moving the parents

After a year of planning, my sisters and I finally got my parents transported from Jacksonville, Florida to Copperas Cove, Texas, where they moved in with me. I bought a home last December with the expectation that they would eventually live with me due to their health problems and it finally happened. I sure hope this works out because if it doesn't, there's really no where else for them to go because they cannot live on their own and take care of themselves. So, I spent the weekend transporting my elderly and disabled parents and their 3 cats more than 1000 miles over two days. Whew...

(Africa trip) final thoughts

Here's my final thoughts about some of the major players involved in the wonderful Africa trip I just experienced.

Journeys By Design (UK) - this is the travel agency that set up our trip for us and picked the designations we enjoyed. Gord, our travel agent, and his staff (Julie in particular) were wonderful to deal with. Gord, knowing that none of us had traveled in east Africa before, picked a variety of different experiences for us to try and was at all times responsive with information. The tour packets we received were very professional and thorough, and the transfers between locations that Gord worked out were seemless. If I'm ever lucky enough to get to travel to Africa again, I would not hesitate to use their services again and I would enthusiastically recommend them to others.

Nomad Tanzania - this is the operation that ran the camp in the Serengeti National Park. This was the part of our stay that was probably the most true to an "authentic" old-fashioned rustic safari experience. The guiding we received from Festo was supreme, the food and service was fantastic, and we were perfectly positioned to enjoy everything the park had to offer.

Singita - this is the operation that operates both Faru Faru and the Sabora tented camp. Both facilities were utterly different in character from each other, but both provided an intense level of service and food quality. The facilities at both locations were stunning and luxurious, especially our individual suites at Faru Faru. Of particular note was a magical dinner we had during our last night of the safari at Sabora tented camp where we ate outdoors on our own personal deck. The staff hung lanterns from the trees, prepared this stunning meal, and layed out a beautiful table. The picture I've uploaded is from that dinner.

Finally, my experience in Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic was everything I was hoping it would be. It's going to be tough going back to ordinary coach flights after that!

So, that's a wrap - on to the next adventure!

(Africa trip) picture wrap-up

These are the last of the Africa trip pictures I'm going to post to the blog. I am in Orlando, waiting for my flight home, and when I get home, I'll make one more post as a critique of the trip but probably not with more pics. I have so many pics and I wish I could upload them all.

(Africa trip) wrapping up

Right now, I'm sitting in the Virgin Atlantic first class lounge at Gatwick airport in London. After I leave here, it is unlikely I will ever indulge in this level of first-class travel again. It's going to be hard to give up but it's about time to get back to the real world. At least I've got another long-haul luxury flight to look forward to.

I arrived in Gatwick with a 16-hour layover to look forward to. Staying in the lounge was not an option because it is not open overnight, so I stayed in this interesting and adorable little cube-hotel called Yotel right in the airport which was recommended to me by the Virgin Atlantic staff. It's based on a model created by the Japanese, and each guest is basically issued a little cubicle with a bed, a fold-down desk, and a tiny bathroom/shower combo thing. Each bed unit, which looked a little like a bunk bed, also had a flat screen TV with 50 channels and movies and free wi-fi. And it was relatively inexpensive to stay there so I ended up with an unexpectedly comfortable night and got an awesome amount of sleep.

Anyway, the trip is wrapping up. Our final game drive to the airfield took us through the migration and I got more video and photos of huge herds of wildebeast, zebra, gazelle, and topi. Our flight was on the same small charter plane that brought us in to the Serengeti and when we landed in Arusha, we were met by our earlier guide, Festo, who took us to a coffee plantation for lunch and for some local shopping before taking us to the airport. By the way, I FINALLY saw Kilimenjaro from the ground, although I was not in a position to get some photos. Once back at the airport, civilization intruded and we were back in the crush of annoying passengers, of which the most annoying were fellow Americans. The flight to London on Virgin Atltantic was great - there was only one other passenger besides myself in upper class so it was like I had my own personal fight attendant. And that's about it - I'll be headed back to the states soon and my next update will come from Orlando.

(Africa trip) Serengeti overview

This is a picture I took using a feature of my camera that allows you to take three pictures in sequence and then stitch them together. This is a picture that I think really captures the scope and beauty of the Serengeti.

(Africa trip) Leopards

I just realized that I failed to add some pictures of the leopards I encountered, and that's a shame. I was fortunate to see two, not just one, and one of them was hunting. It was very exciting. I am also back in the world of fast internet access and it is nice to upload pictures without it taking 15 minutes or more.

(Africa trip) Sabora pics

Here's a couple of pictures of the facilities of Sabora, and no pictures of Sabora would be complete without including one of a wildebeast. We are surrounded by them, they are in the camp, and they are endlessly entertaining to watch. At this time of year, the males attempt to herd the females into harem groups, and watching these males run around trying to keep the females in the herd while fending off other males trying to cull their herd and claim their cows for their own is funny to watch. I watched this poor fellow defend his herd from a particular male, all the while another male was quietly culling cows off his herd from the other side.

This is a great camp and I hate to leave in the morning, but like all vacations, they must come to an end. I will be headed back to Nairobi tomorrow followed by a flight to London the next day. From there, it's on to Orlando and then back to Texas.