(Don’t) Wanna Be… All By Ourselves

10/28/09: Johannesburg, South Africa

Today was our first full day of officially being on our own since we arrived in Africa. We have been so spoiled the last several weeks – someone tells us when to wake up, when to eat breakfast, what we’re doing that day, when to go to the bathroom… Since we didn’t think it was healthy to mope around in our dorm room all day, and partly out of pure habit, we didn’t sleep in but got up bright and early to have breakfast. Miraculously, we found a bakery that had delicious croissants and brownies and other yummy goodies and went there for breakfast. (Without Marietjie telling us where to go!)

 

Rest assured Mom and Dad - no brownies for breakfast for us

We managed to go to the post office and send a couple of packages of souvenirs home. (All by ourselves! Ok fine, we went with a few other girls from our tour.)

Successfully having sent off our boxes, we take a triumphant photo in front of the post box

We even found a place to eat lunch at the mall by our hostel. (By ourselves!) AND, we went and saw a movie! (By ourselves!) We saw Up, which I had wanted to see before leaving on our trip but just had never gotten around to it. Guess how much it cost to see the movie? 15 rand each. That’s TWO DOLLARS EACH! Granted it didn’t have the armrests that raise up (but a lot of other movie theaters at home don’t either) and it smelled a little bit like smoke (couldn’t figure that one out, we were the only ones in that theater and there were no ashtrays) and there wasn’t any movie trivia at the beginning (luckily I don’t care that much about what movie Jim Carrey first starred in), but it was only TWO DOLLARS! It was wonderful. The movie was pretty good too.

After the movie, we went back to our hostel to relax and immerse ourselves in the bliss that is being all by ourselves (in a dorm room housing 16 other people). Eventually, Carol, Garry and Zoey from our old Zambezi truck arrived, and we showed them around like the seasoned travelers we are.

It’s funny – Kevin and I keep talking about how we’re now really on our own, but ever since we got off Kavango yesterday, we’ve still been surrounded by people we know. Almost every meal we’ve had has been with people from one of our old trucks. Mark and Lindi gave us recommendations for restaurants and things to do. So really, we haven’t been on our own at all.

I guess I’m just a bit nervous about how that’s going to change when we finally really and truly are on our own, but I’m ready too. I mean, with Kevin carrying my bag (and me if needed), how hard could it really be?

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Puzzles for Postcards

When Tenzig Falls Behind Anagram

Trust Even Moe

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Pictures of the Day: It’s too late, Kevin. You’re stuck with me.

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Out in the Actual Real World on Our Own

10/27/09: Johannesburg, South Africa

We departed the Acacia truck after our final drive and with one final look over our shoulders (and a tear in each of our eyes) and we said goodbye to our temporary home.

Two minutes later we returned to grab our bags. I hate prolonged goodbyes.

I’ve been looking forward to today for some time now, because as much as I’ve enjoyed our Acacia tour (and I would recommend it to anyone), I’ve been ready to begin traveling on our own. Zhou’s done so much good planning, and I’ve been itching to carry lots of bags in order to get some long overdue exercise.

Before moving onto the next phase of the trip though, this past week I did learn another lesson that I’d like to share with everyone, especially the kids. “If you must judge, be prepared to budge.” (Do you think that one will catch on?)

I really didn’t give our six finishing days on the Kavango truck much of a chance. After all we had come from the mighty Zambezi truck! No one could cook as good as Marietjie, no one could drive as good as Richard, and no people could possibly replace the Zambezi group. Things just weren’t going to be any fun. While I’m not saying that our old truck has been surpassed, we did meet some nice new people, especially our guides, Mark and Lindi. My only two regrets now are that I prejudged that they wouldn’t be as good as our old guides and that we weren’t able to spend longer in their truck.

The Kavango truck, with Mark and Lindi in the front row

…

So on to the individual part of the world trip: 278 days of just me and Zhou! Our first act as our own travelers: checking into a hostel, the Ritz Backpackers of Johannesburg.

We’re staying in an 18 person dorm room (9 bunk beds) for 100 ZAR per person per night (~$13 each, but we had a small discount because of our ISIC card). I won’t lie, we are breaking into hostel life easily, as we know the other 13 people in our room for tonight, but it’s still something new for us. When was the last time you slept in a room with 13 other people?

The Ritz is very nice (although it doesn’t live up to its American counterpart’s name) and it’s actually in a safe part of Johannesburg. Going into today, I was very nervous about Zhou and I alone in this city where all people do is rob and murder each other, but we both feel very safe here. There’s a nice bakery nearby, an upscale mall and several nice restaurants. It actually reminds me a little of home. But don’t worry Mom and Dad, we won’t be settling down here. Two days until Hong Kong!

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Picture of the Day: As contemporary as South Africa feels, for some reason Vanilla Ice is still the front page picture of the Business Times.

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