Sept 6 updated France and added photos. Started Africa.
I have been asked how I plan these trips. It can be pretty computer labor intensive. First we decide where we are going. This was already decided some what. A stop in France then on to southern Africa. We knew we were going to go to South Africa because it is the easiest to get to and we wanted to visit with Michael Strauss, the Solo Scooterest (http://soloscooterist.com/). We have visited South Africa and Namibia and we knew we had to go back to Namibia and spend more time. Great plans were drawn on the map to cover these countries plus Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. When we looked at the mileage we knew this would not work unless we just wanted to drive all the time, so we narrowed it down to South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.
I have been asked how I plan these trips. It can be pretty computer labor intensive. First we decide where we are going. This was already decided some what. A stop in France then on to southern Africa. We knew we were going to go to South Africa because it is the easiest to get to and we wanted to visit with Michael Strauss, the Solo Scooterest (http://soloscooterist.com/). We have visited South Africa and Namibia and we knew we had to go back to Namibia and spend more time. Great plans were drawn on the map to cover these countries plus Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. When we looked at the mileage we knew this would not work unless we just wanted to drive all the time, so we narrowed it down to South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.
This is the quick draw the first time. Way over 5000 miles
We decided the number of days we would
need transportation. We figured a few days with Michael on the way
in and a day on the way out and that left 49 days we need a car.
Last time we got off the beaten track in little rental car and got
stuck in a dry river bed. This was caused by two problems, a too
adventurous driver (or a dumb one) and car not suited for what we
asked of it. So, we went to Economy Rental Cars
(http://www.economycarrentals.com/)
a rental car broker we have used for years for the best deals and got
a dual cab 4x4 to carry us around. Economy saved us about a thousand
dollars.
I don't want to repeat this adventure
Then we started looking for places to
stay. As previously stated, we found that Botswana is ridiculously
expensive. The whole tourist industry is based on those people that
are doing a once in a lifetime event and are willing to pull out the
credit cards or of the class that money does not mater. A lot of
internet searches and a list of every bed in the country left few
“budget” places to stay outside the towns, but I found some. The “once in
lifetime” people are not staying at “budget” places. So after
looking, searching, looking, searching, email after email and think I
may found a “budget” trip in Botswana. We will see how that works
out. Our time there has been cut in half for planning purposes. I
will say if you are a group grope type person there are some tours
that will only set you back a lot, but probably worth it. We,
unfortunately, are wanders and planned trip does not work. We have
only booked our first stay in Botswana just across the border. Since
they compete with camps on the South African side they are very
reasonably priced.
Namibia and South Africa will all be on
a whim. There are a couple of places we will book when we get there,
but for the most part we will just call ahead a day or two and hope
for the best.
Airplane tickets were easy this time.
Usually there is in depth research on which flights that have seats
available and we would plan back up's to the back up flight as we
were flying standby. Deciding to buy a real ticket made it all easier
and well worth the money. All U.S. Carriers were ruled out. American
carriers a whining about the airlines from the middle east having a
unfair advantage. The unfair advantage is that they give good
service, not GreyHound service as the U.S. Carriers have come to
give. Air France is not up to the standard of Qatar or the others,
but good enough for me. So, we checked that block.
The O means no free seats on USAir
so we chose theses seats over ....
...regular economy
Train tickets for France were booked on
the SNCF France web sight. The internet will try to force you to
RailEurope, but you will pay as much as 50% more. In the old days
you had no choice but now the only thing that forces you to
RailEurope is fear. You are afraid of the internet, you are afraid
giving those foreigners you credit card info, etc.. That is ironic since
you give Facebook and every app on your phone access to everything in
you life including the microphone on you phone. I can not think of
any reason a app needs access to your microphone, but we eagerly give
it to them. So, just give SNCF your card number and keep your money.
Packing. This is a challenge. In the
old days we never checked a bag as we had no idea if we would get on
the plane and getting the bag back could be a nightmare. On a trip to
Ecuador they canceled my flight and sent everyone to a hotel and kept
every ones bags in quarantine. Looking a the loads for the next four
days I knew I would never get on on standby so I requested my bag
back. This involved three trips from baggage dis-service to the
ticket counter and back. After about three hours of waiting I saw
some ramp guys setting in the terminal and told them my tale of woe.
They said go to carrousel 16 and by the time I got there, there was
my bag going around and around by itself. The other passengers
waiting on bags saw me leaving and were in awe. We started checking
bags awhile ago for various reasons. Since we were checking bags we
said what the heck, threw everything in there. That lasted until the
we had to drag the bags up four flights of narrow stairs in Paris
which I think was the first trip. So, we are back to a carry on size
suitcase but we just check it. On this trip we have to plan for the
whole range of temperatures from highs of 97 to highs of
50 with corresponding lows. This is a challenge, but we seem to make
it work. The old adage of layering becomes very important. Added to
this trip are unusual items. We could probably buy them in South
Africa but we are packing them. Binoculars, tire pump (we have to
let the air out of the truck tires for the sand) first aid kit, back
up this and back up that. We are carrying one carry on size and a
slightly larger one. It all fits.
vicki's organized approach
my throw it in the bag approach
So, it is all done. Credit card companies and banks notified when and where we are traveling, but there will still be problems there. If the first ATM does not work, just move on to another and usually sorts it self out. House is all prepared for Jane, our Cat Angel, who will come and stay with Mouse the whole time we are gone. All that is left now is to get on the airplane.
