So…Europe is cold in the winter… We were sitting in Olhao, Portugal and talking about where to go next…  We needed to get out of Shengan for 90 days and our plan was to head to Greece and Crotia.  However, due to the typical American mentality, we made a huge error in judgement.  We were picturing warm, sunny beaches and bathing suits because after all, that’s what the pictures show.   Nope…  December and January is cold in Greece… it’s jeans and sweaters weather!

So we started thinking, “Maybe it would be nice to have a white Christmas and go to Romania or Bulgaria!”  However, the thought of winter, snow, cold and ice for 3 months didn’t sound that great to be honest!  Then I spent some time researching the best places to go for winter and South Africa popped up!  The Southern Hemisphere!  Yes!  Where winter is summer….

We started researching and met a beautiful lady named Trude on AirBnb who was from Sabie, SA….  the city of waterfalls and right near Kruger National Park!  Trude is a world traveler herself and we immediately clicked and the vibe was just right!  After many chats, a couple of video calls and much research we decided to push the button and head to South Africa for 3 months!

We again purged our things to lighten our load and headed to Lisbon for the night before our flight.  We treated ourselves to a nice hotel and dinner and got up early to head to the airport.  However, when we got there we found out that requirements had changed and we needed a PCR Covid test now to enter.  Unfortunately they charge for those here and we needed rapid results which set us back $300!  It was a horrible trip to be honest, we got dinged everywhere and then to top it all off they lost my luggage!  However…. we made it to South Africa!!!

The first thing we did was head across the street to an amazing restaurant for breakfast!  British Airways had lost Quinn’s luggage and we were dealing with that headache and so we just needed to sit for awhile and eat and relax.  The Intercontinential Hotel was fantastic with it’s lush gardens and landscapes, beautifully decorated hotel and restaurant and great service!  It was a wonderful welcome to South Africa!  Honestly, the next time we fly in after a long flight we will just book a room there!

We then checked into a beautiful AirBnb in the Newtown secontion of Joburg with a view that couldn’t be beat!  We met an amazing Zulu family of business people that owned the place and spent nights on the rooftop bar with them sipping drinks, watching the lights over the city and sharing stories.

We stayed in Johannesburg for a few days to get adjusted and hopefully get the missing luggage.  While we were there we toured Newtown, had some delicious meals and started learning about the culture here.

There are 11 different cultures here in South Africa so it is an incredibly multicultural and diverse area.  We loved it!

There was no movement on finding our luggage so after the third day we negotiated a busride from Joburg to Sabie, a 6 hour drive.   We used a company called Bushveld and it was a great trip actually and only cost us about $20 each!

The scenary was amazing as we left Joburg and started heading into mountain country toward Kruger National Park.   We drove through some beautiful villages, including Dollstrom which is a trout fishing mecca!

We finally arrived in Sabie around dinner time and Trude and her neighor Liz picked us up and took us to our place where Trude had a hot South African meal prepared for us!  The house we’re staying at is wonderful and has beautiful gardens, a huge firepit area and a long deck overlooking the Sabie mountains!  It’s going to be a good month!

Since then we’ve been to Kruger, done some hiking to waterfalls, endured a massive hailstorm which had electricity, wifi and cell phone towers down for days and spent a lot of time getting to know the people here.  We’re catching up on pictures and blogs of everything this week so stay tuned!