We’re baaack!!!….The story of the last travel day…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 0 Comment
Lollie and her piglets with a few kudus.

Yesterday morning, I wrote this post, in part, while on the short flight, less than 40 minutes from Joburg to Nelspruit, finishing and updating it today, on Sunday morning.

Once we landed in Nelspruit, we collected our one bag, and Tom headed to the rental car facility while I checked with Airlink to see if they knew anything about our two missing bags. I explained the loss of the bags had nothing to do with their airline but could they please help us? They were more than willing to assist. The bags are eventually supposed to arrive at their location.

The previous night, when we arrived in Joburg, we spent two hours at the missing bag area working on locating our bags. Finally, a few hours later, we received the necessary documentation we needed to attempt to find the bags. But, no bags yet.

Kudus stopped by for a drink and pellets. We were still sleeping.

From there, we made our way to the City Lodge Hotel at the airport, checking in with our one new bag and then on to the restaurant for a bite. We each had a beverage, including a glass of wine for me and a beer for Tom. I had the fantastic buffet, which had several good options for me, while Tom ordered a delicious club sandwich with chips (fries).

Our dinner was only ZAR 480, about US $27, with two drinks, food, tax, and tip. Gosh, we are happy to be back where everything is much more affordable than in the US. Over the next few months, we certainly have some “wound licking” to recover the losses from this recent fiasco.

With our time frame off, we both had a fistful night’s sleep. We only dozed for a few minutes on the 16-hour flight and assumed we’d be able to sleep at the hotel, but the time difference made it impossible to sleep. But, overall, that long flight wasn’t bad this time. We watched many movies, and the time passed faster than usual. I think I’ve finally adapted to that 16-hour flight and have no angst about it any longer.

A kudu is eating some tasty greens on a tree.

We were in a three-seat center row with an empty seat between us. We ended up in the Premium Economy section, and the seats were bigger with footrests and were better for reclining. That helped me nod off for a few minutes here and there. That also added to our comfort.

It was great to be back in South Africa. The food on the plane was awful, and we didn’t eat a thing precipitating our need for the late dinner at the hotel on Friday night. In the morning, we didn’t have time for breakfast, only coffee at the airport. Our two coffees and one sparkling water were only ZAR 120, about US $7. While in the US, we spent three times that much on the same items.

With the time difference impacting us, we both had a fitful night’s sleep, barely sleeping. But overall, that long flight wasn’t bad at all this time. We watched many movies, and the time passed faster than usual. I think I’ve finally adapted to that 16-hour flight and have no angst about it any longer. It is what it is.

A young male kudu is checking out the scene.

Our dinner at the City Lodge Hotel was only ZAR 480, about US $27, with the two drinks, food, tax, and tip. Gosh, we are happy to be back where everything is much more affordable than in the US. Over the next few months, we certainly have some “wound licking” to recover the losses from this recent fiasco.

Louise invited us to a “bush buddies” party at their house last night. Once we returned to the house in the afternoon, we unpacked our one bag and carry-on bags and attempted to take a short nap before going to the party, which started around 6:00 pm. But, no such luck. Neither of us was able to nap. By 5:00 pm, we both showered, feeling refreshed, and later made our way down the road to their house.

We had a fantastic time at the party, completely forgetting about being tired and staying until midnight, when everyone began to wander off. This morning, Tom shocked me and caused me to scream out loud when he was standing there staring at me. He was concerned that I had passed away in my sleep at 11:00 am and was still sleeping.

It rained a little before we got up this morning. It’s a very humid day!

My Fitbit indicated I’d slept for 10 hours. I can’t remember the last time I slept so long. He was relieved to hear me scream and apologized for awakening me. He only slept for about eight hours and may need a nap before we go to Jabula tonight for dinner.

Yes, there is plenty of load shedding, but we have water. We’ll toss some of the food in the refrigerator, but it wasn’t that full when we left. Everything in the freezers seemed to have survived.

Kudus, early this morning.

We left Marloth Park 17 days ago. Will our favorite animals return to see us soon, or will they wait until the holidaymakers go after New Year? Only time will tell. Yesterday, when we arrived, bushbuck Gordon Ramsey was here resting in the shad with about eight kudus. This morning Lollie and her three piglets stopped by. Tom gave them plenty of pellets.

Thanks for all the love and support over these past weeks and always. We will be back tomorrow with more.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, December 11, 2021:

Frank, who prefers to walk and run, flew up to the bushbaby house and posed for this photo. For more photos, please click here.

Today, we are on the move!…Back to the bush…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 2 Comments

New friends Barry and Lisa, enjoying one last night together on the ship, on this date in 2017, during a cruise to South America. See the post here.
.

We’re packed and ready to leave the hotel to return the rental car at Ace, take their shuttle to the airport, check our bags and begin the long wait until our flight at 2:00 pm. The first flight to Newark is easy, less than three hours,, but the typical five-hour layover is to be expected.

During the layover, we’ll have dinner at an airport restaurant and spend time on our laptops to kill time while we wait for the 16-hour flight to Johannesburg.

This morning, Louise and I texted back and forth on Whatsapp. Apparently, things are not good in Marloth Park right now. It’s very hot and humid, the power has been out for almost a day, and there’s no water from the reservoir due to the 11½ hours of load shedding each day. But now, the power is out due to some type of fault or damage to equipment, and they can’t get the power back on.

We feel bad for Louise. All of her houses are rented with dozens and dozens of guests for a golf tournament in Komatipoort and holidaymakers. Can you imagine the complaints from the holiday renters who don’t have power…or water.  There’s no news on when both of these will be restored.

That night, Tom was having a great time, dining in the private “wine room” in the Tuscan Grill with Lisa and Barry.
.

We hope things are resolved by the time we return in a few days, but as we always say, “TIA, This is Africa!” What do we expect? In any case, we’ll be fine. We’ll definitely have to throw away all of the perishables in the refrigerator but hopefully not everything in the freezer. When shopping next, we’ll only buy enough for a few days, knowing power outages are even worse during December.

With all the holidaymakers in the park, we don’t expect to see many animals in the garden when we return. But mostly, we can’t wait to see Norman and Nina’s new baby, born a few days after we left. No news yet on the gender of the baby, but we have a few names in mind, of course beginning with an “N.” Noah has wandered off in search of a mate for himself, but there are no other nyalas in Marloth Park other than their family of four. Wild animals generally do not mate with species other than their own.

Hopefully, the rangers can find another female to bring to the conservancy for Noah. We hope to hear this has been done at some point. He’s certainly entitled to having a mate, now that Norman and Nina are preoccupied with their new baby.

It was easy packing the new suitcase that had plenty of room, and we filled it to the brim. We have no way to weigh it and will wing it hoping it meets the maximum 23 kg. limit. Of course, we have no idea if our missing bags will be waiting for us when we get to Joburg or Nelspruit. Only time will tell.

Last night, we had dinner with Greg and granddaughter Madighan at Champps. We’d hoped to see the other grandkids one more time, but we managed to have some quality time with everyone while we were here.

An antipasto board was served to each couple before our other courses were served.

This morning, I spoke to our friend Connie, whose husband and our dear friend Jeff passed away at our house in the bush, when they’d come to Marloth Park to fulfill Jeff’s dream of seeing Africa. We are so grateful he was able to fulfill that dream with us during the time he, Connie, and their adult daughter Lindsey were with us.  It was good to hear her voice. Next time we come to Minnesota, we will make a point of getting together with Connie and Lindsey.

This unexpected trip to Minnesota was such a flurry of activity with the family, leaving little time to see friends. We’re hoping for better planning next time to make time to see some of our dear old friends, too.

Well, it’s time to load the one bag and our carry-on bags into the rental car and make our way to the car rental facility. We are dressed warmly but without jackets, since we don’t want to carry extra clothes through all the airports. I don’t know when we’ll write again. It could possibly not be until Sunday after we arrive on Saturday, in time to shower, change and hopefully head to Jabula for dinner. It will be nice to see our friends once again and to share the latest news with all of you.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, December 8, 2021:

When Melissa Grobler of Dubai, currently staying in  Marloth Park with her mom, a resident, captured these lion photos this morning, we were enthralled. Melissa witnessed this fantastic sighting of one of the female lions known to roam the streets of Marloth Park. For more photos, please click here.

One last shopping trip…Why can’t we find this item?…Received all of our items from Amazon but one…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 0 Comment
Penguin statue on the beach made of a penguin dressed in Christmas clothes and various locally inspired pins and decorations. From our post here on December 6, 2016, while living in Penguin, Tasmania, one of Tom’s favorite places in the world.

With Christmas shopping evident in every store we visited, we thought we’d better hurry and buy the one piece of luggage we needed to pack the clothing we purchased while here in Minnesota after having our bags lost from the fiasco we experienced on November 24, explained in detail in Part 1 this post and Part 2 in this post.

There was no way we’d get a big enough bag for under $100, so we headed to TJ Maxx in Bloomington, where they have quality brand-name luggage at reasonable prices. We also needed to buy a luggage tag when they are rarely included with the purchase of a bag.

We lucked out and found the perfect large suitcase in an obvious color and design that may prevent thieves from taking off with it. As I packed it, I wondered if we’d ever get this bag when we’ll arrive at Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger airport on Saturday, let alone our two missing bags from the fiasco on November 24.

This morning we packed the bag, and my carry-on bag, only leaving out clothes and shoes for tomorrow’s departure and toiletries in travel-approved sizes. This time, I packed pajamas and clean underwear in the same carry-on bag since we knew we would spend one night in the City Lodge airport hotel in Joburg to avoid driving in the dark to Marloth Park from Nelspruit on the dangerous N4 highway.

Everything we’d purchased easily fit into the suitcase and I have no doubt we’ll be within the weight limits. This time, we don’t have the portable scale to ensure that fact but based on the contents, I feel confident it will be fine.

The following day, on Saturday, we’ll fly to Nelspruit, collect the rental car at the airport and commence the 90-minute drive to Marloth Park, arriving around 2:00 or 3:00 pm. We’ll stop at Louise’s Marloth Park Info Centre to pick up the house key we left with her and then drive down the dirt road to our holiday house.

If we’re up to it, we’ll go to Jabula for dinner since we won’t have anything defrosted to make for dinner. Of course, with all the Stage 6 load shedding over the past several days, all of our meat in the freezer could have gone bad. Stage 6 is as follows:

  • 5:00 am to 9:30 am (4.5 hours)
  • 1:00 pm to 5:30 pm (4.5 hours)
  • 9:00 pm to 11:30 pm (2.5 hours)

This is a total of 11.5 hours without electricity in 24 hours. Also, there are severe issues with the reservoir based on chronic power outages. We may not have any water when arriving since our JoJo tank doesn’t pump water when the power is out for extended periods.

Oh well, TIA, “This is Africa,” and that is what we expect upon returning after two weeks away. The temperature will be tolerable at a high of 94F, 34C, and increasing in days to come. At least we have the inverter to run to the bedroom’s fan and lamp and the WiFi router. When we cook by Sunday, we can use the gas burners on the stove, lighting it with a lighter, and also use of the braai on the veranda.

We likely won’t grocery shop until next week after we access the power situation to determine what perishables will survive these long load-shedding periods.

Although two male lions were darted in Marloth Park a few weeks ago and moved to Kruger National Park, two females and cubs have been sighted in the park in the past few days. Warnings continue for diligence and caution when outdoors, walking to and from vehicles, and walking and biking only in daylight hours with added attention to one’s surroundings.

Juan, the snake handler we use, has issued warnings that many snakes have come out of hiding over the cooler winter months and to exercise extreme caution outdoors and indoors. Snakes often enter houses during the warm spring and summer months through open doors and thatch roofs, both of which we have.

Nonetheless, we are excited to return to the bush to see our animal and human friends and return to the lifestyle we so much cherish living in the bush.

On another note, we have been searching for thick neoprene Koozies to hold cold canned beverages and glasses. With the heat and humidity in MP. Koozies are an ideal solution to avoid cans and glasses sweating and drinks getting warm on hot and humid days and nights. The mistake we made was not ordering them from Amazon in time for delivery to our hotel.

We searched far and wide to find these neoprene thick-walled Koozies. Most likely, winter-time in Minnesota is not the best time to find these for sale.

We stopped at several stores in the past few days, hoping to find them. We couldn’t find them anywhere, and finally, we gave up trying. They do not sell thick-walled models in South Africa. We’ve searched everywhere online to no avail. And Amazon can’t send us items to South Africa due to high shipping costs and customs issues. It would take months for us to receive them. We’ll be returning to Minnesota next September and buying them at that time.

So that’s it, folks. We’ll do a short post tomorrow, and then we may not post again until Sunday since Saturday will be a hectic day. But, as always, we shall see how it goes, and if we can post sooner, we will. Often, I write the post on my phone on the plane and can complete it on the long drive back to Marloth Park. Thus, Saturday is a possibility.

We hope all of our readers/friends are enjoying preparations for the holiday season. Have a fantastic day!

Photo from one year ago today, December 7, 2021:

Zoom in to note the difference in size between this massive elephant and the nearby male impala. For more photos, please click here.

Yesterday’s fantastic visit with a dear old friend…Quiet afternoon and early evening in the hotel while Tom was out…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 0 Comment
This photo was taken on December 6, 2013, from Marloth Park. See the link here. The bright glare of the setting sun impeded our photo-taking of these elephants across the river. But, we were thrilled to get these. Soon, we’ll see elephants up close when we enter Kruger Park.

When Tom was meeting with his son TJ at a restaurant about 15 minutes away, I decided to see if I could change my planned visit to my dear friend Chere’s home in Eden Prairie. As much as we treasure time with friends, we have prioritized time with our children and grandchildren over all else.

Based on the time he and TJ were getting together, it didn’t leave time for him to pick me up when he’d be done. Nor did I want him to have to rush his time with his son to come to get me at Chere’s home. When I called and explained the situation to Chere, her husband Gary agreed to drop her off at our hotel. Chere recently had knee replacement surgery and hasn’t been cleared to drive.

By 1:30, she walked in the door, albeit a little shaky on her new knee, and we hugged as close girlfriends do. Instead of coming to our messy room with all of our recent purchases piled up, we sat in the lovely hotel lobby at a table with comfortable chairs and sipped on hot tea, and caught up.

It wasn’t as if we had much catching up to do when we’d last got together during our US visit in 2019 (but not when we were here, sick with Omicron last May). We’ve stayed in close touch over the years via text and email and knew what was going on with one another. Plus, Chere regularly reads our posts which easily fills in the blanks of what we’ve been up to.

Chere is a highly educated nutritionist and holistic dietician who has appeared on many local and national TV news stations over the years, as well as speaking as a keynote speaker at countless conventions on health, nutrition, and wellness, often sponsored by large corporations. It was as if we’d never been apart. I wanted more details about her life over the past few years.

There’s something magical about the skies over Africa from what we’ve seen so far in Kenya and now in South Africa, also from this date, nine years ago.

This passion we share for health, fitness, diet, and food brought us together years ago and remained a favorite topic as we share more intimate details of our lives, as girlfriends often do. It was delightful catching up with her. The almost three hours we spent together passed way too quickly.

Her husband Gary arrived to pick her up a few hours later but only after sitting with us for a while for more lively conversation. By the time they walked out the door after warm hugs and goodbyes, it was 4:30, and Tom had yet to return. But my delightful afternoon wasn’t over yet.

The lovely guest services representative, Kelly, at the hotel front desk, poured me a glass of Pinot Grigio, and another great conversation ensued, only occasionally interrupted when a hotel guest needed attention. Again, the discussion was lively and entertaining, and time flew by. Suddenly, it was close to 6:00 pm, and I headed back to our room. I was getting hungry and opened the meat and cheese tray in the little refrigerator for such an occasion.

A short time later, Tom returned, smiling over his enjoyable time with his son, and we decided to forego dinner. I’d eaten enough meat, cheese, and olives to hold me, and Tom said he had two generous portions of popcorn at the bar and wasn’t hungry. Also, we knew we could head to the included breakfast at this excellent hotel at 6:30 am, and we could easily wait for that.

Speaking of this hotel, Hyatt Place in Eden Prairie, we’ve decided to stay here each time we return to Minnesota. The only inconvenience is the lack of washers and dryers at the property. But everything else is superior to the other hotels where we’ve stayed in this central location. Their breakfast is good, the coffee is excellent, and the service is over-the-top.

The hotel had recently been remodeled and is attractive and modern, whereby the other hotels where we’ve stayed in this area in the past are somewhat dated. This seems to be a popular hotel for business people, with efficiency and competitive pricing the norm, typically at $118 a night, a real bargain for this suburban area. When we return in September, we will certainly stay here again.

Today is a quiet day. No family members were available to get together, so we will head to TJ Maxx to buy a suitcase for everything we purchased. We will also stop at the local CVS pharmacy for more of the sinus treatment product I’ve been using that I’d purchased at the pharmacy in Komatipoort. I hope they have something similar here since I’ll be running out by the time we depart. I don’t want to worry about heading to Komatipoort the day we return.

Otherwise, all is well. We’ll be dining out with Greg’s family tomorrow night on our final evening in Minnesota. We’ll head out for dinner since the cost of takeaway is as costly as dining in at some restaurants we like. We begin the long trek back to South Africa and Marloth Park on Thursday.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago, December 6, 2021:

A male impala is on the lookout in Kruger National Park. For more photos, please click here.

Enjoyable Sunday…Family and football..

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 0 Comment

From our post on December 5, 2013…Down the road another block, several giraffes were hanging outside one of the houses in Marloth Park. This giraffe was eating, which accounts for the chubby cheeks. The food slides down her throat in a big lump, as shown. See the post here.

Yesterday, we spent most of the day at Greg’s home in Chaska, about a 20-minute drive from here. We stopped at Target to get some football-watching snacks. It was fun to watch the game with Greg and the kids, who wandered in and out of the family room during the three-hour game, chatting with us on each occasion.

When Camille returned from Christmas shopping, it was great to catch up with her. By about 4:00 pm, we were going back to the hotel to make a plan for dinner and put away all the laundry we’d washed and dried at their house. With the clothes we purchased at Target when we arrived last Saturday, we only had two loads of laundry.

It was great to use a clothes dryer. It had been a long time since we had access to a clothes dryer. Everything came out unwrinkled, and nothing shrank. We’d each bought a few flannel shirts to stay warm, and I was concerned they’d all shrink, but this morning I am wearing one of those shirts, and there was no shrinkage whatsoever. Even my flannel pajamas came out perfectly.

We begin thinking about any items we may need before leaving the US, knowing we won’t return for nine months. Saying goodbye this time will be a lot easier, knowing we’ll return next September at the end of two cruises. We’ll also head to Nevada to see Richard and renew our driver’s licenses in our state of residence.

While here, we’ve made several phone calls to see if we qualify for any refunds or credits due to our recent travel fiasco. But we’ll need to wait until we return to South Africa to get the wheels in motion. Ethiopian Air doesn’t consider our bags “lost” until 25 days have passed, so we can’t file a claim until then. Our credit card lost baggage benefit will also require documentation from the airline showing our bags are considered lost. We have no choice but to wait.

Now, my centipede fear has some competition. After a massive storm last night, our pool was filled with dead insects. This morning, Tom fished out this scorpion. Carefully, we tread.

It appears we won’t be able to recover any part of the loss of the cruise fare. This is frustrating, but they consider the obstacle we encountered “our fault.” We take full responsibility for the fiasco but are disappointed with the cruise company, and Intrepid Travel didn’t give us a heads-up when we inquired about any governmental documents we may have needed to enter Seychelles. There’s nothing more we can do. It’s frustrating.

But, as always, we must pick ourselves up and carry on and focus on the positives in our lives for which we feel grateful and fulfilled. Slowly, I am beginning to feel better, but the headache pops up every few days and the facial pain remains. I don’t know if I am going to seek further treatment. At this point, I feel like I have tried everything possible.

Perhaps, I have to resign myself to these lingering Omicron symptoms, and in time, they will improve. It is not debilitating in a manner that impacts our lives, but I am aware of it each day. I make a concerted effort to stay cheerful and take extra good care of myself. I am still using the various nasal treatments which, luckily, I had in my carry-on bag. When we fly on the 16-hour flight from Newark to Joburg, I won’t be able to use the products since it’s not sanitary in the plane’s restrooms.

In only three days, we’ll be on our way. Our first flight from Minneapolis to Newark is at 2:00 pm on Thursday. We have a long layover in Newark, 3 hours and 20 minutes, and then we’re off to Joburg on the 16-hour flight. Once we arrive in Joburg we’ll stay overnight at the City Lodge airport hotel to catch our flight on Airlink the following day. This way, we avoid driving to Marloth Park in the dark on the dangerous N4 Highway.

Soon, we head out to make one more stop at Target for a few items, and then Tom will drop me off at my friend Chere’s home in Eden Prairie for a few-hour visit with a dear old friend.

That’s it for today, friends. Have a great day!

Photo from one year ago today, December 5, 2021:

It’s only on the hottest days that Little sits in the cement pond. For more photos, please click here.

Whew!..Time in Minnesota moving quickly…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 0 Comment
This morning view from the living room of our holiday home on this date in 2016 in Penguin, Tasmania. It’s a fantastic, sunny day.

Note: Today’s photos are from 2016, when we first arrived in Penguin, Tasmania. For more photos and the story, please click here.

In only four days, we’ll be on the move once again. Our flight to Newark on Thursday departs Minneapolis at 1:59 pm. We’ll be ready to go. The items we ordered from Amazon.com are arriving as planned, and the contact lenses I ordered from Vision Direct in the UK have also arrived earlier than expected.

Once everything arrives, we’ll know how big of a suitcase we need to purchase to fit all the replacement clothing. According to Ethiopian Air, we can’t consider our bags lost until 25 days after they’ve disappeared. We’ll have to deal with that claim when we return to Marloth Park.

Once we know the space we’ll need after all the packages arrive by Wednesday, we’ll head to TJ Maxx, where we’ve often purchased brand-name bags at great prices and bought a new bag for the new items. We keep everything folded in their original plastic bags for easy packing. We feel confident all of the things will fit and meet our needs.

We had to purchase items to replace some of the things that were in our missing baggage. Why not wait until we see if the bags are truly lost for good? We can’t find items like these in South Africa that we know will fit and work for us. If we ordered everything from the US and had it shipped to our mailing service in Nevada, we’d have to pay no less than US $500 in shipping fees plus customs fees, all of which is more than what we’ve spent on the items, buying them while here in the US from Amazon.

White sand beaches with rarely a human in sight.

It made more sense to assume the bags were gone and shop accordingly. So far, we’ve received about half of the items, with the remainder arriving. In any case, we have not purchased replacement items, for nearly half of which were in each of our bags. We’ll be well-equipped if we get the bags back after all. But we aren’t hopeful.

Yesterday, after a great breakfast with Greg, Maisie, and her boyfriend Nick, we returned to our hotel and hung out for the rest of the day. At dinner time, Tom went to Chipotle to pick up our dinner. I had a salad bowl, and he had tacos. It was hard to believe the cost of the takeaway meal was $48.

When we were here in May, the identical items would have been less than $30. It would have been in the $25 range a few years earlier. We recall making these same purchases when we lived in Minnesota over ten years ago, being no more than $18 to feed the two of us. Wow! Times have changed.

This morning, we had a nice breakfast included in our hotel booking, of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and a wide array of accompaniments. This breakfast holds us until dinner each evening, although Tom saved a few donut holes to enjoy in our room each day and evening. Tom has particularly enjoyed the donut holes but passed on the pancakes, toast, juice, and other breakfast side dishes. The coffee has been delicious.

From one area to the next, the scenery changed. With almost half of Tasmania’s entire population living in Hobart, most terrains were untouched areas of pure beauty.

Soon, we’ll be heading to Greg’s house to watch the Minnesota Vikings game with Greg and the family. We’ll do our two loads of laundry, washing the clothes we purchased at Target a week ago at their house. Doing so will avoid spending two hours sitting in a laundromat. (There are few laundromats in this suburban area). We’ll stay for the game and idle chatter afterward, then head back to our hotel for the evening. Most likely tonight, we’ll dine out.

As the time winds down until we depart, we’re making a point of seeing as many of our family members as we can before we leave. The time has gone quickly. We’ve made the very best of our time here and enjoyed every moment with family. But, we look forward to returning to Marloth Park to our animal and human friends. By Saturday afternoon, we’ll be back and settled into our house, hoping all of our favorites have been waiting for us!

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, December 4, 2021:

Look to the right of this tree in the center, and you’ll see our occasional visitor, a porcupine. For more photos, please click here.

In shock after a night out to dinner in Minneapolis…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 0 Comment

This giraffe didn’t seem to mind being included in the photo with us. This photo was taken in our neighborhood. Louise explained that the giraffes would soon come to our house, and they did then, and they do now. For the post from December 3, 2013, please click here.

Last evening, when we arrived early at restaurant Benihana in Minneapolis to celebrate our grandson Vincent’s 17th birthday, we sat at the bar and ordered two drinks. I ordered nine oz. of Pinot Grigio, a little less than two glasses in a small carafe, and Tom ordered one Michelob Golden Light.

The total bill for the two drinks was US $39.75, ZAR 697.84, not including a tip. Our mouths were agape when we paid the bill. We don’t spend that much on dinner, drinks, tax, and tips at Jabula on a typical Friday or Saturday night, ordering anything off the menu we could possibly want.

However, this was only the tip of the iceberg. The cost of the dinner was yet to come. Tammy, Tracy, Vincent, and Tracy’s mom Lena were in attendance for six of us. Of course, the concept of teppanyaki is fun and festive, and we all expected to pay a little more than in a typical mid-range restaurant.

We usually pay the bill when we go out to dinner with our kids and grandkids. But this time, Tammy and Tracy insisted on paying for their own meals while Tom and I would pay for the two of us. I’m glad we had that arrangement on this specific occasion. I don’t mean to be a “tightwad,” but the total bill for all of us, excluding our drinks (we never ordered more), was US $494.87, ZAR 8687.84. Had we paid for everything, the total bill would have been $534.62, ZAR 9384.10. Can you believe it?

Thanks, Tammy and Tracy, for paying for the four of you. Our bill, separate from the above total, was US $159.62, ZAR 2802.26. We’d already lost a ton of money with this Seychelles fiasco and surely would have flinched for this outrageous bill which included a 20% service fee, and yet the server asked us for cash for more tips. Oh, good grief! Don’t ask! Tacky.

All of us agreed we’d never return after those outrageous charges. Prices have obviously increased since the pandemic, and we appreciate the dilemma the establishments have had to face. But, goodness, consider diners’ reactions and interest in returning.

Yes, the food was good, but none of us ordered the most expensive items on the menu. Nonetheless, Vincent enjoyed his birthday dinner, and we all had a lovely time. We were out the door two hours from the time we arrived. It was windy, cold, and snowing, so we said our goodbyes and headed back to our hotel.

Tammy and Tracy are leaving for a week’s holiday in California while grandma Lena stays at the house with Vincent. We’ll be gone when they return, so our goodbye was for now, although we’ll be returning in nine months, spending time with everyone once away.

This morning, at 9:30, we’re driving to the town of Shakopee to meet up with Greg’s family for brunch at a popular restaurant. Hopefully, everyone is feeling well, and we’ll all be able to be together for the first time since we arrived one week ago today. We’ve been here for one week since we arrived last Saturday afternoon. It seems like a long time ago that we shopped at Target, exhausted and dirty after wearing the same clothes and underwear for 56 hours.

Hopefully, the return flight in five days will be easier than this most recent one. When we arrive in Johannesburg next Friday, we’ll be staying overnight. Otherwise, we’d have had to drive in the dark to Marloth Park, which is way too dangerous on the N4 at night due to “spiking,” carjackings, and murders.

If all goes well and we arrive in Marloth Park after driving during daylight hours from Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger airport to Marloth Park, we should arrive in the afternoon. If we’re well rested, we’ll head to Jabula for dinner. We’re looking forward to seeing our friends, Leon and Dawn, and any other locals who may have stopped by for sundowners and dinner.

Of course, amid all this travel, we’ll be searching for the status of our missing baggage. We’ll keep you updated on the results.

That’s it for today, folks. It’s time for us to head out for breakfast with Greg’s family. We’ll be back with more tomorrow.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, December 3, 2021:

Hippos aren’t necessarily the cutest of animals, but it’s fun to take their photos. For more, please click here.

Change in plans, nothin’ to it…We’re flexible…Photos from nine years ago today!…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 2 Comments

We posted today’s photos from nine years ago when we arrived in Marloth Park for the first time. For the story, please click here.

Note: Due to the reposting of old photos, there are spacing issues in today’s post.

The more time passes, the more we’ve adapted to the recent reality of our change of plans. A kind reader wrote and called our unexpected time with loved ones as bonus time with family”. Indeed it has been. We’re enjoying every moment. But life continues for everyone and last night’s plans changed at the last minute.

Our plans to go to Champs for dinner changed. Greg and Madighan were both sick and didn’t want to infect us. Instead, we took Miles, Maisie, and her boyfriend Nick to dinner at a restaurant in their area. We had a lovely time with the kids. Tonight at 5:15, we’re meeting Tammy, Tracy, Vincent, and Tracy’s mom Lena (who’s visiting from Pennsylvania), at Benihana, a popular teppanyaki restaurant, to celebrate Vincent’s 17th birthday, which is on December 15.

We’re busy, but not so busy we don’t have time to take care of some things while we’re here and prepare a new post each day. It’s nice not to feel rushed. We’ve been getting up by 6:00 each morning, having the included breakfast in the hotel by 7:00, and back in our room by 8:00 to work on tasks at hand and the day’s post.

Love the baby! We didn’t need to see many wildebeest during the Great Migration. They are here in our neighborhood, hopefully making a personal visit soon.

Tom’s enjoying watching football on NFL GamePass requires him to use our VPN, showing we are outside the US since the app won’t work while we’re in the US.

Soon, when the housekeeper comes to clean our room (they only clean every other day at this hotel), we’ll head out for a few items we need at Walgreen and quickly stop at our bank for some cash. Then, we won’t have anything to do other than begin calling the credit card company to see if they can help with any of our losses based on the benefits offered by the cards.

We aren’t expecting to recover anything. If we do, it will be a pleasant surprise and a perk we hadn’t anticipated. I’ve spent considerable time shopping on Amazon in the event our bags are lost for good. My bag contained every warm-weather clothing item I owned that was hanging in the closet in Marloth Park. Sure I have some tee shirts, but all my nice tops and pants were in that bag, along with 80% of my underwear and pajamas.

We didn’t know that baby zebras have fluffy hair and short bodies until seeing one up close and personal. Too cute!
!

The clothing we purchased at Target when we arrived without any baggage is all cold-weather items, all of which we’ll be able to wear during the upcoming cruise to Norway and again in the cool winters in Africa. For Tom, it’s not much different. We ordered him several short-sleeve button-up shirts he wears when we go to dinner or meet with friends. Also, he desperately needed some new tee shirts.

Nothing we purchased will have been in vain. I desperately needed some new items when I’d come to the point of tossing out old and worn items. I don’t think I will ever wear the shirt I wore on the trip here for 56 hours. I can’t even look at it. I had to toss the black pants I wore during that period when they were full of holes when we arrived here. I don’t know why that happened.

Several of our readers wrote inquiring about my headache during all this commotion. My headache improved after the last round of antibiotics, which I ffinished almost a week ago, but I am left with frequent sneezing and nose-blowing. Maybe once and for all, this is clearing out. The headache and facial pain are not entirely gone, but it’s much improved. I believe all the sneezing and blowing is allergy and sinusitis based, not a cold or virus, since otherwise, I feel fine.

Nine years ago today…she was wonderful then and she’s wonderful now! Louise stocked the cupboard with nuts, seasoning, and other foodstuffs that we use. Gosh, I haven’t had the use of a plastic container with a lid in almost a year. I’ll be spoiled!

There’s still quite a bit of Covid in the US with over 39,000 new cases recorded two days ago. We still see several shoppers wearing masks. But also, several other viruses, many as serious as Covid/Omicron, are rampant in the US and other countries.

We can’t help but remember how sick we were when we were here seven months ago. Hopefully, this residual sinusitis problem I developed with Omicron will soon be resolved with time and continuing treatments which I’ve diligently followed since we arrived last Saturday. It’s hard to believe that we’ll be heading back to Marloth Park in a mere six days. We’ve enjoyed being here but look forward to our return, as always.

That’s it for today, folks. Thank you for all the support and encouragement from many of our readers/friends. We appreciate every one of you!

Be well

Photo from one year ago today, December 2, 2021:

This may be a Southern Masked Weaver, who’s about to enter her nest. For more photos, please click here.

Generous support and kindness from our readers….Getting Tom’s google account restored today…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 4 Comments

Seated over the wing on our way to South Africa on this date in 2013, some of our views were obstructed. But the Heavens offered up this cloudy view. For more photos, please click here.

We have received many messages from readers, not only as comments on particular posts but also by email. We’ve made a point to respond to each one as promptly as possible and hope we haven’t missed responding to you. The outpouring of love and concern fills us with such joy that it surely makes the daily efforts to post new stories with photos meaningful and purposeful. Thank you!

This morning, at 10:40, we have an appointment with the Geek Squad at the Best Buy store in this neighborhood. Louise went to our house, picked up Tom’s two old phones, and charged them, but only one worked. The Geek Squad tech will submit a request to Google for a code that will come to that phone. Once Louise sees that code, she will tell us, and the technician can proceed from there. There will be no more for Louise to do.

Fortunately, she could get into the house, find the phones and do this for us. We are very grateful. We’ll undoubtedly figure out some unique way to show our appreciation once we return to Marloth Park, although she’ll dismiss her efforts as “nothing at all.” But having her and Danie always providing us with so much help means more to us than we can say.

Hopefully, this process works, and by this afternoon, Tom will have his laptop functioning and his new Google Pixel 6a phone. We are holding our breath that this process works. If not, Tom will have to create a new email address which will cause so much work for him to go into every app, file, and website he uses and change the email, which is time-consuming and cumbersome. It could take him weeks to accomplish this task.

Yesterday afternoon, as mentioned, we visited Tom’s brother Jerome at his house in Coon Rapids. As it turned out, seven of us had stopped by, including daughter Tammy, grandson Vincent, sisters Colleen and Patty, and niece Jeanne. After a three-hour visit, we all took off for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. We all shared a large booth, ordered drinks, and enjoyed fresh, delicious meals.

I ordered salmon and salad, and Tom ordered steak, mashed potatoes, and green beans. The rest of the group ordered steaks and ribs, which were huge portions, and all said everything was delicious. The service was exemplary, and Tom added a generous tip to the bill. Later, Jerome’s daughter Kathy stopped by for a drink. It was a lovely afternoon and evening.

Tonight at 7:00 pm, we’re meeting Greg and his family at Champps for dinner. It’s not as if we can go on a picnic or do outdoor activities in this cold weather. It’s often cold after a snowstorm for several days. This morning it was 6F, -14.4C, but fortunately, it is warming up during the day. Today’s high will be 31F, -.55C. According to the weather report, there doesn’t appear to be much snow on the horizon until we leave a week from today.

We’re heading off to the Geek Squad at Best Buy now. We’ll report the results when we return.

We just returned from the Geek Squad. After about an hour, we got Tom’s Gmail account restored, and now his laptop and new phone are working. We called Louise, who had his old broken phone in her hand, and she gave us the code that popped up that made it possible to restore his Google account. What a relief! Thank you, Louise!!!

Best Buy only charged $40 for the help. While we were there, we purchased a portable phone charger. When Connie visited us (when Jeff passed away), we saw her use a separate phone charger which should be helpful for us when we travel. We’ve been on several planes lately that don’t have USB plugins, and we were cautious about freely using our phones. With this external charger, we can use our phones as we like.

The Anker, Slim and Powerful +46 hours will be perfect for us on many occasions. I will keep it in my bag when we head out and perhaps forget to recharge our phones or run them down from use.

Tom’s happy with his new phone, and I’m so glad not to have to think about this anymore. One problem was solved and is now out of the way. Now, we have bigger “fish to fry” contacting our credit card company to discuss the coverage included for lost bags. We will report back the results.

Not much here in the way of photos. I haven’t wanted to pressure family members to have their photos taken for publication. Not everyone is comfortable with this, and we surely understand.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Photo from one year ago today, December 1, 2021:

A yellow-billed stork with a reflection in the water at the Sunset Dam near Lower Sabie in Kruger National Park. For more photos, please click here.