We made it home last night at about 6:30. Even though the flights were very, very long, everything went as smoothly as it could have. We had good flights, complete with very pleasant service, nice smooth landings, and were even reunited with our bags when we arrived in Washington. What more could one ask for?
Now, it's time to unpack, do laundry, and settle back into life. So glad I took off an extra day to do all of that. I'm sure my colleagues are pleased to not have to deal with a jet-lagged, exhausted Quade.
Back to reality tomorrow. Oh, and I am working on my website so that I have a journal of the trip and so that those who are interested can share our photos and my musings.
Happy Monday...
14 February 2011
10 February 2011
Cape Agulhas: The Meeting of Great Oceans ... and Us
Today we drove to Cape Agulhas, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet. It was 2 1/2 hours each way, but the drive was nice and it was good experience. The drive was enough for me, though: I'm happy to stay out of the car for a day tomorrow.
Philip drove Monday, Tuesday, and yesterday, so today was my first try at the helm of the car, driving on the left side of the road. It came a lot more natural than I imagined it would. I felt very comfortable with that, even if the South African driving style takes some time to get used to.
Photos below are of the town at the Cape, the marker of the meeting of the oceans, and one of just the Indian Ocean and a boat bobbing in its waves:
Philip drove Monday, Tuesday, and yesterday, so today was my first try at the helm of the car, driving on the left side of the road. It came a lot more natural than I imagined it would. I felt very comfortable with that, even if the South African driving style takes some time to get used to.
Photos below are of the town at the Cape, the marker of the meeting of the oceans, and one of just the Indian Ocean and a boat bobbing in its waves:
Day Six: Cape Town, Stellenbosch, and Franschhoek
Cape Town was lots of fun and we saw so much: we took the cableway up to the top of Table Mountain, saw museums and gardens, explored neighborhoods, and took a day to drive down the Cape to the lighthouse at Cape Point and to the Cape of Good Hope. Along the way we saw the penguin colony at Boulders and the wild Cape Baboons.
Today is Thursday, so yesterday was our day to decamp from the city and head into the Winelands and then to another hotel, somewhere between Kleinmond and Hermanus. The drive was through some very spectacular scenery, along some roads that were harrowingly narrow and curvy. We stopped for lunch at a wonderful wine estate just out of Stellenbosch and had one of the best meals I can remember for a long time. We also stopped at two other wineries in Franschhoek to do some tasting ... and buying.
Thereafter, we headed over the mountains and through the passes to Arabella. We arrived last night at about six o'clock, dog tired, too tired to even think of doing anything but ordering room service and watching the dusk settle in over the bay. Last night the sky was so black and the stars so vivid.
Today we're set to drive to the point where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet, about 2 1/2 hours southwest. It's not nearly as dramatic as Cape Point, but how can we resist a visit to the Indian Ocean?!
(I would post photos but the Internet connection at our hotel is so horrible that it'd be checkout time before they uploaded!)
Today is Thursday, so yesterday was our day to decamp from the city and head into the Winelands and then to another hotel, somewhere between Kleinmond and Hermanus. The drive was through some very spectacular scenery, along some roads that were harrowingly narrow and curvy. We stopped for lunch at a wonderful wine estate just out of Stellenbosch and had one of the best meals I can remember for a long time. We also stopped at two other wineries in Franschhoek to do some tasting ... and buying.
Thereafter, we headed over the mountains and through the passes to Arabella. We arrived last night at about six o'clock, dog tired, too tired to even think of doing anything but ordering room service and watching the dusk settle in over the bay. Last night the sky was so black and the stars so vivid.
Today we're set to drive to the point where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet, about 2 1/2 hours southwest. It's not nearly as dramatic as Cape Point, but how can we resist a visit to the Indian Ocean?!
(I would post photos but the Internet connection at our hotel is so horrible that it'd be checkout time before they uploaded!)
05 February 2011
Cape Town, Day One
A full first-day of sightseeing here in Cape Town. Weather was very moderate, about 75, low humidity, and cloud-free. We had a late breakfast in the Green Market Square, then went to the Castle of Good Hope (via the Parade Grounds, next to the District Six Museum, on to the South African National Gallery, and then strolled through a botanical gardens and The Company Gardens.
On our way back from the gardens we made a failed attempt to visit the De Waterkant neighborhood: we didn't find what we were looking for and, when the area started to feel unsafe/uncertain, we threw in the towel, stopped for a snack, did some souvenir shopping, and headed back to the hotel for a bit of rest and blogging.
Here are some photos of our day, with, of course, more to follow later on my website; City Hall from the Parade Grounds (Table Mountain in the background); Castle of Good Hope; Green Marketplace:
On our way back from the gardens we made a failed attempt to visit the De Waterkant neighborhood: we didn't find what we were looking for and, when the area started to feel unsafe/uncertain, we threw in the towel, stopped for a snack, did some souvenir shopping, and headed back to the hotel for a bit of rest and blogging.
Here are some photos of our day, with, of course, more to follow later on my website; City Hall from the Parade Grounds (Table Mountain in the background); Castle of Good Hope; Green Marketplace:
Uneventful Travel is Good Travel & Seeing Cape Town in Daylight
We made it to Amsterdam and onward to Cape Town without any issue whatsoever. Even through travel tales-of-woe make for interesting story telling, they're never fun to experience in the first place, so I'm glad to have nothing exciting to offer.
That said, here's a quick rundown: our flight from Dulles left on-time and owed to a strong tail wind, arrived into Amsterdam about 6 1/2 hours later, which was almost two hours early. Our Cape Town flight left on-time as well, lasted it's nearly twelve hours, and we arrived into Cape Town about five minutes early. Bags arrived in-tact and on-time, and our driver was there as expected. The hotel check-in was a breeze and the room is wonderful, including its views.
Here are photos taken from our suite's living room. It was dark when we got in this morning, so imagine how breathtaking to see this as our first daylight impression! (Lot's more narrative and photos coming on my website in a couple of weeks.)
That said, here's a quick rundown: our flight from Dulles left on-time and owed to a strong tail wind, arrived into Amsterdam about 6 1/2 hours later, which was almost two hours early. Our Cape Town flight left on-time as well, lasted it's nearly twelve hours, and we arrived into Cape Town about five minutes early. Bags arrived in-tact and on-time, and our driver was there as expected. The hotel check-in was a breeze and the room is wonderful, including its views.
Here are photos taken from our suite's living room. It was dark when we got in this morning, so imagine how breathtaking to see this as our first daylight impression! (Lot's more narrative and photos coming on my website in a couple of weeks.)
03 February 2011
Packing Hell
For me, the worst part of the trip may be the packing to go on it. It seems like such a chore: figuring out what to take, figuring out what to exclude, and trying desperately not to forget anything. I can only imagine what my former colleague is going through as he plans for a year-long tround-the-world trip! My mother once said: "As long as you have your passport and your American Express, you've got all you need. Buy the rest when you get there." I try to keep those words in mind.
In the end, we ended up comingling our stuff into two bags, a garment bag and a standard, expandable wheelie. We each have a carry on and a shoulder bag for our aboard crap. Not too bad.
As I type I'm at Dulles, awaiting boarding time. Ahead of us lies about twenty hours of flying. It's about five o'clock now and we won't arrive into Cape Town until eleven o'clock tomorrow night, and likely not to the hotel until the wee hours of the day after tomorrow. From everything I've seen, South Africa will be well worth it.
Oh, good news on the seat front, if anyone read my earlier blog posting: we got our requestged seats at check-in. I still think that these "alliances" need to do some work on integrating their operations in a way that helps the passenger and not just the airlines.
Cape Town, here we come ... well, really Amsterday, here we come ... then Cape Town. :-)
In the end, we ended up comingling our stuff into two bags, a garment bag and a standard, expandable wheelie. We each have a carry on and a shoulder bag for our aboard crap. Not too bad.
As I type I'm at Dulles, awaiting boarding time. Ahead of us lies about twenty hours of flying. It's about five o'clock now and we won't arrive into Cape Town until eleven o'clock tomorrow night, and likely not to the hotel until the wee hours of the day after tomorrow. From everything I've seen, South Africa will be well worth it.
Oh, good news on the seat front, if anyone read my earlier blog posting: we got our requestged seats at check-in. I still think that these "alliances" need to do some work on integrating their operations in a way that helps the passenger and not just the airlines.
Cape Town, here we come ... well, really Amsterday, here we come ... then Cape Town. :-)
02 February 2011
Airline "Alliances": How Delta Does a Craptacular Job With Theirs
We're caught in the hell that is airline "alliances." The airlines present these codeshare and marketing agreements as ways to seamlessly travel across the globe, on different airlines, without any problems. Wrong. When we booked our flights to South Africa back in December, we chose to book on Delta's website, on a KLM plane, with a Delta number. We did this because we got the same fare as KLM was offering, but KLM's wouldn't allow us to earn Delta miles. (First not-seamless issue.)
We bought our tickets, chose our flights, and thought we were all set. Wrong again: we'd requested seats on the seat map that Delta had on its site that were premium seats that cost hundreds of Euro more. Of course, the site didn't tell us this or give us any hint. What it did do was put us into seat-selection purgatory. When we discovered our error (about a month before departure), Delta could do nothing about our seats because we were flying KLM; KLM could do nothing about our seats because we had bought the tickets through Delta. Seamless, right? No.
KLM opens its online check-in winder thirty hours ahead of departure, so I went online to check in today. Of course, we can't. KLM's site won't let us, neither will Delta's. Calling KLM gets us connected to Stateside Delta; Stateside Delta tells us to call KLM web support. It's particularly frustrating because both of our flights are full and the idea of a middle seat for twenty hours of flying is discouraging, to say the least.
I've had similar issues with codeshares over the years, so it's not unique to Delta or Sky Team, but it is infuriating nonetheless. What I think is that, if airlines are in these codeshare agreements, such that I have a Delta flight number, it should be a seamless experience. Hell, even if it weren't seamless they could be more transparent about what's going on behind the scenes. (Try this: "If you choose these seats they will cost $XXX extra. Once you choose them you cannot change them until you check in at the airport.") Honestly, no industry, except maybe the mobile telephone industry, is so adept at alienating it's customer base.
All that said, twenty hours in between two strangers wouldn't be the end of the world, not even by a long stretch. But, it's just frustrating when a customer does everything the correct way, unaware that the system is designed for failure. Silly and pointless.
Okay, on to packing for the trip!
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