Canyoning, Whales, Fish and Tubes!

The last four days have been quite productive....here is a rundown of our adventures....

Canyoning=AWESOME! There are only good things to say about it...except for maybe the blister I got, which is actually quite painful. The two guides we had were very patient and definitely inspired confidence. We repelled down waterfalls and jumped in pools of water and the views were gorgeous!!



Whale Watch = tons of fun! I really wanted to go on a whale watch. At one time we went every year in Bar Harbor, but we haven't done that in years, even though we always say we want to. We only went 3 miles of the coast and saw a pod of 7 sperm whales and tons of dolphins...It was amazing and so worth the trip!

Thursday I had my shining moment, scuba diving. I freaked out when we initially went down, in fact I just got my head underwater before I came up, so we went to a more shallow area and I went in just fine and spent the whole 45 minutes underwater. Matt had a more difficult time adjusting to the change in pressure and spent a good portion of the time at the surface. Underwater was amazing though. The deepest we could go was 30 feet and it was incredible. There was so much to see!

Yesterday we went river tubing which was quite frankly my least favorite thing to do. The river was too low and the tubes had no padding on the bottom of them so my tailbone hit every rock there was...and let me tell you there are plenty of LARGE rocks in the river. It was actually pretty scary since they just put you in a tube and let you go. I ended up holding on to Matt's tube and we went down together. I wouldn't do it again, but I can say I did it right?!

Abort! ABORT!!

Today we left from Antigua for Dominica. Let me start by saying that I am a really good flyer. I've been to Africa twice, Thailand and various short flights here and there. I am a good flyer. This flight however gave me a bad feeling. I was fine going through customs and getting on the plane. Then as we were getting ready to leave as the flight attendant was reading the emergency instructions the lights on the plane started flickering. One side would go off and then come back on and the other side would go off. This happened a number of times and quite frankly screamed electrical problem to me. But I blew it off, even though I was nervous. Then we are going faster and ready to get into the air and I could feel the brakes come on. Apparently one of the check engine lights came on. At this point I'm seeing it as a sign and thinking that I need to get off this plane. When we came to a hault I asked the flight attendent about it and she didn't seem concerned and Matt saw no problem and the problem seemed to be fixed by the mechanics, who were there for less than 5 minutes, so I stayed. Thankfully our plane did not crash and it was an uneventful 30 minutes.

I did not realize that once we landed there would be another hour and a half of driving to get to the city on one lane roads. Crazy! It was well worth it however because our hotel is beautiful!! We rested for a while and then rented some snorkeling equipment and went to a beach about 15 minutes away. SO much fun!! I expected the fish to be deeper in the water but they were actually very shallow. This freaked me out and I have video of me yelling underwater trying to get the fish away from me. I got over it though and stayed a little deeper than they were.


We got back and made a trip to the pool for some reading and then to a BBQ dinner at the hotel with a live steel drum band. So much fun! Tomorrow we'll go canyoning (repelling down waterfalls). I don't like heights...this will be interesting!

The Dirty Truth About Travel...Sometimes It Sucks

Traveling requires one to be flexible, a virtue I tend not to embrace. I try to be go with the flow, but as Matt can attest, that is difficult for me under the best circumstances and realistically my flexibility is proportional to the amount of sleep I have under my belt.

This vacation, although it only officially started today, is trying my patience and pushing my flexibility to the brink. Last night we stayed at the Sheraton in Revere Ma, so we could leave our car for the week and catch our 5am flight to Dominica. Well, lucky for us, the management of the hotel decided to put the honeymooners in the room next door. So, all night we heard yelling from multiple people (they were playing drinking games) and the lights on the wall actually moved around. That is how loud they were. This does not bode well for me when I need to be up at 2am to make my flight. The people did get kicked out of the room, unfortunately they were kicked out at the same time we were leaving. Awesome for us. Then there is a shuttle that takes you to the airport every half hour. So, we haul ass to get down there for the 2:30 shuttle. The driver was kicking out the honeymooners so he was late and then we realized that we forgot our battery charger in our room. So, Matt goes up to get it and they tell him that they can't bring us to the airport until 3 now because the driver wouldn't have enough time to get back. Great. So, we wait another half hour, finally leave and the driver gets a call on his radio that there are people there that want a ride. So, he tells the front desk girl he is turning around. I have a problem with this and proceed to tell the driver that no he can not turn around because I am not going to miss my flight. They were late, they can wait until the next shuttle.

We arrive at the airport and the ticket counter isn't open yet. So we wait...and wait...finally it opens up and then we wait for security to open up. My bag apparently has problems because they keep it under the xray machine for a good 5 minutes trying to figure out the contents (it doesn't zip so I'm not sure why they didn't just empty it out and be done with it) and then put it through the machine once again. We get through that and go and sit at our gate and its 4:45 and they still aren't boarding. Finally someone from the airline comes down and tells us that they changed gates and are now boarding. Wonderful...good to know.

We make it onto the plane and endure the frigid temperatures for 2 hours. Seriously, it was sub zero in there. I had on a tank top, heavy sweater and jeans and I still had goose bumps. Thankfully even though our flight was late we made our connecting flight from Charlotte to Puerto Rico. That flight would have been perfect. We had an extra seat in our row so I tried to catch some sleep, but just as I was nodding off, Matt spills a can of coke in his lap with some of it landing in my hair...so it looked like he peed himself and that pretty much woke me up.

We were supposed to have a 2 hour layover there so we got some lunch (I spent $10 on lettuce...seriously, the salad was ONLY lettuce and was literally $10). We finally found our gate and it turns out that our flight is delayed an hour. So we sit and wait. And then they say our flight is delayed another hour...so we wait. Finally we get on the plane and it stops in Antigua before going to Dominica. We are told that we will need to go to the transit area so we go and find out that our flight left without us because the plane that was supposed to originally take us from Puerto Rico to Antigua had mechanical trouble. So, trying to be flexible I try to let it roll off my back. They are going to give us a hotel and feed us and get us to and from the hotel and there are worse places to be stuck than Antigua right? Well, maybe Iraq but really after being here, Antigua isn't at the top of my list of places to visit again. We fill out paperwork, go through customs and then we pick up our luggage. Now everywhere else I've flown, that is it. You can just take off at that point. Not in Antigua. They go through ALL of your luggage. We stood there and watched customs people open everyone's luggage and go through everything in it. They were going through the pockets of all the pants in the luggage. Yeah. I really have nothing to hide, but I'd prefer some stranger didn't go through my underwear in front of a room full of fellow travelers. After about 45 minutes of standing and watching other people have their stuff gone though, we get the go ahead to leave, without having our stuff checked. I don't know why...but I'm not complaining.

We then go over to the cab station where the LIAT (the airline we were on) agent got us a cab. I was taking pictures because the grounds were nice, but then I got yelled at and told to put my camera away because I was taking pictures of the airport...yeah. Welcome to Antigua....I did a vlog in Laguardia! Seriously. Oh, and I'm pretty sure that our cab driver may have been drunk. Fantastic!

We get to our hotel and get to our room, after the chaos of getting rooms straightened out for half a dozen stranded people, and see that there are little ants crawling all over our bed. So, we get another room. We then go to dinner which takes an hour and a half...which of course bothers me. I'm an American. I want my food fast. Once I sit down, I want to be out of there in 30-45 minutes. I'm impatient. I can't help it...I blame my culture.

I'm reserving the right to be grumpy tonight and tomorrow after I get to Dominica I will fix my attitude...

How I Spent My Birthday

My birthday weekend was wonderful, my actual birthday however pretty much sucked once I left Savannah. We arrived 2 hours early for our flight and score...found out that we had free wifi in the airport, but then it all went down hill. Our flight was delayed by two hours or so. I entertained myself by playing bejeweled, my new obsession. Then we arrived at Laguardia only to find that our flight that was supposed to be delayed by 45 minutes was actually canceled. We had also been booked on the 8:30 flight however that flight had been delayed to 10:30. This was problematic since we also had a 2 hour drive home once we got to the airport. So, we ended up with a fair amount of time at the airport, during which time I played bejeweled.

I tried to score some free stuff at the airport by telling them it was my birthday...which was totally true, but it didn't work. I was turned down. I did however receive a happy birthday song...



We ended up getting home at 3:20am and being the good worker I am, I was up at 4:30 to get to work at 6:30am!

Overall FABULOUS weekend...FANTASTIC trip!!

Savannah, Day Two

Our Savannah trip was very short by nature, so that meant we would need to take full advantage of our one complete day there. We woke up and were out of our hotel around 8:30am and headed down to see some of the squares we had missed. We ended up getting as far as Forsythe park, which is absolutely beautiful! And then over to the Mercer Williams house, which really is the reason I wanted to go to Savannah to begin with! After seeing Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil I was sold! So, as you can imagine one of the highlights of my Savannah trip would be seeing the house where the movie was filmed.

The tour of the house was fun although we couldn't go upstairs because of the safety issue of there only being one staircase. And there was no picture taking which sucks, however the tour was worth it. The house was amazing!

We ran over to the Moon River Brewing Company for lunch, which is supposedly haunted. Ghost Hunters actually did an episode there. We saw nothing. We hurried through our lunch to catch our dolphin tour on the Savannah River. We almost went on the river boat tour and I'm so glad we did this one instead. The weather was fantastic, high 80's to low 90's and extremely humid. Great day to be on the water! We saw a ton of dolphins and my body saw a ton of sun! Unfortunately as we were heading back we hit some rain, or the rain hit us. It actually pelted us! Those of us on the front deck were soaked and while the rain hitting actually did hurt, it was well worth it!

We walked around the riverfront and had some fried green tomato's, which actually just taste like fried anything really. I don't eat a lot of fried foods, but this wasn't bad. And now I can say that I had some real southern food.

And then the highlight of the night....Ghost tour at the Sorrel-Weed house. We did a quick walk through the squares that were close by and then also went back into the house for some more information about the house. It was a lot of fun and we took a ton of pictures (to be uploaded later!). Perhaps we caught a ghost (there was one picture that had a squiggly in it). Definitely worth going.

Savannah, Day One

Our first day started out with a 3:30 am wake up call. We left our hotel 4:30am for the airport. Surprisingly enough our flight from Portland to Dulles left on time and actually got in early! This was especially important since we only had an hour layover in Dulles before our flight for Savannah left, and anyone who travels knows that so much can happen to make you miss a flight! We actually had to go to another concourse so we had to take a bus to another part of the airport. But all the flights went shockingly well and in total we probably spent 3 hours in the air. This is so refreshing for people who are used to spending 24 hours in the air. These were probably the shortest flights ever for us!! We even did a vlog in the air :)


We ended up getting into Savannah around 11:30 am or so and hit the visitors area of the airport and got some brochures of things to do, caught a cab and made it to our hotel. That afternoon we decided to walk around town and get ourselves acquainted with the area. We walked around and saw a ton of the squares in the area, which was amazing! I envisioned Savannah with old Greek Gothic type houses and spanish moss and I wasn't disappointed!

Late afternoon it was looking like hte weather wasn't going to cooperate so we headed back to our hotel room. Good thing we did since it started raining heavily and thundering and lightning out. We stuck around the hotel until we had our ghost tour at 9:30 that night. The tour was fun, we walked around to a number of squares and heard the ghost stories of Savannah, which is apparently quite haunted. Sadly, I didn't see any ghosts, and I think the heat, humidity and being overtired got to me since I felt like passing out most of the time we were out walking. We got home around midnight and were completely exhausted by all of the excitement of the day! I fell asleep for a little bit in the afternoon and promptly fell asleep again when my head hit the pillow.

Surprise!

Sadly, or maybe not so sadly, this is a big birthday for me and I was hoping to do something special and that is exactly what I got! I had known for maybe a week and a half that Matt was planning a vacation for us for my birthday, but that's all I was initially told. I was told a week out that I needed to take off Friday. Other hints given included: prepare to be spooked, you may want to bring your bathing suit, the weather will be similar to what we have at home, bring a rain jacket and walking shoes. I went back and forth on where we could be going. I thought I had it figured out yesterday, in fact I was almost positive I had it figured out. I thought I was going to Niagra Falls. Here was my logic...Prepare to be spooked=I'm deathly afraid of heights, Bathing suite = Yeah, there is water there, Rain jacket = again the falls, walking shoes = walking around the falls. But I was wrong!

Where did he bring me and how did I react?

Once In A Lifetime...

One of the reasons we chose to go to Iceland, at least for me anyway, was to see the northern lights. I've always wanted to see them and had it on my list of things to do before I die, and I finally got to do it!! We went out at around 9pm on Thursday night on a tour that took us outside of the city (away from the street lights etc.) As you can imagine it was freezing cold and the wind was blowing so much that it made it impossible to take a picture outside. We chose to stay in the bus and snap some photos from there and they came out fabulous!! The weather there changes amazingly fast and went from snow blowing so hard it hurt your face to virtually no wind at all. So our bus stopped again and we got some more shots...
And just to prove we were there....

The One Where Everything Goes Well!!

Ever have one of those days where things just go perfectly?? I had one of those days today (and yesterday as well...). Today we slept in, we had no plans other than lunch with friends so there was no need for an early morning.

We met up with Barry (who we both worked with for a while) and his girlfriend Heather in Boston where they both live. We got a tour of the station he currently works for and pizza which can I tell you is FANTASTIC! They dropped us off at the airport where we hung out for several hours (5 to be exact). But this was actually a good thing because I got probably 1/3 of my second life paper done. So, less stress on this vacation for me!

So, the best news of all, we ended up in first class for our flight. Accidentally, but first class none the less. I was in charge of getting us to the right seats and quite frankly I failed. I didn't see the 1 in front of the 5, so I had us sitting in seat 5d and 5e instead of 15d and 15e. We were all moved in and the flight attendant came over and asked to see our boarding passes and told us we were in the wrong seats. So we started to gather our stuff to go to our correct seats and he told us just to stay where we were. SCORE! In first class I had smoked salmon, fish and potato's. Then two chocolate deserts. It was really good. We also got some presents which included hand cream, socks and lip chap, oh and a really nice bag to hold it all. I'll be keeping the bag with me all the time.

Oh It's Coming Fast!!

In T-minus 7 days I will be in Iceland and can I just say it doesn't seem like it's that close! Maybe it's because life is so incredibly busy with school and work, or maybe it's because we planned everything so long ago...I don't know...The planning isn't going oh so fast, but here's what we know so far....

Friday - Drive to Boston to see the yellowjackets because Matt is a fan. Me not so much, but I hear I'll be able to get dressed up in my hot little black dress and drink a couple toasted almonds...and that makes me happy.

Saturday - Hang out in Boston and maybe have lunch with a friend who we haven't seen in a long time. Then catch our flight at 8:30pm.

Sunday - Arrive in Iceland and hit the hot springs. This is where I pray that I have kept my low carb diet the week before because sadly the only bathing suit I have is a bikini and nobody wants to see a chunky carbed out me at the springs! After a day at the hot springs we'll head into Reykjavik and find our hotel.

Monday - So from here on we have no set plans. We're pretty much thinking that we're going to pick up a few tours. Matt REALLY wants to go in one of the jeep/hummer things and drive fast through rivers and snowbanks. I found a tour that will let him drive. Plus the same tour also lets us hike on a glacier which includes wearing crampons and safety lines and I'm actually pretty psyched about that.
Hopefully on the way home from that tour we'll be able to see the northern lights as that's one of the reasons I wanted to go to Iceland. I've also found another tour that will let us go caving in a lava cave and snorkel. Yet another day of wearing a bathing suit for me. Who would have thought my bikini would get this much use? Seriously, I don't think I broke it out once in South Africa!!

We've also decided that we're going to try some of the fermented shark and whatever the liquor is that people shoot after. There will be video of that. Don't you worry! I'm not sure what else we'll do...We'll probably visit the geyser but I'm not sure what else. We got international drivers licenses so we can rent a car should we want to. Oh and the macbook will be coming with us, partly so we can upload stuff while we're there (because we're cool like that) and partially so I can do homework because sadly the work of a grad student is never done.

Wish me luck...and if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears!!

5 things I learned during my year abroad in Israel

No, I didn't spend a year in Israel, but my blog swap buddy Alana did! Today we swapped blogs, so today you can find me on her blog http://goodgirlgoneblog.typepad.com/. Make sure you check her out and give her some love!! :)

So, here they are, Alana's top five from Israel!

1. Just because it looks like a tomato, doesn’t mean it is one- it could in fact be a persimmon(…which looks like an orange tomato with funny leaves. I tried to put it in a vegetable soup, but luckily I tasted it first)

2. Never buy hair dye from a lady with Ariel the little mermaid colored hair- I made that mistake and ended up looking like a punk rocker, when all I wanted was a hint of chestnut.

3. You can pick up guys on public transportation- I met a (very attractive) soldier on a bus once. I pulled a slick move of “accidentally” dropping my sandal on his foot. He returned it and sat next to me. We got to talking and he asked me out. Sadly, it didn’t go anywhere, but it makes a great story. His mother was British, so when he spoke English, he had a very delicious accent. I never remember his name, so my friends and I refer to him as “Manchester,” his mother’s place of birth.

4. The best hot chocolate is made with mekupelet- which means pieces, and is a delicious Israeli candy bar. Think about it this way: hot milk + real chocolate (not the powder). It’s creamier and absolutely amazing. It costs a few sheqel more than the powder kind at a coffee shop, but it’s definitely worth it.

5. Sometimes, it’s ok to pee outside- when you’re on a 3-day desert “survival” hike, there’s nothing else you can do, and it’s totally acceptable. Apparently, it’s also ok to pee outside at the bus station, although that’s not something I would ever do. Eww…


That’s my friend Mari and me on a clearly very strenuous hike.

I’m the really tough looking one in the front…

I'm Not Scared!!

I'm in the minority. Definitely. I LOVE to travel. I couldn't see my life as being complete without seeing new countries and experiencing people and cultures that are the exact opposite of myself. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, pretty much since I met my husband. We both come from very different worlds. I had a grandmother who loved to travel and spent a great deal of her time seeing the world. She instilled in me the love of all things travel related and when I was younger I loved to hear her stories of the places she'd been.

My husband on the other hand, came from a very different family. They did not travel. In fact, he didn't leave the country until our honeymoon. This was and really still is, absolutely incredible to me. After experiencing the world outside of America, he has been bit by the travel bug, but up until we went to Thailand, he never really cared so much.

This all brings me to my point. I read this article on Gadling. The article talks about why American's don't travel. This is a question I ask as well. Ask around, most American's don't leave the country and I'm not sure why. Any ideas??

Making A Go of It - Grover Cleveland Style

I have recently had my Max Fischer moment and decided that just like Max (from the movie Rushmore) it is to my time to decide to be happy where I am, or just be miserable. I've decided the former.

My dilemma has been do I:

1. Stay in a well paying job with fabulous benefits but is an hour away and not overly challenging
2. Take a lesser paying job, by around 10,000, that is closer to home and more challenging

Could we survive on 10k less a year...yeah probably. It would, however, certainly cramp my style. No multiple vacations a year...certainly not to Africa! Traveling is one of the things I truly love...is it worth giving up??

So, I've decided. I'm going to suck it up where I am, soak up all of the information I can while I'm there and take advantage of the extra money and vacation time and see the world.

Good Decision??

Good News Turns Ugly

So, all of the good news that we got yesterday, IE Matt being accepted to the University of Maine has gone bad...

We find out today that NONE of his classes from his associates degree will transfer over to UMaine because the University says that it isn't a Regionally Accredited School. So, the two years that we had anticipated him being in school has now turned into four and will cost a total of $40,000!! Insaneness!! How people afford to go to college I don't know. It's so frustrating, he finally gets accepted and now I don't know how to pay for it.

Now we are faced with a dilema, do we spend the money and hope that it will lead to him getting a better job...or do we say screw it and not do the college thing at all.

On top of all this goodness, we get a sorta quote from a plumber who says that he wouldn't feel comfortable redoing our bathroom because he thinks that it would probably not make code. Lovely. Now that leads to another question, do we spend a lot of money and make the bathroom larger and add a tub, or, do we leave the layout of the bathroom as it is, a 3/4 bath and just update the fixtures. This would leave us with only the one bathroom and no tub in our house at all. Later we could always convert our porch into a bathroom, but that is going to require the big bucks...!! I'm not sure what the decision is going to be, but the whole school thing is definately going to come into play.

I want both...

Is it selfish of me to want it all and be angry that I can't? I don't have a horrible life. We both have decent paying jobs and have had the ability to travel. We lead decent lives, but yet I'm still not satisfied. I want a new bathroom with an actual bath tub, I want Matt to go back to school full time, and I want to be able to go on atleast one vacation where I leave the country a year. Is that too much to ask?? Really??

Homesick

Is it possible to be homesick for a country you spent only 2 1/2 weeks in??

I miss Thailand, specifically Bangkok. I miss the smells. I miss the people. I miss the food.

It feels crazy to feel this way after only spending a short period of time there....but there was a certain feeling you got from being there, and I haven't had that feeling since. Costa Rica was nice and I'd go back in a couple of years after I feel like I've seen the world, but I wouldn't want to live there. Not enough happening....my life would be sitting on a beach and hanging out, doing outdoorsy things. A week was enough of that! South Africa was beautiful, and I loved every minute of being there. I could probably live in Cape Town, but it was so much like this country. There wasn't enough flair...there wasn't enough of a feeling of excitement there. We would fit in there instantly....

Bangkok was different. We were different there. It was like our lives started fresh and we could just do whatever we wanted. The possibilities were endless. Maybe I'm sentimental because we were just married, or maybe it was because I got sick and ended up in the hospital. I'm not sure. But there was something about that city that makes me want to go back....and soon.

South Africa - The Good and the Bad of our Final Days

Our last day with the tour we went wine tasting. It was actually really fun, even though I happen to absolutley HATE wine. But I was a trooper and tried anyway. The countryside was beautiful and we went to two vineyards. We had the afternoon free and then we went to the diamond store to see how diamonds are cut and all of that fun stuff. They had beautiful jewelry but there was a bit of sticker shock. One woman in our group looked at a pair of diamond earings (I think that they were a carat each) and they cost $23,000 ... that's U.S. A little out of my price range! But I've always wanted diamond earings and had been asking for them for my birthday and Christmas for years, so Matt bought me some genuine South African diamonds (NOT blood diamonds...they are certified as such) over at the waterfront. So they are an early birthday present. I try to get a piece of nice jewelry whenever I travel somewhere...something that is special to the area ( I have my gold cartuche (SP?) from Egypt and my saphire, get well soon, necklace from Thailand (and I don't think that Costa Rica had anything special there)...so this is my special South African diamonds.

So, after all of this, we went to our going away dinner. It was actually at The Gold Museum which was pretty cool. So, we had our tour of the museum...which was actually pretty stupid really...and we went outside and they had huge heaters set up for us and we had a great dinner. It was a hodge podge of different types of foods, lots of veggies and it was actually fairly spicy. By far the best food that we had while we were there. It was probably one of the best nights of the trip. The servers were dressed in the native African clothes and there were traditional dances in between the courses. At the very end, the servers all sang and danced for us as well...they also invited some of us to join the dancing and Foster (you may remember him from the first post where he had his "accident") joined in the dancing. He actually had a couple (3 or 4) shots before he did this...I'm sure he was a joy the next day at his 4 am flight to Zimbabwe!! It was a perfect night and so sad to leave some of the people in the group, especially Dave, our tour guide from Collette and Jonathan, our native South African tour guide. I will actually really miss them both! Then we were on our own!

South Africa had been so good to us weather wise for our WHOLE trip...even on the days when it didn't matter...but then, when we really needed the weather to pull through for us...it all went to hell!

Tuesday, the day we had added on to specifically go shark diving turned out to rain. We were actually standing in the lobby waiting for the pick up and the company called and canceled because of the weather. Apparently if it is nasty on the mainland, then it is even worse out on the sea...So, we didn't get to go diving, which was a big disappointment, but there are worse things in life! It gives us a reason to go back!! So, we spent the day at the ocean front going through the shops and then we went to the aquarium to see the sharks sort of up close. But it was good to have a quiet day since we had marathon flights the next day.

We went to the airport at 11am yesterday so we could collect our VAT refund and got the tour of the Cape Town airport, which is undergoing major construction for the 2010 world cup which will be held in South Africa. So, as you can imagine, with construction comes chaos! We checked in domestic b/c we had to go to Jo'burg and then we had to go back outside and walk through a bunch of parking lots to find the international terminal to get the VAT refund. Then we had to find someone who could tell us where the refund terminal was...another issue! So, we get that done and our flight runs only a couple of minutes late and we board and get to Jo'burg in about 2 hours or so....Then all hell breaks loose in Jo'burg. It is complete chaos!! People everywhere going in every which direction...plus the signs aren't so great, so we're trying to figure out where to go...we find the elevator to get us where we need to go, but for some reason it will just shut the door and act like its moving up a floor, but then it just opens up on the ground level again...it did this 3 times before it actually worked. Then, when we did get to the correct level there were terminals as far as the eye could see ( did I mention that for some reason the girl in Cape Town wouldn't give us our boarding passes to go all the way through?? Don't ask why, I don't know..she did tag our luggage all the way through though...) So, we get in our line and stand there for a while and finally get up to the counter and get our boarding passes for all the way through...while we are in line though, a fight breaks out between these two girls...I think that one said the other cut in line or something like that, but I was pretty sure that some fists were going to fly!! Luckily security came by and quieted them down but they continued to exchange some choice words with each other!! So, we go through that line and have to stand in yet another line to go through security (quite a very long line I might add). So, we finally get through security and our 3 hour layover in Jo'burg actually ends up leaving us with only 30 minutes to wait for our flight. CRAZY!! We were hoping that we'd have good seats on this flight because it was a 9 hour flight to Paris, but as it turns out we were seated in the middle aisle in between two other people, so we were sandwiched in. Fine if your flying for 2 hours, but 9 hours is a bit long. It was actually an abolutley miserable flight. I couldn't even get sprite with my breakfast! We were pretty much given a sandwich for breakfast (and I know that it was breakfast because they called it that) but they wouldn't give me a damn sprite!! Damn AirFrance and french people everywhere. So, in Paris, we had to leave the secure area once again and ride the tram to our next terminal. So, yet again we had to stand in line to go through security. And this was quite a long line as well. But again we got throught it and had a chance to have some french pastry before we got on the plane. Everything was pretty uneventful except for the fact that the girl didn't like the boarding pass I was given in Jo'burg and wasn't sure she was going to let me on the plane...she talked with the girl who was letting Matt through and then decided to let me through. This flight I might add was much better...first of all, American food (and ice cream as a snack). Plus, the seats were much more comfortable and we had the only two seats on the left hand side (window!!). There was no video on demand like the flight to Paris, but it was worth it to have the extra space since this was yet again another 8 hour flight. Then, we get to JFK and we have to go through security once again. I think I got radiation poinsoning from all of the times I walked through the metal detector! Our flight was late, but it was only a little over an hour flight home, so it all worked out. I am so happy to be off of planes and out of airports!! We spent over 20 hours up in the air, and then figure in all of the layovers, and we spent well over a day and a half traveling, and if you saw us, you would have known!! Thankfully we both took tomorrow off, so no work for either of us until Monday.

So, we are home now and begining the process of uploading pictures!! I missed the house and the puppy, but I could easily pick up everything and move to Cape Town. No doubts!!

South Africa - Knysna on

We found out that we couldn't go to the township in Knysna because of the fighting going on there. Apparently people were setting fires and arond 600 people were homeless because of it. The company that would have brought us around offered to still do it, however we would have had to have a police escort. Our tour guide decided that we weren't going to go because of that. They also thought that bringing a tour bus in would have created more problems...so, we didn't get to do that, but that gave us some extra time to roam around the town.

The next day we drove to the Ostrich farm and we both got to ride an ostrich (video to come). We saw a bunch of ostriches including babies...!! We also were able to stand on one of their eggs which was pretty cool. We have some pictures of it.


Next we drove to Cape Town (quite a drive!!). We took the garden route which was very pretty with lots of cliffs and you could see the ocean. We got to Cape Town which is absolutely GINORMOUS!! Our hotel is beautiful and a short walk to the ocean front.

The weather wasn't that great, but we still got to table mountain. We took up a gondola (the scariest thing in the world!!). You couldn't even see teh bottom because of the clouds, so you just went up into nowhere!! Because of the clouds, we couldn't see all of Cape Town, but we still got a fabulous view!!

Yesterday we drove to cape point and were able to see the Southwestern most point in Africa which was pretty cool. We got our pictures taken with the sign and had lunch at a restaurant over looking the ocean. We also took a quick walk and a ride up the funicular to the top of a mountain where there was a light house. Of course we have pictures of that as well!! We also had a chance to visit Boulder Beach and see the penguins. We got some great video of it, which we'll put up on youtube.

Today we went to the winelands and did some wine tasting. Very fun. I'm not a fan of wine but the area was beautiful!! Tonight is our farewell dinner. We'll be going to a gold museum tonight and having dinner there. We'll be saying goodbye to our tour group tonight and we added on an additional day, so tomorrow we'll be getting up bright and early and going on a shark cage dive begining at 5:30 am!! Very exciting. We'll be taking pictures and will have video as well!!

South Africa - Days 3-6

We left Johannesburg and made the long drive to Kruger Park. It was nearly a 6 hour drive with stops. We stoped at God's Window and some a gourge and the "pot holes". Pictures to come, but they were incredible. Words can't describe any of it, so updates when the pictures are uploaded!

We arrived at the Kruger Gate Lodge in the early evening and had some dinner. The property was very nice and abuted Kruger National Park. It even had a viewing area where we saw an impala. The next morning we were up at 5:30 for an early morning game drive....think Jurassic Park but with South African Animals. We were in open air jeeps and to get out of our hotel area, you have to have a guard move the security fence that keeps the animals out of our hotel! One couple had a money get into their room and rough the place up (I think he spilled a glass of milk and moved stuff around).

At the first excursion we started off by seeing a rhino. Then we saw a male lion (mane and all) laying in the sun. We also saw elephants, more impala than you could ever imagine and a GIRAFFE!! We also saw Kudu's and Springbok's and some Waterbucks, Capebuffalo, Baboons, Warthogs, Hyenas and even a snake attacking a cameleon! Unfortunately it began to rain and the animals decided to hide for a while. It worked out alright because we were headed to lunch anyway. So, we had some hot chocolate and warmed up and then went back to our lodge. We walked around the property in the daylight, and then went on another game drive in the afternoon. We didn't see as many animals then as we did in the morning, but we did see a herd of elephants crossing the road and more giraffe's and a zebra (although from a far!). We went back to the hotel for dinner and then called it an early night since we were going to have a long day the next day!

The next day was a travel day for us. We were up around 6am to take the bus ride back to Johannesburg and then boarded the plane to Port Elizabeth and we ended up getting into Port Elizabeth around 7pm or so. We ordered room service for dinner and then went to sleep!

We woke up in Beautiful Port Elizabeth and had a nice breakfast and then ran across the street to step in the Indian Ocean. Then on to a city tour and back on the road again headed for Knysna. The drive was beautiful since we took the garden route to get there. On the way we stopped in Plattenberg Bay and had lunch at a BEAUTIFUL hotel there. We were eating on the deck which over looks the Indian Ocean and as we were sitting there we saw whales out in the distance (maybe 1/2 a mile away!). We walked on some of the rocks and took some pictures of the whales and then boarded the bus for the 10 minute drive to Knysna. So, here we are now, In Knysna. We walked through the town (very touristy) and now we're getting ready to head over to have dinner at a local restaurant with our group. Tomorrow we're heading to the featherbed reserve where we will go on a 4x4 safari and then do a nature walk. We'll also have a tour of a lagoon there as well. It should be a lot of fun!! Then we hit the road to Cape Town and hit the Ostrich farm where we will ride the Ostriche's!!!

Tales from the Road - South Africa Days 1 and 2

We have finally made it to South Africa after about 24 hours in the air. We got in yesterday at 6pm South African time (noon eastern). That gave us just enough time to take a quick shower (mind you neither of us was ablet to have one for over 24 hours!!) and then go down to the welcome meeting. We get down there and there are 30 of us or so, we are by far the youngest on the trip. The next youngest people would be in their 50's or so. So, our tour guide has everyone say their name and where they are from and then he starts talking about what we're going to be doing...While he is talking, one of our group members comes in and the first thing he says is how sorry he is for being late. He then goes on to say that he is embarassed to say this, but he had an "accident" and had to clean himself up, and that this could happen to anyone. (Which I actually really disagree with). He then goes on to tell us everything about himself, ranging from his age, occupation as an EEO person for the army (We do EEO reporting but it doens't take a full time person to do it!! ) and his email address. So, that was a fun way to start the trip!!

So, we have our dinner, which was very good, and then we go back to our room and go to sleep. Today we went to Soweto and saw the township and went to a museum (Hector Peterson) and had lunch at a local restaurant and Foster, our favorite oops I crapped my pants tourist decides that anyone who is a native South African needs to have their picture taken by him. In fact at the first museum there were school kids who were walking around. He actually asked them to all get togather in front of the fountain so he could take their picture...like they were wild animals. They obliged and let him take their picture...he tried to talk to them about his age and what he does for a living and possibly how he crapped his pants the night before, but they started talking to each other in another language and walked off (they clearly spoke english!!). We also went to the Apartheid museum which was fun, but nothing has been as exciting as Foster!! Can't wait to see what happens with him at Kruger!! To wrap up the night we ate dinner at the Nelson Mandela square and had some really good desert!!