Overly anxious to reach Krueger National Park for our first safari, it was only natural that our takeoff from Johannesburg would be delayed by one hour due to some schmuck who wasn’t supposed to be on our plane. The man remained defiantly in his seat as the ground and flight crew haphazardly attempted to sort things out. Bitchy stewardesses scrambled around to calm frustrated passengers who demanded to know what was going on. Gene and I grew restless in our seats, worried that we would miss out on the late afternoon safari. After having finally landed in Nelspruit, we met with the flight crew who would be transporting us to the game park and apologized for our delay. I gave Gene a troubled look as I squeezed into the backseat of the 4-seater propeller plane, so ... read more

I was a bit taken aback when a black maid entered from the kitchen to serve us our breakfast. “Gina, we ARE in Africa,” Gene reminded me, once we were again alone at the table. “I know, but…” was all I could say. It just seemed a bit too old school for today’s World. I would later come to learn that it is still quite common in South Africa for black women to serve as maids inside the home. While I was aware that the majority of the South African population is unsurprisingly black, this still somehow managed to come as a shock to me. We spent the majority of our morning at the salon - Gene getting rid of his disheveled rocker hair and I making a transformation into Raggedy Ann. Feeling like we once ... read more

Leaving the Maldives was hard enough. Arriving into Qatar (pronounced ‘cutter’) for a ten hour layover on our way to South Africa bordered on torture. The desert nothingness that revealed itself on our descent wasn’t exactly what I would call “welcoming,” nor was the 44 degree C (110 degree F) heat blast that overwhelmed us as we deplaned. Having psyched ourselves out about spending a majority of our day parked in the desert oasis, Gina and I looked forward to a decent meal and the possibility of some Internet time at the airport. No instructions were given by the airline’s ground crew as we entered the terminal building with the mass of passengers transferring to other flights, so like lemmings we followed them to the security queue. As we stood waiting our turn to pass through ... read more

Gina and I took so many photos in Kathmandu that don’t necessarily relate to our blogs but wanted to share the experience with everyone through our eyes. Enjoy! Apologies for the bad composition in some of the photos as most were shot out of a moving car... read more

There was no way to prepare ourselves for what we were about to experience - sheer chaos, utter filth and downright poverty. The streets of Kathmandu are unpaved, rutted and full of debris thrown into the roads by locals who appear to have no concept of a garbage can. Stray dogs, monkeys and cattle rummage through the trash in search of scraps to fill their rib-revealing bellies. Tents line the sidewalk off the main drag where entire families struggle to make ends meet. Hundreds of cars and mopeds queue on the streets daily at one of nine stations not yet depleted of gas, as the country struggles from a gas shortage due to outstanding debt. Disorder dominates the roads as cars weave in and out of oncoming traffic lanes, barely avoiding contact with other vehicles, pedestrians ... read more