Watch This Space!!!

What shall we do to fill the empty spaces where we used to talk? (Pink Floyd, Empty Spaces)

Sorry I haven't been updating, but we forgot to bring the connectors with us to hook the cameras up to the computer here in Livingstone (Zambia).

So no photos & video will be uploaded until Monday, when we arrive back in Jo'burg (Johannesburg). But, we did:

• See Victoria Falls (absolutely amazing); it's dry season, so not as much water (more like "Victoria Fell" and not "Victoria Falls")
• A helicopter ride over said falls
• Jet Powerboat in the gorge
• Have High Tea (yes, I am cultured)

Tomorrow, I am doing an elephant ride into the jungle.

Because the hotel located in a game preserve that is also a UNESCO Heritage Site, animals have free reign. So we have been blocked from accessing our room because zebras were blocking our way, been denied sugar for my coffee because monkeys keep stealing them for their own caffeine fix, and had to step aside so impalas (the deer, not the car) could cross the path to get to the other side.

Monday & Tuesday is Jo'burg, then we fly to Cape Town for five days. We will have the laptop so more timely releases will be forthcoming.

Until then,

Hakuna Matata

-Steve

The Bagel Has Landed!!!

After 17 long hours in an elongated aluminum tube, I made touchdown in Johannesburg. No lines, zipped through Customs, grabbed my bags, met my friend Abby, and off to her aunt & uncle's we went.

My plane was bigger than this

Except I grabbed one of the wrong bags and South African Airways closed 10 minutes before I discovered this. Shenanigans!!!

So we went to the airport this morning, zipped in again, found my bag right away, and am now casually relaxing here in Jo'burg (as the natives call it) until tomorrow when we're off to Zambia and Victoria Falls.

Oh, in case you're wondering if I was able to convince a flight attendant to feed me grapes? Alas, although I had grapes, one of the flight attendants toppled over a beverage cart (strike that- an alcoholic beverage cart) which put them all in quite the sour mood and made me hesitant to ask. I did see two South African gentlemen start to cry because they thought all the wine was gone, but this cart only had some of the beer and wine, so we all breathed a sigh of relief.

Next chat from Zambia!!!

The Necessary Evil: Packing Suitcases

"...Fritter away, the hours that make up a dull day..." (Pink Floyd, Time)

I really think Roger & the Boys were referring to packing. A seemingly never ending necessary evil, unless one likes to wear the same outfit for seven weeks in a row (maybe college, not not now). Trying to pack light cos I'll be there for seven weeks and I will be able to do laundry every two weeks or so.

Of course, I know I forgot something important. Which I'll remember halfway across the Atlantic Ocean.

Well, it's why God invented the Internet with all those tubes and newfangled wires and such.

Next stop, Johannesburg.

The Final Countdown...

"...and maybe we'll come back, who can tell?" (Europe, The Final Countdown)

It's the homestretch, T-7 days and counting. Question: Why was time going so slow when I was doing this months ago but now it seems like I'm in time crunch mode?

Things are coming together. Dropped my passport off at the Zambian Embassy and got it back in one piece with the visa, confirmed my seats for the flights, creating the travel checklist, and am gathering gobs of stuff for the trip. Including my hostess' request for a large jar of Smucker's grape jelly.

Don't ask, I have no idea.

But it's happening!!!

The Cost of Fun

Well, I purchased the Malaria drug Malarone and the anti-stomach bug drug Cipro. Such a deal, Cipro was only $4.

$253 later, and I am now the proud owner of a bottle of Malarone. And for those of you who don't know, health insurance doesn't cover drugs for international travel. Chalk it up to as...the cost of fun. And prevention. Though I think the Cipro will come in even more handier.

The itinerary is also final. I don't have it handy, but if you want to guess some of the normal and crazy things I'll be doing, check this out. Won't be doing all of them, but it gives you an idea what I'll be seeing and doing (and of course reporting back to this blog).

18 days and counting. Yes, I am bouncing off the walls. Damage report to follow...