermanus to look for some whales:

 

And when we were almost back in cape town and i thought there wouldnt be any more photo opportunities, i caught this cool light:

Wine

Yesterday I went on a private winetasting tour with Laura and Anna, the two nice ladies I met on the sunset cruise.

Laura seems to know everything there is to know about wine (at least from a complete amateurs point of view), while Anna seemed to be more like me. Cederic, our guide, seemed a bit puzzled that he was taking two people on wine tasting who doesnt drink wine!

I don’t really know what I was expecting…maybe that suddenly a wine would be completely different from all the others and I’d go MMM, yeah this is the one.. or something to that effect. but to me, it all tasted like wine. dry, sweet, red, white. apart from the colour, i probably could’nt tell you the difference.

You can say I have a crappy palate, but i think its more finely tuned towards junk. like, I can separate similar sorts of chocolates. and I could probably work in quality tasting for Coca Cola, as I can spot differences in flavour from one bottle to the next (shame on you though, Coca! I need you to make all my drinks exactly the same, OK?)

Wine though, not so much. I’m glad I did it, its another story in my memorybank, but as far as the future of my business with wine I’d say it looks pretty grim.

I would love to like wine. People expect you to order wine with good food.. and “Coke” doesnt have quite the same ring to it as champagne with strawberries on romantic dinners and so on. but what can you do?

The places we went to were like the wine, very similar. again this is from my point of view. If your thing is arcitecture and history, I’m sure everywhere is special. I remember Stellenbosch and Franschoek. When I look at the pictures I can’t tell you which was taken where, but then to me it doesnt really matter.

It is all Winecountry, and its all nice. It was a bit overcast so there werent alot of good pictures, but here are some anyway:

Building at one of our tastings

 

Endless roads of wineranks

 

I dont know... I just thought it was pretty

 

This image might take you a while to load, but if you click on it and zoom in you can see the name of the town written on the mountainside..

 

Monument

 

Anna & Laura

Who woulda thunk it? More wineranks!

We had dinner in Franschoek, all included in the tour price of R890 for the whole day (transportation, guide, wine tasting, lunch, dinner).. 890, or somewhere around 600kr is probably what just the dinner would cost in Norway.

I started with warm salad with calamari and spicy sausage. I’ve never had calamari before, but I could probably eat it again if some sort of flavour was added. Here it tasted like a bland norwegian shrimp with funny texture. Main course was Fillet breaded with mustardseeds, 3 mushroom sauce, garlic and herb butter, french fries and veggies. very good. 
Creme Brulee for dessert  was not all that special. 

Back at the hotel I had instructions to get ready at 8.20 the following morning. ready for White Shark Cage Diving!

Table Mountain and Sunset Cruise

It is raining again..

After breakfast I ventured out to the Detour office, only to find that they were still renovating. At least there were people there today, so I was able to give them some money for the Nomad overland tour and also book a couple extras.

This is what is currently on my schedule for this week:

Tuesday: Winetasting Tour
Wednesday: Shark Cage Diving!
Friday: Townships Tour and possibly Robben Island Tour
Saturday: Cape Peninsula Tour

I also went to check out a hostel, as I can only stay at this hotel until wednesday. It looked OK so I decided to book a bed in a 4 man dorm ensuite at R170 per night until october 6. hopefully my roommates are cool.

The Nomad departure point is just across the street from here, so I have made reservations to come back from 6.-8. (going on tour on the 8th)

Did I forget about yesterday you said? No, here it is:

Yesterday the sun was out (and i have some light burns to prove it!) and I was up early to catch the first bus (8.45) to table mountain. I took the cableway up and had breakfast at the top.

This is one of the many views:

Cape Town

 I picked a random direction and started walking. just a few minutes from the cableway I was almost by myself. I walked for about an hour each way, managing to miss the scenic route completely on the way back. There are good views on both sides of the mountain, yet somehow I ended up on a thin path straight through the middle. As many people will tell you, turning to me for directions often causes going the wrong way for extended periods of time.

This didnt bother me too much though, and I was still having a pretty good day.

At the touristshop I found this necklace:

New Beginning

 

The title is New Beginning, and the description reads:

This symbol means that it is never too late to turn around and start a new path

I found it perfect for my current state in life.

 

 

 

 

 I also bought the first of what im sure is many, many elephants.. This one was in form of a small decisionmaking coin!

Heads or Tails? How cute is that?!

Getting down from the mountain was not as easy as getting up.. by this time (i think around 2pm) the amount of tourists had risen and i stood in line for what felt like eternity at the cableway.

This made the whole experience much less enjoyable… But I dont think you are supposed to visit Cape Town without seeing Table Mountain, so at least now i had that out of the way.
 
Finally down again i hopped back on the bus. As we were driving through Camps Bay, Clifton, Banty Bay and Sea Point just like the day before, I still didnt really feel like getting off. I did take this nice panorama of the twelve apostles (mountain) though

The Twelve Apostles

Again I found myself at the waterfront. I walked around for a while and started thinking about what i was going to do that evening..

“Sunset cruise mam?”

“how much is it?”

“190 Rands mam”

“…Sure, why not”

So, i went Schooner Sailing.

My First African Sunset

View towards Table Mountain

Afterwards I went to a thai food restaurant with two ladies from the cruise, and I had a VERY good ginger chicken. From past experience I’m always a bit sceptical about ginger dishes because they tend to be very heavy on the ginger, but this time it was just right. 3 people, R300. Perfect. Laura and Anna invited me to go on a winetasting tour with them on tuesday. It is supposed to be a full day tour including lunch and gourmet dinner, so even though I don’t really drink wine, I’m really looking forward to it.

Like Table Mountain, winetouring is one of those thing you just have to do here.

Getting Out

Yesterday started late.. I got up early, but I wasnt ready to go out.

I wanted to blame it on being sick, because I have been brewing on a cold since last week (typical..), but really I think it was mostly fear of the unknown. I had been hoping to get everything organized with the travel office I’d booked the overland tour with, but since they weren’t opening again until monday I was all on my own.

Eventually I decided that wasting a day being inside was unacceptable, and at around 11 I ventured out to find a tourist bus from a brochure I grabbed at the hotel reception. It as a hop on/hop off kind of thing that stopped just down the road from the hotel, two different routes and R200 for a two day pass. I bought it and decided to get on the first bus that showed up.

There wasnt really alot of things on the list that got my attention. I almost went off at the Botanical gardens, which according to the guide is one of the best in the world, but i dont know if im THAT much into flowers.. I take a picture when they are in my way, but I wasnt ready to give them my full attention… Maybe later.

So I stayed on the bus till the next stop, which was the World of Birds and Monkey Jungle. If you find yourself in Cape Town and like wildlife, don’t miss it.

From their website :

“Over 3 000 birds and small animals of 400 different species in walk through aviaries – experience nature up close!”

The walk through aviaries meant that I was free to take alot of pictures without any bars or glass between myself and the subjects. I was pretty cool to be stared at by eagles and other “prey birds”, knowing that if they wanted to take a closer look at me there was nothing to stop them…

but the only time I was slightly worried was when a giant turkey was blocking my path!

Gobble Gobble

My favourite thing in the whole place was these guys though:

Meerkat

There was also a pen with big turtles, but before you walked in there was some warnings, like this:

The only thing that was a little dissapointing was the Monkey Jungle. It was just one room where u could interact, and the little squirrel monkeys didnt seem very interested. but they were cute nontheless:

It was 4 pm by the time i got out of there. Then I figured it was too late to check out any of the other stops, and most of them was run on both of the tour routes so i figured I’d just do it on sunday.

I hopped of at the V&A waterfront. This is in the heart of Cape Towns working  harbour, and according to their website its one of South Africa’s most visited destination. You can walk there for days and not get through all the stores. Before I came to Africa, I went to London and spent a small fortune shopping for my trip. To my dismay I began to realise I could have just went here for a couple days and got most of the same things, most likely for half the price. It’s expensive to be a newbie traveller y’all. And i comfort myself in knowing that I probably would have been hyperventilating if i didnt have everything i needed before leaving home anyway.

I decided to visit the Two Oceans Aquarium (also at the waterfront). I guess fish qualifies as wildlife, but I think I feel the same towards them as I would with the flowers. They’re nice and all, but most of them you can’t really interact with. A few of them were cool, like this:

 but mostly they were just.. well.. fish. Not all that hot.

The culinary highlight of the day was KFC (That is Kentucky Fried Chicken for all of you who dont know your way around the world of proper junkfood).  After being the only white person in line I sat down and ate an awesome _double_ crispy chicken burger with fries and an ice cold can of coke.. all for the sum of R40. that is less than 30NOK, or about 5 dollars.. There is just one word for this: Awesome!

At the end of the day I felt the same as the day before; in the end everything will work itself out

I really need to start chanting “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” until it really sinks in.

D-Day

So.. It is the day of departure.. its 9.30 am and I’m on the way to the airport, two and a half hours early because the last thing I wan’t is stress.
It’s going to be a long day, and my flight schedule is Ålesund – Copenhagen – Frankfurt – Cape Town, arriving at final destination 5 am the next morning..

Cue phone ring..

“hello?”

“hi! Is this Christina?”

“yes.. ?”

“this is from SAS service desk at the airport.. I can see you’re going on a long trip today?”

“yeah ”

“well unfortunately your flight to Copenhagen has been cancelled”

*record scratch*

“… uuhm.. ok?”

“and we were just wondering if you would be able to make it here for the 10.40 flight (that is 1 hr earlier than the cancelled flight) to Oslo instead”

“I don’t know, but we ARE on the way to the airport, should be there in like 40 minutes.. “

“great! see you then”

And that is how i had to resist the urge to hyperventilate only 15 minutes into my 4 months long journey..

We get to the airport just in time, and at the service desk I ask if I can be booked directly from Oslo to Frankfurt instead of going via Copenhagen, saving a stop.
This was no problem.

Two uneventful flights later I am in Frankfurt, which I have to say is the most confusing airport I’ve ever been to. After 20 minutes of trying to figure it out by myself, the flight to cape town is called and i need to hunt down someone to ask and run.

The airplane i then boarded was HUGE. i was in row 51, and i was on the wing.. it was operated by South African Airlines, and it was great.. we all had private screens and in addition to cameras of what was going on outside the plane, tvshows, games and music, I had at least 40 movies to choose from, some of which was very up to date. One Kung Fu Panda and Sex and the City later i tried to sleep, something I’m not very good at in isle seats… So almost 12 hours later I was at Cape Town International Airport, slightly sleep deprived but still good.

I go get myself some Rands (thats the South African currency) while all the luggage is being rolled out. When i am done there are only a few left on the belt, NONE of which look like mine..

The Baggage claim service lady can inform me that my travelsack is in Copenhagen. remember how I asked for a direct flight to Frankfurt? well i guess my bag wasnt rebooked and when i wasnt on the Copenhagen-Frankfurt flight it got stopped. I’ve never not got my luggage, so again I resist the urge to start hyperventilating. Then my name is called from the information desk outside..

The poor transfer service man has been waiting for me for an hour. Still I am transported to a hostel in town, arranged by my overland tour travel agency who has an office next door.

But the thing about hostels is that most of the comfort you get is from what you bring.. and it didnt take long for me to realise that for backpacker travels, having a backpack is essential.. i was in a cold dorm with a thin blanket (oh, did I mention it was pouring down outside and the temperature was around 10c ? and my fleecejacket was in denmark), tired and hungry. at 9 i ventured out to find the travel office.. and they forgot to mention that it was CLOSED until monday due to renovating.. I returned to the hostel and spent another 2
hours trying to find a better place to stay (there was no wi-fi, and just one computer with internet that i had to wait for…). With some help from home I found a reasonable hotel just around the corner… I took a taxi.

“where is your bags Mam?”

“I haven’t got it yet”

“ooh but you could have walked then!”

“yeah maybe, but I wasnt sure if it would be safe”

“of course it is safe! you can go everywhere in daylight”

2 minutes later I’m at the hotel, where i need to wait another 2 hours before my room is ready. at least now I have Wi-Fi and food… kinda. Cajun Chicken Sandwich with Mayo looked so appealing on paper. It was plain chicken smothered in mayo between two pieces of toast.. it tasted like..well, warm mayo. good thing i was hungry.

Finally, 9 hours after I landed, I am upgraded from this:

There's actually 4 more beds in this room..

To This:

Sweet!

I take a warm bath, crawl under the comfy covers and finally get some sleep.

The phone gets me up a couple hours later. My bag is being delivered! considering that it should be a 12 hour flight from denmark to south africa, getting it to my hotel after just 14 hours is VERY impressive. my spirit is lifted. when i finally get on a fresh change of clothes, I need food. I share this with the man at the hotel reception. he gives me some menues from the restaurants nearby. Indian sounds good.

“how far is it?”

“oh its just around the corner, then walk till you see a green balcony”

“is it safe to walk?”

“of course!”

“but.. its dark”

laughter.

“what have you heard about Cape Town?!”

“.. to not go out after dark?”

“really?!”

“yeah”

“wow.. where I come from, as far as safety is concerned, Cape Town is heaven”

and while i think about what kind of twisted hell this man must have been born in, he explains to me that there are cameras everywhere, and alot of security guards wearing bright yellow/orange vests.. they have numbers on them, and if they see something they call in that number on their walkietalkies and cameras goes straight to the scene. and sure enough, in the 100m or so i have to walk to get to the restaurant, i see 3 members of security. they really are all over. Maybe Cape Town isnt as dangerous as everyone says it is..

at the Indian Restaurant I ask how hot Extremely Hot is, as the dish i am considering is tagged with this warning.

“it is EXTREMELY hot!! These are REAL indians you know!”

“ok.. I’ll have <something else>”

Food was good,and I didnt get mugged on the way back to the hotel either.

As i go to sleep i figure all in all it could have been much worse.

I’m ready for more now!