Frankie's Non-Travels - Playing the tour guide

So this weekend two members of the German contingent were my guests.

So after two days of hurried cleaning and tidying and sweeping and wiping and shoving stuff into cupboards I met the Germ's and the whole group including the other hosts and we went to SAB World of Beer.

I thought the tour was pretty interesting but perhaps a little hardcore on the educational side for a Saturday afternoon.

The two free drinks after was quite a nice touch. I sampled a Sarita - It was dry but I could drink it... (nya ha ha ha)

My two guests were tired so I took them out for italian pizza for dinner and then (Shock! Horror! Oh The Shame!) We were all asleep by 10pm!! ...on a Saturday night!

On Sunday, after much discussion, we drove out to The Cradle and to the Maropeng Centre. For future reference, go to Maropeng with a school group and go to Sterkfontein Caves as adults. I don't think we got our money's worth out of the boat ride and educational buttons and displays.

Then we drove a little south east from the far deep West and went to Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens for a picnic lunch. We happened to run into another group of the German contingent and their hosts.

So we lunched together :)

Then we all went for a walk to the waterfalls to see the black eagles who were absent from their nest. Then for a walk up the hillside next to the waterfall to the look out point which was a tad steep. Then we walked up to the top of the mountain which was agony for the unfit Me and it was ridiculously steep.

Once we had finally made our way back down the mountain (aided by sips of warmish water - yuck) we decided to make the most of the afternoon sunlight and drove back into town and up Northcliff Hill to inspect the view.

Sadly with all the dust in the air, the view was obscured somewhat by the haze. We sat on the top of the mountain and watched the swallows and robins and other Little Brown Flying Creatures zip around in the air.

We finally turned my little greenblue car towards my castle and my guests kindly cooked honey mustard chicken on pasta for me. (and washed dishes!!)

To finish off the evening we played bavarian card games with... Wait for it... Bavarian Cards! My guest found out the sad reality that I am a little bit of a card shark hee hee.

Overall a busy memorable weekend... But this morning I was the very definition of exhaustion... Kept shutting eyes in the morning meeting (awkward!)

Frankie's Travels - More waiting

(wrote this in the airport around 4pm yesterday but didn't post because interwebs access accross the border is crazy bad expensive...)

My meeting went pretty well I think. I managed to get a lot of the answers I was needing and they organised a tasty fine lunch for us.

There was a man in the meeting with the most beautiful long eyelashes... And big ol' manly hairy moustache... Tried not to stare too much.

Our italian contractor was also at the meeting place due to meet with the clienr after us. And he had his nice young italian surveyor guy with him. Mmmmmm... Tried not to stare too much.

Now we're back at the airport with 90 minutes to kill until boarding and unfortunately at this airport there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in the boarding lounge but chairs, a door in, a door out and a clock... Goona be one long ass 90 minutes :/

That's all... (Trying not to stare too much)

Frankie's Travels - Cross the Border

It's another red-eye morning. I am popping up to Botswana today. We got to slightly later flight out but I still landed up taking it upon myself to be up at the crack of dawn... So 2 and a bit hours before boarding time I am seated at the airport... Smelling the croissants and muffins and coffee. (Gonna wait for the line at the counter to ease and then Imma gonna hava soma java boys n girls :) )

I always get very very nervous driving to to airport. It usually is pretty dark at the times when I am in transit. I think It's the long-ish distance at speed with faster cars zipping past me and having to dodge trucks.

For serious I get shaking hands and break out in a cold sweat while driving that road. And It's always a huge relief when I finally turn onto the tiny stetch of highway that carries me through to the airport parking lots. Getting home is another story in itself...

So I am going on a business trip. Now in preparing yesterday, my laptop was giving me issues as well as asking me to change passwords and all and all and all... Anyway - I tried to check my mail this morning and I seem to be locked out!! So I got a few problems there. I just need to hope that I can still log onto my laptop or else Im gonna be in So Much trouble for not being able to take minutes of the meeting.

Now this meeting is gonna be kinda huge As in several parties all sitting down to discuss and hopefully agree. Double nervous on the premonition that Ill be the nominated Minute-taker!

For now I got my coffee and my freebie news paper and exactly 2 hours to go until take off.... So Imma gonna chillax for a while :)

Travelling

So I went to site yesterday. The great joy of getting to fly was overflowing in my cold head yesterday at the crack of dawn which was about the time I arrived at the airport. Let's break down the time line here since I am in fact Still in Gaborone (yeah yeah one day trip right? NOT)

4:00am alarm goes off
4:30am run out the front door (freakishly scared I have forgotten something - I did)
5:15am find parking at airport (trying hard to remember how to get back to my car)
5:20am booked in and told to be at the boarding gate on the OTHER SIDE of the airport in 5 minutes
5:30am at boarding gate - it is closed
6:20am liftoff! wheee
7:30am landing - I try to fake nonchalance by being asleep as we touchdown - I get a fright and leap in my seatbelted seat - not very blase Frank...
7:45am find a seat to wait to be collected from airport and try not draw attention to myself by cracking up while reading Pratchett.
10:00am Leave for site (we had to wait for someone else to arrive too)
12:45pm arrive on site for 13:00 meeting
12:59pm discover meeting postponed to 14:00 because people must lunch
13:00 - 14:00 phone people, be annoyed, get dust in eyes, get gently verbally abused by contractor
14:00 meeting commencement Yaay! Wait I am supposed to run the meeting?
15:00 realisation that meeting is not progressing as well as that to make our flight home, we must leave in 30 minutes.
15:30 decide to stay the night in Gaborone and wander about the dust bowl for another few hours
15:30 - 19:00 wander about dust bowl, avoid enormous trucks, furtively eat mini Cheddars (aka lunch) get ash on clothes, climb sand mountains, be laughed at in Italian, make a grasp at thorn bush, try and not swear while picking out thorns
20:30 arrival in Gaborone
20:45 get lost finding hotel
21:15 arrival at hotel
21:30 dinner (the meal following 6am aeroplane breakfast)
22:30 start typing minutes
00:33 CRASH zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Today
8:00 put on yesterdays clothes - feels icky
8:15 attempt to use hand cream as face cream - feeling 1% less icky
9:00 abusing free internet at hotel.


And so I am sitting in my room trying to avoid the pile of work waiting for me back at the office - Imma gonna have to go make other people as of tomorrow - but right now I think I should take it a teeny tiny bit easy before I go out and make the most of being in the same city as my client again... (seeing him later, we shall have words, hopefully good ones)

and that is the story of the one-day becoming two-day trip to site. (to quote someone, "No body ever died of a little dirt...")

Frankies Travels : Ballito, Durban, KZN

I am on my last evening here in the Dolphin Caravan Park in Ballito (Compensation Road if you must know)

It has been 10 days down on the late summer humid semi-tropical east coast in walking distance to the beach.... Willards Beach... If you must know.

This holiday has been a semi-return to childhood as I haven't been caravanning with my family (or holidaying in fact) for at least 2 years.

I got sick and tired of it and put my foot down and said No More and found excuses to not go for two whole years (basically Final year of varsity and not having leave from work - real difficult excuses there)

I just got tired of the concept and the close small living spaces and the family members annoying personality traits...

However this time I decided to come along as I haven't really had a nice holiday in a while and I was needing a break from work. Incidently this family holiday comes just before the new lease on my new place took effect... So essentially 10 days in a tent and caravan closed space with family and then go home and moving out!

And so overall it's been pretty good. The weather was fine and the sea and sand and surf was reasonable and the bickering and disagreements and annoying traits were perhaps easier to ignore. I actually got to spend some pretty quality time with the siblings.

I will complain that There is SO MUCH gear to set up for this camping concept! It get pretty tired and old pretty fast on the first day after 8 hours of travelling and an early morning start to have to endure the bossing around and hot stuffy tent while we get ourselves set up. Enough tables and kitchens and chairs and tents and canopies already! (one always manages to make me bleed)

I will also complain that Enough with the scratching and adjusting and readjusting and itching and sleeping in loose trousers with legs splayed wide Boys! Sies already!

People smelly funny after a while. And their dirty clothes are containers of distilled portions of that weird smell (eeeeuuuwww!)

That's all :)

PS so overall I am sad to be returning to work in two days. Tomorrow is going to be extreme tiredness of travelling and unpacking. bleeuugghh SO SO not in the mood :) Toyota did not take comfort into account into designing the passenger row of the Venture.... (My legs are gonna wanna die tomorrow)

Frankies Travels - Gaborone Airport

I am only blogging now cuz I am bored... Doot dee doot The fan is moving but there is no cold air to be channelled towards this weary traveller. Lemme tell you what I learnt today...

Double cab bakkies and cars of that general variety will always have extremely friggin uncomfortable passenger seats - the second row I mean. The height of the seat (too low) and the leg room (too little) and the arm rests make for a ride in the very armpit of comfort.

Foreign contractors will complain about a rough ride off road until they work out how much other foreigners pay to do the exact same thing for leisure.

Donkeys and cows meet tragic ends when they walk into the national roads (much to the delight of the locals - they were smoking the meat on the side of the road!) but never ever ever have I seen a road-kill goat.

Squirrels can run like the blazes when they hear a car coming - like a tiny furry streak of lightning. (I saw a squashed hedgehog tho :C I was very very sad for it having it's short life snuffed out)

Swedish people are peeeeee-dantic about saving paper. (blush - mean old men)

It's expensive to check your email from outside the border and expensive to recieve text messages but it's so worth it to know that someone misses you :D

Yaay for December time - bring on the iced pink drinks and the swimming pool - and the sunscreen. Sunscreen smell always makes me think of the beach and holidays - it's a happy smell, a memory of younger more carefree days ...sigh :)

Frankie's Travels - on the long road back home

So we travelled to Selebi Phikwe yesterday and stayed over at the Syringa Lodge. Lesson : Franchise in SA with decent food does not mean Franchise with identical name has identically nice food. I ordered a chicken snitzel at Spur - yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck! My colleagues think I am a fussy fuss pot for only eating half the portion.

It was hot and humid and so much so that I stood in the shower with the cold tap on full throttle and then tossed and turned the night away. Aaah a business trip to the Tropics my friends! (I saw we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn)

Today we drove 60km off road. The first 20 were pretty smooth. The second 20 was pretty stoney. The final twenty was driving in a straight line only in a seven dimensional reference frame. I had my arm around my belly to hold my intestines from being jiggled into knots!

But at least I saw some squirrels and a little bokkie and a hornbill and some guinea fowl. It was kinda amusing watching the Chief and Principal engineers getting medival on the bos with a bush saw!

My scrambled eggs and tinned pears breakfast has long since been absorbed into my blood stream.... Hungry Frank :C I hope the aeroplane food is nice...