London - 1/2 Way Home

OK - so we have made it to London.  An 11 hour flight from Cape Town to London that went by pretty quickly (primarily becuase we slept).  We have a 6 hour layover in London but the lounge is pretty nice and has free wifi.  They also have showers which was a nice refresher.

I have uploaded pictures from the island (just a couple).  The picture with this post is from the sailboat during sunset.  The boat ride was a rough as a SS Napolitano cruise but a lot more work for the crew (everything is manual and no pullies).

So only 2 legs left.  London to Vancouver and Vanvouver to LAX.

Bethe and I decided we are tired and need a vacation!

And So We Have to Head Home

Today starts the relectant long journey home. We woke up today at 5am DAR time and have a 7:30 am flight to JNB. From there we have a 1PM flight to Cape Town where we have a 5 hour layover.

In Cape Town we switch back to British Air and have an 8pm flight from CPT to London (at least we are back to first class). We have a 6.5 hour layover in London and than we fly to Vanvouver (leave at 1pm and get into Van at 2:30 same day (crazy).

Not done yet - we than take a flight from Vancouver to LAX arriving at 8:30 pm Saturday.

2 days 5 countries and back home

See you all soon

Mnemba Island - What an Amazing Place

So to end it all we were told by the travel agent to spend a couple of days on this island called Mnemba off of Zanzibar.  I guess all we can say at this point in time is what an amazing place, probably one of the most amazing islands we have stayed on.

The picture on this post is from a traditional Zanzibar sailboat that they put us on for sunset on our last night.

The island only had 12 rooms, it had a million red doves which were in mating season and it also had antelopes (suni antelope) which were the smallest antelope we have seen.  The diving was amazing as well.

The funniest story is that on the second day Bethe and I went for a snorkel trip with the dolphins with other guests.  On the boat was an older guy named Jeff from the US (he introduced himself to Bethe and I as Jeff).  I sat on the boat across from him and could not stop staring because I thought I recognized him and I was right.  The guys name was Jeff Lurie (you should google it) and once you figure out who it is you will wonder how on a 12 room hotel in Africa 2 people associated with the city of Philadelphia can be on the same island.  Needless to say I was pretty excited and I got an autograph from him (actually Bethe did) for me and my dad - Yes dad I got you an autograph. 

A hint for eveyrone as to who Jeff Lurie is - GO EAGLES!!

Bethe and I reluctantly start our journey back home tomorrow morning.  We will post some pictures once we get to London as we have a 5 hour layover.

Ngorongoro Crater - Vinnie, Bethe and Lori

Craziness!  Like Vince said a pinchable experience.  How the three of us ended up on the same continent at the same time is beyond me!!! Surreal!  But I must say we had an awesome time.  The Crater is an amazing place....but being there with Vince and Bethe made it one of those unforgettable experience.  As for the Crater, it is basically this massive hole in the ground where tons of animals live (that explanation is certainly not the geological definition but hopefully you get the idea).  Animals like lions, elephants, cheetahs, leopards, hyenas, zebras...you name it, they live there!!!  I think the movie Lion King is based off the Crater.

The lodge that we stayed at was absolutely gorgeous.  It was a massive two room hut (if you can call it that) with a rain forest shower, a huge soaking tub, a fireplace and tons of windows (there was even one in front of the toilet).  I must say I think the two room hut was bigger than my condo in DC!!!!

Okay, on to the important stuff.  Since there was a bit of snag with my travel (oh you know nobody there to pick me up at the airport in the middle of nowhere in Africa) Vince, Bethe and I were not able to go into the crater the first day. But the hotel did make up for it by treating us to a sundowner (basically a happy hour) on this cliff overlooking the crater.  It was AMAZING!!!  I uploaded pictures of Vince, Bethe, me and the amazing view!!! The next day we all woke up at the crack of early to drive down into the crater.  After a bit of a bumpy road, we immediately saw a whole crew of hyenas eating a wildebeest!!!  I don't think we saw as many animals as Vince and Bethe saw on their other game drives but we did get to see about 7 lions including some adorable cubs that were about a month old.  They were so cute looking!!!

As Vince said before it was an amazing experience with some spectacular company.  But I must admit I am quite jealous.  I caught a flight to Nairobi to go back to work and they are sitting on their tooshies on a gorgeous beach staring at the Indian Ocean!!!

Lions, Leopards, Spiders and More in Kleins Camp and Serengeti

First thanks to my sister Lori – she is posting this blog from Nairobi as we still have not had internet access.  She met Bethe and me at the Crater – more on that later in the post she will actually write.
Well it has been a while since we have updated the blog.  After Manyara we went to Kleins Camp which was a private game reserve (so not a national park) and therefore you did not have to stay on the trails, which was very cool.  At Kleins Camp we had absolutely no cell coverage which was kind of neat.  We had some amazing experiences at Kleins.  It was our first real safari game drive and we saw lots of amazing stuff.  My sister is going to upload our safari highlight photos (74 pictures of the 1000 we took) so you can see some of the amazing stuff.  The highlights of Kleins were a group of elephants at least a 100 plus strong, 2 leopards in a tree (some amazing photos) and an actual lion hunt and kill (some amazing photo’s of that but please note they are graphic).  We also had a spider explosion in our room the 1st night and when we came back from dinner there were 500+ spiders in our room.  They moved us and said they have never seen that but wow what a lot of spiders.  We also watched the World Cup finals with the staff at Kleins camp.  That was amazing – watching the game in the middle of nowhere in Africa with the staff who all were passionate and speaking languages we could not understand amazing.
Then we went to the Serengeti.  We spent three nights there in tents (amazing tents but still tents).  The staff there was amazing.  We spotted lion cubs, saw a lion mother drag a wildebeest 300 yards to a spot where her 2 cubs could actually eat in a hidden location, saw monster crocs and hippos and took a hot air balloon ride.  Not to mention the migration which was just amazing (some photos from ground and hot air balloon).  At the Serengeti we had hippos walking 10 feet from our tent every night (very loud eaters) and had impalas, baboons, buffalo and even some elephants not more than 30 feet from our tent – very neat to watch especially at night.
Next post will be done by my sister – she flew down and joined us for the weekend in the Crater.  It was an adventure for her as there was a big screw up by &Beyond with her arrival.  Once we got past that we had a great time and it was beyond incredible to be able to share such an adventure with her 12,500KM from home.  Sometimes I needed to pinch myself to make sure I remembered we were in Africa together!

Back from the Bush - Kind Of

Well back to a little bit of civilization (at same airport that sent last post from)

My sister met Bethe and I at the crater and we spent 2 nights together in Africa (one of those unique moments in life). She had some big challenges getting her more on that later.

Lori is going to publish 2 posts tonight as well as pictures when she gets back to Nairobi.

So check back later and there will be safari highlight pictures as well as updates from Safari and Crater.

My sister heads back to work in Kenya and Bethe and I are off to an island for a couple days. Sorry she is leaving us.

Lake Manyara

This is from blackberry at airport waiting for flight to Kliens Camp. No cell service at lodge last night - we will see what next one has.

Amazing but short. We stayed in a tree house with a bathtub (Bethe was happy). We saw our first animals (Girafees, Bamboos, Impalas, Elephants and more). We slept under a mosquito net and heard bush babies all night.

Not sure when we will be able to upload pictures but we have lots.

Service blows us away. Puts any hotel to shame.

Bethe survived her first (and second and third) small plane flight. It was a 12 seater so a big plane.

Have no clue day of week or time - it is great

Into the Bush

It is Friday (we think) and we have made it to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania.  We are staying at the Movenpick hotel in Dar which actually is very nice.  Dinner tonight was italian food (yes we went to London to have Argentina steak and we go to Dar to have Italian).

Tomorrow morning at 9AM we leave for Lake Manyara National Park in Tanzania.  It is 2 flights and the second one lands on a dirt airstrip - should be pretty cool!.

No pictures for today as all we did was go from hotel to airport to hotel - so nothing exciting unless you consider the signs of the hotels we stayed at interesting.

Not sure what internet access we will have once we get there but we will do our best to provide updates as I know everyone is looking forward to seeing pictures.

Tony used to say "To the Monkeys" - we are going to modify that to now say "Into the Bush"

"This is being added to your existing case." -- Stuck in Jo-berg

Today is a double post day as well!

So, today has not gone as planned.  We missed our connection to Dar Es Salaam in Johanesburg due to a flight delay in Durban.  Ran all the way to the gate like we were on "The Amazing Race" only to find out that the gate was closed.  I {Bethe} cried for about 10 minutes then got really upset and then finally calmed down.  Luckily we were able to get a room in a hotel right across from the airport.  We had a nice dinner with a bottle of champagne and will now stay the night until our flight leaves tomorrow afternoon.  We will miss one day of Safari but luckily we did not miss any of the World Cup matches unlike some of the unlikely people we heard about.

As for our quote in the Post, that is what the American Express agent said to us regarding their third screw up with our booking.  At least the hotel and champagne should be covered.  Cheers!!

Oh, and here is a picture of the Durban stadium and our picture with a crazy Spain guy last night --

Our picture uploading is behind - we are working on uploading the pictures from the Cape Tour and Semifinals today.  Hopefully everything is updated before we leave for Dar today

World Cup Semi-Finals

We had the greatest time at the semi-final games.  We had better seats at the Netherlands v. Uruguay game and the Holland fans were out of control.  We had the highest seats for the Germany v. Spain game but they were still fabulous!!

We did not get to see much of Durban as we arrived at around 4:00 a.m. and slept until 2:30 p.m.  However, we did get a chance to walk down the board-walk and it definitely has a different vibe than Cape Town.  We even took a Rickshaw, which made us feel a bit guilty for doing.  Overall though the games were amazing!!!

Second Half of Tour -- Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope

In the second half of our tour, I found where I am going to build my South Africa house...and yes Mom we will have a guest house!  This place was amazing!

Plus, whoever thought you could see these animals at the Beach...could you imagine in Pedro?

Little Anthony-- what animals are these?

Coolest thing in the world!!!  By the way, Vinnie slept great last night...so great he kept me up all night with his snoring!

First Half of Tour -- Table Mountain

Well, the Dutch have arrived as have their costumes...we saw these people two different times today...I had to take a picture with them!!

Table Mountain was unbelievable...absolutely breath-taking!

Luckily we got to the mountain before the clouds rolled in so we were able to get some great pictures!

The final picture is of the cable cars that take you up and down the mountain...way steep!

We are contemplating [i.e. Vinnie is contemplating] whether we will go repelling down the side of the mountain tomorrow.  I say what a way to go though!

Wine Tasting & Jet Lag in Cape Town

Happy 4th of July Everyone!!

Today we went wine tasting outside of Cape Town which was a very nice day.  Almost have no clue what day of the week it is which feels like a good thing. 

Before we go into the wine tasting we first shall start with Jetlag. 

It can be a tough.  I (Vince) am definetely not settled into the time zone change.  Terrible sleeper to begin with my body still can't figure out where it is.  So we had a 7:45 AM alarm for breakfast before wine tasting and at 3:45AM I was still up.  So needless to say I am a little tired but trying to stay awake until 10PM so that I can get back on schedule (at least that is the hope)

We had an absolutely amazing day today in an around Cape Town.  It is winter here but the weather was in the mid 70's and sunny skies.  We went to 5 vineyards today and they were all very interesting.  Reminded Bethe & I a little of Napa (except everyone has a funny accent and drives on the wrong side of the road).  We had a mixture of champagne and wine to satisfy both of us and went to lunch at an amazing little spot (pictures are uploaded at the bottom)

We could not ship any wine home - the US has strict laws in place right now for South Africa wine coming into the states.  So we will have to figure that out when we get home.
We also stopped and picked up new vuvuzelas today - know we just need to learn how to use them!!

Tomorrow is Table Mountain and the Cape Tour.  I am told we will be able to see penguins on the beach down there.

Sue and Howard hope you enjoy the fireworks

Cape Town - Quarterfinal Argentina vs. Germany

We went and saw the quarterfinal game today in Cape Town.  It was Argentina vs. Germany and it was an amazing experience.  The picture is before the game.  Bethe took a lot of pictures of videos (so you can hear the vuvuzelas) during the game and you can get to those from the bottom of the blog where links to all of our pictures are. We discovered the games only take Visa and have no ATM's - so lesson learned take lots of South Africa Ran to the game. 

Getting back was also an expereince as very crowded where the game is.  We finally got a cab and he was not exactly sure where the hotel was.  So he drove us and we had to call his cab company on my cell for them to tell him how to get to our hotel.  Frustrating but than we left our vuvuzelas in the cab (din't realize it until 3 hours later)

STUPID STUPID STUPID (not nice words Anthony)

So we will have to get new ones!!

Tomorrow we go wine tasting.  Hopefully we are standing at the end of that.

The comments are great - especially Little Anthony's (co-authored by Kim).  If you have not read them you should (just click on the comment link below each post where it says comments or click on the article headline).  It is great to see the world through a 3 year old mind and imagination!

Cape Town - Night 1 of 5

Day 1 in Cape Town was right after we got off the flight from Nairobi.  Bethe and I had only about 3 hours of sleep from the night before in Nairobi and we lost 1 hour in a time zone change. So tired we arrived at this amazing small hotel called Alta Bay.  The View from our Balcony is the picture of Table Mountain (1st Image) as well as the Waterfront.  Pretty Amazing.  We did not watch the Brasil game but got our first taste of Vuvelzela when Netherlands one and we are 1.5 miles from the stadium.

We went out to eat in downtown Cape Town and watched the Ghana game at the Fan Fest where they were showing the game.  Very Amazing first experience in town.  Everyone was rooting for Ghana.  When they penalty kick was awared at the end of extra time the place went nuts.  When he missed the kick they place cried.  Very quite at the end of the game when they lost.  What could have been - they place would have partied like nothing else we have ever seen if that penalty kick goes in.

Nairobi & Flight to Cape Town

It was a long journey.  We left London and flew to Nairobi, Kenya.  It was an 8.5 hr flight. Nairobi was pretty uneventful...we arrived when it was dark and we left when it was dark.  The only eventful part were the men with machine guns who surrounded the plane when it landed...good times!

Cape Town may be one of the most beautiful cities we have seen in the world!

Day 2 - London

Today was London. 

The first picture is Bethe and I in our PJ's on First Class.  They actually give you a pair of nice PJ's to sleep in while you travel.  First Class International is the way to go.

After 3-4 hours of sleep we arrived in London.  Bethe took a nap and I went to a pub and had a beer on the river. 

We did a quick tour of London in the afternoon.  Our hotel was right near the Tower Bridge in London and that was the first thing we saw when we went outside.  We also did the London Eye (don't call it a Ferris Wheel) and walked to Big Ben and Westiminster Abby.  We also learned how to use the tube and become excellent at navigating the underground (actually it was very easy). 

For dinner we went to an Argentina steak house - we went all the way to London to have Argentina food!.  Food was amazing and our view from the table was to tower bridge.

Time to get back on the plane for flight 3 of 23 and fly to Nairobi.  See you in South Africa.