South Africa

Thanks to the very kind assistance of Karin, who did a pre-checkin for me, all the admin stuff went quite fast. I was done with check-in, passport control, security within 15 minutes (with pre-checkin one can skip the queues and go to the business class counter to collect one's boarding pass - what a bonus!!!). Definately the most relaxed way of flying ever!

Now I'm sitting on the plane and writing my last blog from SA for a while. And what a relief it is! The last month (and the last week) was incredibly high pressure at work, so I am looking forward tremendously to this holiday. The only sad thing is that I will miss my family and friends (ja Dirk, ja De Klerk, dis nou julle!) over this next month, of that I'm quite sure. I am of course looking forward to seeing all my european friends (Regi, Louise, Rach, Nik, Sophie, Karin, Claudia, et al) this next month.

Although the seats are quite tight (smaller than SAA it seems, but I might not remember it all too clearly) I think this flight will be quite ok- I had my dealer get me some fixes to while the time (read, my med student friens get me some sleeping pills) and I got (thank you again Karin!) a prebooked aisle seat far away from the toilets. As good as it gets here in cattle class

We'll have to switch our phones off soon, so siging off from the tarmac of CPT.

Sent by Nokia Mobile Mail.

This blog should come with a health warning. A warning against terrible boredom which might lead to death. But, despair not faithful readers - I'm off in less than a week. 5 Days to be exact. I've been throwing my stuff together (it's not that I really ever need my skiing stuff and thermal underwear here in sunny SA), have done my Christmas shopping for my hosts in Germany (where I'm going to spend Christmas day) and have booked all my inner european travels (do you know of www.megabus.com?? it's like ryanair for buses in the UK - £2.50 return London to Sheffield).

Now all that is left to do is the find my darn skiing socks (any suggestions can be placed in the suggestion box - your anonymity is gauranteed).

By the way, just a short moan quickly. Does anybody know (or should that be does anybody care?!) how many power plug adapters one needs for travelling!! Especially with the 3-pronged SA plugs! It's a SA-euro adapter, SA-UK adapter and euro-UK adapter (for the cellphone chargers). They should allow an extra kg for SA'ns to take along adapters, just as they now make allowance for fat americans flying (I'm sure you've heard of the bigger seats story...)

Okies, before I face serious lawsuits for libel and defamatory statements (or causing pain and suffering!), I'll sign off. Probably till next time from the airport!

/hs

Sent by Nokia Mobile Mail.

After battling through the tons of humanity hanging around in the german consulate of Cape Town I managed to collect my passport. Happy days, I have a visa!

Sent by Nokia Mobile Mail.

It took a month but finally my preparations are now falling into place. I got my tickets (arrive the morning of 24 Dec '06 at 5h45 in Frankfurt directly from CPT), applied for my visa on Friday (will be ready for collection on Wednesday), sorted my travelling plans, sorted my accomodation, ie all set!

Now all I need to do is wait for the days to pass, finish up the last few matters at work these next 5 weeks (yes, only 5 weeks left! I'm very excited!) and then I'm off!

Only have a last bit of admin to do with having my phone opened up for roaming, getting all my winter gear together (here in SA i never use it, so it's all stored away) and getting some pounds and euros...

During the next few weeks I'll be arranging the final open gaps in my itinerary and after that the quality of posts on this site should be picking up dramatically (no longer boring prep talk, only boring "vacation snaps").

Till soon!

The whole point to a blog is posting to the darn thing as far as I understand it (yes, spot the n00b), so therefore, here's an update: not entirely an update for an update's sake since some things did happen worthy of my blog, but still excuse the boring bits for now (it'll get better towards the end of the year, I promise!)...

First off I am happy to report that I passed my Stellenbosch language skills test (a prerequisite for my application to Stockholm university) on the highest level (level 9, being an expert user of the english language, having an excellent command of the language). Congratulations can be sent to theh@can-u-believe-this-idiot.com.

Then I am also very excited about my England plans coming together slowly but surely: I have had very positive conversations with my English friends (please note, they insist that they are English, not British, not from the UK, but English - funny bunch these Poms I tell you) and have thus far already been invited to a real proper english roast in the english countryside (very very cool!) as well as having been offered accomodation at the Palace de Aldred (although apparently neither breakfast nor room service is included with this offer).

One outstanding issue of a very substantial diamond currently being held captive in London is also due to be settled shortly. Watch this space!

I haven't been to England since 1997 (I hear from reputable sources that London doesn't count as England, therefore the date of 1997), so it is probably about time that I just check up on the Poms again.

Now all that is left in respect of my England plans are to finalise the dates and book my eurostar ticket from Leuven, making it one (visit organised) down, two to go.

Enough rambling for one reader to digest, so off I go for now.

Till we meet again!

ps - Herewith a pic of the Peak District (area where I'll be treated to a proper english roast):

After a number of people having asked me "Do you have a blog, you seem like somebody that would have one?", a number of my friends having 'myspaces' and now my dad starting up a blog, I actually didn't have any choice about starting this blog (it's a matter of pride!).

Why this site? Well, except for showing the people out there that I CAN actually have a blog....? I'm planning some trips in the next 18 months and the "lets-email-everybody-in-one-big-spam" is old hat, sooooo: here we go.

First up is a planned trip to Germany, Belgium and the UK. Maybe even fit in another country in there if I'm lucky (hopefully Sweden!). Will see. Also planning to go and do a year's studying in Stockholm in August 2007, which would then probably end up as the most important subject matter of this blog.

This site will thus be about capturing these trips, probably more for my own sake than for my friends - like we all know, nobody is actually really interested in your holiday snap shots. In any event, the boring stuff will initially be posted here, all from applying for visums, getting stuff sorted and then actually getting round to visit the places. The juicy (?!) stuff will hopefully come later on, so hang in there for the time being.

The first part of the battle for my first trip has been won already: my ticket has been reserved (and what a battle it was - tickets in Dec/Jan is terribly hard to come by this late in the game) albeit not yet bought for 23 Dec - 23 Jan and my "extra" leave from my job has been negotiated with my boss. I should, if all goes according to plan, have my ticket in hand by approx 24 Oct 2006 after which I will be starting the most tedious process of applying for a Shengen Visa (yes, us poor Africans still get discriminated against when it comes to access to Europe).

Other than that I don't think I have much more for opening words (and it is already past 1am), so I'll (abrubtly?!) end right here.

Till next time.