while my friends and i were on the Turkey trip, we decided it would be fun if we could go on a big trip like that every other year. every year would be ideal, but the reality is you do need to save up money and vacation days.

the next time we all got together (we live in different states) we figured out the best time for all of us to travel, and determined our top three choices were South Africa, New Zealand and Thailand. one of us had been to New Zealand before and that was the most expensive, so we ruled that one out. Thailand, although really interesting just didn’t have the same appeal as South Africa, so we decided that would be our next adventure. one of had been to parts of South Africa before, but we thought that would be ok, as it wasn’t an extensive trip going where we wanted to on this trip.

i love a good planning session, so i volunteered to put a trip together. i didn’t do it all on my own, for the first time i used a travel agency. i found a terrific place online called Travel Butlers, and worked with a wonderful woman named Susan. i told her the sites of interest we’d like to see, the budget we had in mind and the time frame we had to work with. after a couple of rounds of revisions, we had an itinerary. easy as 1-2-3.

i shared it with the rest of the team and it all looked promising. i was using miles for the airline portion of the trip, and since i was traveling from a different state i went ahead and booked my airfare, just to be safe. it then turned out that two of the four couldn’t go on the trip, sadness struck, but we, the other two, decided to go ahead with the vacation. it wasn’t the same without them, but it was a great trip. with the exception of the last hotel, the last night of the trip, i’d go on the exact same trip all over again.

we flew into Cape Town and stayed there for three nights, and got acclimated. two night

s would have been enough for us, but it all worked out fine. the rental car was brought to us the day after we arrived, which was a nice service. this was the first time i had driven on the opposite side of the road, very exciting. i’m happy to report the car didn’t incur any damage, all mirrors and hubcaps remained intact. while in Cape Town we saw Table Mountain and we went for a shark cage dive. not quite Jaws, but it felt that way. we drove to Cape Point, and went to Boulders to see the penguins (my second penguin experience).

then started the drive along the Garden Route. we stayed in Franschhoek and checked out a few wineries, and then headed to Wilderness and saw the Cango Caves in Little Karoo. next stop was in Knysna at the Mitchell Brewery (if there is a local brewery a stop must be made), and we spent the night next in Plettenberg Bay. Monkey Land, Birds of Eden and Tsitsikamma National Park. one night near the Addo Elephant Park, and then off to safari.

we stayed at the Pumba Reserve, and it was fantastic. we could see, and hear, hippos from our deck, and occasionaly saw lions just wandering down the path by the guest rooms. the food was wonderful, the staff amazing, Brad our safari guide was the best. there were two drives a

day, once in the morning and once in the evening. you were in a vehicle with 2-6 people depending on the day and time. we saw, elephants, giraffes, lions, lion cubs, cheetah, zebras, white rhino and a lot of kudu and other elk like animals. it was truly an amazing experience to see those animals in their natural habitat and not a man-made cement environment with one grassy hill.

that was the last part of the trip, and i was sad to see it end. after the safari we spent one last night in Port Elizabeth (total let down after the safari), then got on a flight to Johannesburg and headed our separate ways back to the states. Johannesburg has the best gift shops i have ever seen btw. again, i’d do this same trip all over again, it was just a great time spent with a great friend.