knysna is B&B country

spent a few days working / relaxing in the gardens route area.

we were a few k’s away from sedgefield and visited plett, knsyna, wilderness, sedgefield, and a couple of other small towns.

there are SO many b&b’s along the garden route – every small town seems to have hundreds.

and many quaint restaurants along the way.

after the internet conference in JHB the week before it was good to spend some time surrounded by greenery.

joburg tyres and crime

i spent the weekend in joburg, and was finished yesterday afternoon.

joburg looks green and bright at the moment with the flowers and trees enjoying the summer. but the roads are shocking – they’re getting to a state where you actually have to watch carefully to avoid the potholes. and i heard a story that a new fund has been set up that you can claim funds for if your tyres get damaged due to the state of the roads – eg: you hit a pothole and damage the tyre. i can see that one being taken advantage of in a big way.

also, the security is everywhere, but as everyone feels that crime in the last 6 months has been on a sharp increase, it doesn’t look like it’s working having a security guard on every corner. in glenhazel, they have just introduced a new security initiative, the GAP – the glenhazel active patrol – when walking around glenhazel, you see them all the time – driving around in 4×4′s, and on street corners visibly holding massive “shotgun’s” (i’m not sure what they were, but they look like they came straight out of a wild west movie). anyway, lets hope that the glenhazel active patrol are successful in preventing crime.

the wedding went on till the early hours of monday morning, and after flying back to cape town midday yesterday, i was finished.

fly mango

south african airlines have finally released the name of their new low cost airline in south africa which will compete against kulula and 1time. it has been rumoured for months that the new cost airline will be called mango – and it is – the website is www.flymango.co.za although it doesn’t seem to be live yet.
mango will apparently have flights from durban to johannesburg for less than R200, but it is not clear whether these amounts include airport taxes.

so the main websites to visit for flights in south africa are now:

www.flysaa.com – SAA

www.kulula.com – Kulula

www.1time.co.za – 1 Time

www.nationwide.co.za – Nationwide

www.ba.co.za – BA

and now…

www.flymango.co.za – Mango

there is an option which helps you to find the best airline price.

A company called Travel Start lets you search through all the different airlines such as fly mango, 1 time, ba, saa and kulula to find the cheapest prices.

Try out Travel Start?

flying kulula

i’m don’t have huge brand loyaly when it comes to flying domestically, but i had a pretty bad experience when i flew kulula a few months ago.

i was going to write to kulula to tell them about my experience, but i got caught up with life, and it didn’t happen.

i was seated near the back, and as the plane took off, about a litre (and i’m not kidding – it was about a litre) of water fell on me from above. i was drenched. the air hostess came over immediately as she was sitting near me, apologised, and explained that some of the kulula planes have air conditining that leaks slightly and when the plane takes off the water rushes to the back of the plane.

lucky i wasn’t going to a meeting, so was dressed casually, and i laughted it off, but if i was wearing a suit i wouldn’t have been the happiest flyer! (not that i’m usually am)

the apology was accompanied by…

…A FREE SANDWICH!!!!

that’s right – when they brought the food cart around (for those non kulula flyers, they charge for any food or drinks you take), the waitress flashes me a huge smile, and says “your sandwich is on kulula today”.

I’m like “maybe a free trip for a year or 2 will make up for this – i didn’t expect a litre of water being poured on me when i flew kulula today”

anyway, enough grouching – todays flight on kulula was amazing for the following reason – the captain.

Captain Craig Williams (i dont’ often remember names, but those 2 names are both important people to me) was brilliant – he spoke a lot in a very friendly chatty sort of way, and he let us know what was happening, and thumbs up for kulula, because for once you could actually hear what the captain was saying over the intercom.

flying into Cape Town, Captain Craig Williams let us know which small towns we were flying over, and other interesting information. for once, i actually enjoyed a flight on kulula.

but as you’ll see in my next posting, the day was about to change…

in Durbs

just arrived in Durban – will be here for 2 weeks for the festivals. i was only in Cape Town for 4 days, and didn’t stop running as had so many errands to sort out. Just before I left for overseas, my roof in my flat had to be fixed as it was leaking, so i moved all my furniture to my 2nd bedroom.

And when i arrived back, the roof was fixed, but the blinds hadn’t been put back. So within 2 hours, my amazing landlord had arranged for the blinds to be put up and the sorting began to get the flat back to home status.

But i won’t get time to enjoy my place in Cape Town for awhile, as i’m now enjoying home comforts in Durbs for the next 2 weeks.

Back in South Africa

Well, after 5 weeks i’m finally back in South Africa. I spent 2 weeks in Asia on a buying trip with Eran for the E2 Store, and then headed to the UK, Belgium and Czech with Lisa. Prague was incredible. We spent day 1 doing a tour of the old Jewish Town, day 2 doing a general tour of the city and day 3 we were at Terzinestad, a work camp during the 2nd World War, being shown around by a holocaust survivor – a gentleman names Paul who is one of the most inspirational people i’ve ever met. I bought his autobiography and will be reading it in the next few weeks.