Transportation: Brendan
Accommodations: David
Natural: Jeanna
Monument: John
Cultural: Meghan
Sport: Brent
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Transportation:

This morning we had to get up early to catch our flight to Cape Town. We stopped by the Coral on our way through the lobby to grab a bite to eat and a cup of java before we got in the airport shuttle. We certainly had a good time in Dubai but I am not sure if that is because we just left Yemen, or if it really is a cool place.

Cape Town will be our last stop before heading home to the states. This trip is beginning to wear thin on some of us. Personally, I hate flying, not so much the act of flying, but all the bullshit that we are forced to go through just to be jammed into a tin can. When we were driving across Europe I was perfectly fine and felt free and full of adventure, but as soon as you throw an airplane into the mix, it just makes me angry. I don’t necessarily want to go home, but I am definitely tired of flying around to random countries and constantly being searched, double searched, and then having my papers questioned constantly.

Our flight is leaving Dubai at 9am so we arranged for the hotel to drop us off around 7am. The airport here is practically brand new and a definitely a marvel of beautiful architecture and state of the art engineering; I can only imagine the hole we will be arriving in when we get to South Africa. After having our bags tossed, and scanned, and then tossed again, we checked our luggage and headed for customs and security. We made it through customs with nothing more than a few awkward stares but the security checkpoint was another story.

After getting my backpack scanned, and tossed, and then scanned again, they decided it was time to search everything I was wearing. The laces and soles of my shoes were removed and then all of it scanned again, they made me step behind a screen and remove my shirt, belt, socks, everything. And what exactly were they looking for? Who the hell knows, I was just glad to make it to the terminal and get a beer.

The international terminal in Dubai

I chose to book us on a direct flight to avoid having to deal with multiple airports and it was only a couple extra hundred bucks. The flight was relatively quiet and we were able to get a good nap before touching down in Cape Town. I have this great skill of always sleeping through them handing out meals and then I wake up starving. John told me the cold sandwich was not worth it anyway and Brent agreed. The Cape Town Airport is currently under construction and many of the airplanes were deplaning on the runway without breezeways. Of course, being an international flight, we were sent straight through a breezeway right into customs.

We got our bags, and made it through with no problems. Meghan found our hotel shuttle and we all followed them out to van. I really can’t wait to not have to do this again for awhile.

The sign for a Hostel we saw outside

Accommodations:

We have had a great time over the past seven weeks, but everyone is starting to get a little tired of traveling. We have stayed in hotels 6 out of the last seven weeks, which would take its toll on anyone. We can’t really complain though. We have had the opportunity to see many different places and cultures and now we are in Cape Town with a lot of money to blow in a week before we head back to the states. We decided to splurge and stay in the Villa Sunshine Guest House. We all thought it would be a nice change of pace for the week and if we book two rooms for a whole week we get two nights free. We managed to get two rooms for 1760 ZAR per night. This place is amazing and we are determined to make our last week a memorable one.

After getting through customs we went outside to find the Villa Sunshine Hotel shuttle waiting for us. The guest house is run by the hotel and we have access to all the hotel’s amenities for the week. When we got to the house we quickly realized that we probably won’t need the hotel. There are only seven rooms in the house and we reserved both rooms on the top floor. The balconies look over the Atlantic Ocean and an amazing pool. They also server a complementary gourmet breakfast on the patio every morning.

When we arrived at the house we checked in and immediately asked the concierge where we could find a drink. He pointed right behind us to the lounge and informed us that there is a complimentary bar fridge in the lounge. These people don’t know what they’re getting into. I am pretty sure we can drink 1760 ZAR worth of beer a day, but they don’t need to know that. Excited, we went up to our rooms to drop our bags off and change clothes.

After getting our bathing suits on we went down to the fridge, grabbed a couple beers each, and headed out to the pool. It was really nice to finally relax by the water without 50 screaming kids running around. The temperature in Cape Town is still in the mid 70s, a little cold for swimming, but perfect weather for lounging by the pool. I have a feeling that the water is going to feel a little warmer after we get a few beers in us. Sure enough we all got in after a few hours and the water felt amazing. At around 5 we realized that we haven’t eaten in a while and decided that it was time to go find some dinner.

The air was freezing when we got out but we ran up to the rooms to get to the showers first. A few of us grabbed a shower beer, which might not have been the best idea, but we’re on vacation. Eventually everyone got dressed and we decided to find somewhere in walking distance, because everyone was already too drunk to drive. We want to really go all out in Cape Town and we didn’t want to spend all our money on cab fare.

We walked down the street to Simply Asia, a Thai restaurant that is less than a mile from our house. We all got to chose exactly what ingredients that we wanted and watch our food get prepared. After spending about 40 ZAR each we were full and it was already 8:30. We decided to call it an early night and hit the town in the morning. We have one week left before we head back to the real world and we’re going out with a bang.

Accomodations by David Hinkle

Day 2 in Cape Town:

Our day started out with everyone complaining, the trip was starting to wear us all down. We had been traveling together for weeks that felt like months on end. Meghan started talking about how when we got back, she was going to sleep for a week, and I felt the same way. Brendan asked me if my liver hurt as much as his, and it did. We had partied a little more than we had planned while on this trip and it was taking its toll. I had vomitted in over a dozen different countries, driving through, flying, walking. We were also many times somewhat dazed due to numerous time changes, climates, and cultures. We were just about spent out and decided to go to one more monument that we had never heard of. Most of the places that we visited; we had never heard of and had learned a lot.

I heard of a monument that is in Cape Town that was built to honor the language Afrikaans. I had not only never heard of the monument, but I never even knew there was a language called Afrikaans. Apparently Brent had heard of the language, derived from Dutch and made up of Malay, Portuguese, French, the Bantu languages or the Khoisan languages, an estimated 90 to 95 percent of Afrikaans vocabulary is ultimately of Dutch origin. Six million people in South Africa speak the language as their native tongue. Brent even knew how to speak the language a fair bit. We took a taxi from our hotel to a monument and museum called Afrikaans Language Monument (Afrikaanse Taalmonument) and Museum.

Admission to the museum was waived when Brent spoke to the ticket takes in Afrikaans. The workers all spoke the language and were very surprised to see an American speak it too. We were treated like royalty and given the special tour of the monument and museum. The Afrikaans language Museum houses the first printing press used to produce Afrikaans publications such as "Die Patriot". The Monument's design has specific meanings: Three linked columns symbolize the contribution of the Western world to Afrikaans, three rounded shapes represent the contribution of Africa, and a wall for the contribution of the Malaysian people. A fountain symbolizes new ideas and a pillar soaring 57 meters above the fountain represents the growth of the language.

As our tour went on, we actually really started to enjoy the monument; the design was something new and exciting for us to see. We even got to see a copy of the Bible that had been translated into Afrikaans that was very interesting. We had become very hungry and had packed a lunch since the museum invites visitors to picnic on the grounds to enjoy the views and monument.

Picnic Fun

We felt at home with the welcoming inviting attitude of the people. We ate at the top of the monument and looked out on the grounds as we ate our lunch. It was getting late in the afternoon by this time and we were still hungry even after out bag lunches. We hopped into a taxi and were headed back to the hotel to clean up for dinner. We felt very accomplished that we had managed to only spend $37 for the taxi and picnic supplies. It would have been less, but Meghan forund Fiji water and refused anything else bottled because she "didnt" trust it.

Monument Acticity by John Olive

We headed back to the house and everybody got cleaned up to go out for dinner. We decided to take a taxi to Beleza, since it is a couple miles away from where we are staying. It also turns into a bar at 10:00pm so we figured we could just stay for the night. We got to the restarant around 8 and got a table without having to wait. The food was amazing for the price, but the atmosphere felt more like a cafe than a nice restaurant. We were all starving and actually liked the laid back setting. They offer a wide range of food but most of us decided to order a burger because every burger comes with a free beer.

After we ate the place started to fill up and it turned from a cafe to a night club in no time. We stuck around for a couple hours to drink a few beers. We all talked about some of the places that we have been over the past several weeks and some of the things we want to do before we leave Cape Town. We decided to head back to the hotel around one so we wouldn't be dead the next morning and we hailed down a cab. Overall it was about 80 rand, not bad for a meal and a full night of drinking.

meal by David Hinkle

Day 3 in South Africa:

Today, for our cultural experience in Cape Town, we went to the historic museum called the Gold of Africa. This museum offers a unique and interesting look at African culture from ways of life, to wardrobe, cuisine, and accustoms. For a cheap price you get a front row seat to one of the greatest museums in South Africa and giving tourists a firsthand look at African culture.

We all woke up around 10 am, showered and dressed for our adventure today. We stopped at a coffee shop nearby to pick up some bagels and coffee for the road. Hailed a cab and headed for the museum.

We arrived at the museum around 11 am, paid our admission fee and entered the museum. We all were captivated once we started browsing everything was so authentic and real it was unbelievable. The trip was definitely worth the time. They had multiple exhibits, a gift shop with real and authentic items for purchase, a restaurant was attached to the museum, as well as pictures and products of African culture.

We ended up staying in the museum for a few hours and John and I got carried away in the gift shop playing with the drums and all the other items. Eventually the sales clerks ushered us out, but we did buy a few items to take back with us.

After we had seen the most out of the museum we decided to continue our cultural experience with a meal at the Gold Restaurant. Here, they serve up African cuisine in African style. All meals are brought out in handmade baskets on top of women’s heads. The restaurant has live entertainment and drum circles that play near the tables. The atmosphere is vibrant with colors and everyone wears the traditional African attire. Unlike the Muslim robes, which are black or solid, the African robes and head gear are bright with colors and patterns. All of us had a great time with the dancers and people, by the end of the night we all were dancing with the African women. The meal was excellent, but the atmosphere was even better. It was a worthy trip for sure!

Activity by Meghan Dees

Day 4 in Cape Town

Some of the best wines in the world come from South Africa and I wanted to be able to take advantage of this fact while in Cape Town. The other day while around town, I saw an advertisement for an operator that offers private winelands tours out of Cape Town and I booked us a trip for today. We were saving a lot of money booking a private tour as it only cost us 1800rand and if we had joined a regular tour it would have cost more than double that.

Our tour guide picked us up after breakfast from the guest house and we were off for another adventure. Our first stop was Stellenbosch winery and because we are a private group, our guide has guaranteed we will be there before the rest of the tourist crowd shows up. I guess without having to pick up multiple people throughout the city, we got a jumpstart on everyone else. It was turning out to be a beautiful sunny day as we left the city heading for the highlands.

If you have never been to a winery, then it is hard to describe the scenery. The entire landscape is just vibrant green and wide open. It feels like you can see forever across the rows upon rows of grapes. Stellenbosch was exceptionally breathtaking as it was nestled into a hillside with an excellent view of the adjacent mountain range. Not wasting anytime, we quickly went through the tour and got down to the business of drinking. I am not a sommelier nor do I pretend to be one. That being said, the wine was excellent and may or may not have had hints of oak and cherry and maybe some top notes of pepper and currant. We took some pictures, bought a case, and headed out for the next winery.

Grapes, lots and lots of grapes

We stopped on the way through the town of Stellenbosch and toured a wine cellar. There were thousands of bottles in this centuries old crypt and hundreds of wooden tankards. I can’t even begin to imagine how much all of that is worth. After we left the cellar our guide walked with us to the edge of town and showed us where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for so many decades. I guess there is nothing wrong with a little history on our wine tour.

Cellar in heaven

Our next winery was Paarl. Again, the whole place was indescribable. This vineyard also had a restaurant on the premise where we stopped to get lunch after our tour. The chef made us his special dish of fresh caught fish, seasonal veggies, and homemade bread. This was the perfect accompaniment to Paarl’s wine. We ending up drinking two bottles over lunch and talked to our guide about our trip thus far. He was amazed at how many places we have been these past few months.

oh yeah, did I forget to mention he cooked the WHOLE fish

The final winery on our tour was Franshhoek. This was a much smaller winery, but I personally believe they had some of the best tasting wine. Again, we all tasted everything and bought a few bottles each. By this time, we were starting to feel all of the wine from the day and it was definitely past naptime.

I ended up sleeping the entire way back to our place. Brent said that he was the only that was awake and it was actually peaceful for once not listening to us yell at each other. He told us that on the ride back we passed some really beautiful farms and we told him to go find us somewhere to eat dinner.

Day 5 in Cape Town

Being in South Africa, we thought it would only be fitting if we went on a safari for our natural experience. We have selected to go on the Aquila Game Reserve safari since it is a one day excursion. Thankfully they provide lunch so we don't have to worry about finding food in the middle of the outting! The cost is 1950 ZAR per person, which includes pick up from Cape Town, lunch, and the actual safari with an English speaking guide. Will update details in the morning!

Day 6 in Cape Town

We got up around 9 am and we were all absolutely dead from the safari. We decided to do something big anyways seing as it was one fo the last days of our trip. We decided to go skydiving!
John said he heard of a guy named Ringo that would gives us all lessons for free! We were so lucky and excited that we didnt have to spend any money. We headed out about 5 miles away from town where we met Ringo. John introduced all of us and he seemed like a really nice guy. He had a very nice small plane that he took us up in the air in, then we were ready to go.

Of course he gave us about an hour lesson before we actually attempted it. We were all scared to death but we decided that we were going to go through with it anyway. We all ended up doing fine. It was an amazing experience. It was very nerve racking for all of us but I have to say I think all of us enjoyed it. I vomited a couple times at the end but it was pretty good. After we were done (around 5:00 pm) Ringo popped some champagne and we all drank it in celebration. It was just a great experience all the way around. We got back to the Villa around 800 pm and we were all tired and we decided to go to bed early.
Post By Brent Schwartz

Day 7--EXTRA DAY THAT NEEDS TO BE FILLED!

Cape Town, SA to Raleigh, NC:

We arrived at the airport around 6:30 pm to get checked in, get our bags searched, and loaded up on the carts. A few of us got some coffee since it was a Red Eye flight. We sat around the terminal and discussed the past 8 weeks, it felt like we had been gone a year. I think we all had a good time, at times it got frustrating and a few of us just wanted to go home, but we made it to the end and we were on our way home. I think a few of us agreed our favorite places were London, Croatia, and Dubai. Iceland and Yemen were pretty bland, but still good experiences.

The boarding call sounded and we loaded the plane on our way to the first stop, Heathrow, London. The flight was 12.5 hours we were served dinner and breakfast. A lot of us ate, got a few cocktails, and then we slept for the remainder of the flight. We woke up prior to landing in London at 6:55 am, de-boarded the plane and headed to the terminal. We walked to our next gate, but we had a layover for about 3 hours. We sat in the terminal, listened to music, browsed the airport, and drank some coffee.

The boarding call sounded for our next flight departing at 9:55 am to JFK, New York. We boarded the plane and enjoyed the ride. Although it was hard to on this flight, many infants were screaming their head off for 8 hours. Most of us were itching to get off this plane. We arrived in NYC around 12:55 pm, walked off the plane and once again waited for our next flight. We were getting very sick of airlines and traveling we just wanted to be home. Our boarding call sounded and we loaded the plane for RDU at 3:10 pm. Almost home!

Our flight lasted about 2 hours and we were landing safely in RDU. We couldn’t wait to get off the plane; we grabbed our carryon bags and headed towards baggage claim to retrieve our heavy bags. We all got our bags, we all said our goodbyes, and some of us were picked up by friends, family, or loved ones, and others took an airport taxi back home.

Transportation by Meghan Dees

No Country of Origin

Cape Town, South Africa