On August 25th 2020, a date which will live in infamy (primarily for our parents), our plan to move to South Africa took a significant leap towards reality. Purchasing one-way tickets from Houston to Johannesburg on Qatar Airways, for the COVID-inspired price of $400/person (hurray for the impact of worldwide catastrophe on flight prices!), the only obstacles that stood in our path were:
For approximately 334 days, everything seemed to be going according to plan. Our storage unit was filling up with belongings (i.e. 2 of 3 waffle makers). Our overdue-for-repair house project list was slowly dwindling away (i.e. build shelves for extra waffle makers). And of course that pesky pandemic had essentially transformed into an inevitable part of humanity's future (i.e. maybe it's time to move on to pancakes?) And then on the morning of Sunday July 25th 2021, the day of our departure*, everything changed. Over the course of the next 72 hours, our lives fulfilled the callings of almost every negative idiom ever written – “when it rains it pours,” “bad things happen in threes,” or my new personal favorite, the old Urdu saying: “Agues come on horseback but go away on foot.” And while Agues is not a person who had somehow misplaced a 1,400 lb animal, which was my initial assumption (3 gold stars to editor-in-chief Julie for that catch), Agues IS associated to the primary symptoms of Malaria, which in post-editing hindsight does seem pretty apropros for the whole illness & Africa themes of this blog. Nonetheless, to summarize, our well-laid plans hit a slight "hiccup." And what better way to encapsulate travel-related "hiccups" then by digging deep into my treasure chest of HTML coding knowledge, and rocking out one of the best looking tables you may ever behold: Not Another Damn Travel Blog - The Official "Travel Hiccup" Table: WARNING - Mobile (i.e. non laptop/PC) formatting is complete garbage. Damn you free website editor! Good luck with the eye exam iPhone-only readers.
With no further "hiccups" preventing our eventual departure for South Africa, we looked back at our experience, not as a mild form of mental torture (queue the general COVID sentiment -- "I love my kids and all, but....) but as an acknowledgement that our failed travel attempts were probably for the best. Since, if Finn had not fallen ill, an unknowingly COVID-carrying Julie would’ve been her own personal superspreader event, becoming contagious right around the time we crossed over the Atlantic. And although masks are required on planes, they are not required during meals, which ironically is when the entire damn plane takes them off off to devour some version of “chicken a la something” which has been cooked more thoroughly than a piece of coal. But yeah, back to the original point, we saved people’s lives. We’re like the opposite of John Wick (or for those that are as "woke" as my editor-in-chief Julie, Christopher Columbus). * For the sake of the "seamlessness" of this post, I may have omitted that July 25th 2021 was actually our previously-rescheduled departure date. With the initial departure date of July 18th 2021 delayed due to COVID, South African riots and an unfinished deck which had all but consumed my existence up until that point. But let's not let details get in the way of a good ole fashioned pitty party * Onto the pics (which I must forewarn you, have an excitement level hovering around 0.2) Next Post: The Voyage (Part 2) - Layover in Doha Editor's Note - After my vain attempt to solicit comments on the last post, NO comments were received (insert sad panda emoji). Mark's self-esteem is at a disturbingly low level. Thus, I officially resort to bribery. Best comment (measured solely on an LOL-rating scale) on this post wins themselves a memorable mention in the subsequent post. Commence!
23 Comments
Katy
8/15/2021 03:20:59 pm
I applaud your efforts in the face of so much adversity and chaos! (And with two little kids in tow). Hopefully smooth sailing ahead!
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Mark
8/16/2021 01:45:21 am
Some would call us brave. Others probably would offer less complimentary terms. Yours seems to be the preferred method from this side!
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Eliza
8/15/2021 04:00:02 pm
‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far go together.’ Sounds like you’re working hard for an amazing family adventure together!!! Have loved the updates, pictures, and post. Y’all are so lekker!!!!
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Mark
8/16/2021 02:01:11 am
Baie dankie bru! We having a lekker jol. :)
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Mom
8/15/2021 04:15:52 pm
Shout out to your mom for her loving support, understanding and encouragement from day #1. Well, sort of. Maybe only in the last month or so? But who’s keeping track. A plus is I do love your blogs and photos.
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Mark
8/16/2021 02:03:32 am
Thank you “Mystery Mom.” A quick google search of your name narrows down your potential identity to approximately 3 billion people.
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Lacey
8/15/2021 04:55:18 pm
Actually, it’s “vain”.
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Pat
8/15/2021 05:24:32 pm
Or, even better, in vain!
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Mark
8/16/2021 02:05:08 am
You’d be amazed that the same website that brought you “that table,” also doesn’t have spellcheck. Shocking, I know!
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Melissa
8/15/2021 05:10:11 pm
I switched from my iPhone to my laptop for this?
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Mark
8/16/2021 06:19:15 am
The things we do for those to which we are closest :) Your sacrifice is appreciated and will be considered when planning future camping trips.
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Jessica
8/15/2021 05:28:32 pm
Melissa’s comment is equal in quality to this blog post.
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Mark
8/16/2021 06:20:05 am
This is either a well-deserved compliment, or a back-handed slap. Either way I'm sure Melissa appreciates it!
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Melissa
8/16/2021 01:36:49 pm
She does. :)
Colleen
8/15/2021 10:06:41 pm
That table sucked on my iPhone. :(
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Colleen
8/15/2021 10:10:34 pm
Frane*
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Mark
8/16/2021 06:24:47 am
We appreciate all readers who utilize some form of physical handicap when reading posts. It usually helps to lower expectations.
Gayle
8/15/2021 10:45:39 pm
This post gave me PTSD just reliving your nightmare of the last 2 weeks. Hope the layover was a smashing success in comparison 😉
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Mark
8/16/2021 06:25:47 am
Never before have we been so happy to spend 9 hours in an airport!
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Grate Uncle
8/16/2021 02:56:26 pm
Had a body such as me experienced such a hiccup its sphygmomanometer would have blown a gasket and this email would have gone directly to spam.
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Mark
8/17/2021 02:59:31 pm
Thankfully our sphygmomanometers are mostly intact. And we are utilizing them to their fullest capacity down here in Sea Point, Cape Town.
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Stephanie
8/16/2021 03:56:53 pm
I keep clicking the links to these posts and hoping to see a Temptation Island countdown...but glad you finally made it :)
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Mark
8/17/2021 03:01:18 pm
I greatly appreciate the throwback to the origination of where my blogging days began - Geocities. As well as a nice commemoration of the "Freshest Things Ever List" -- A list that has now been lost to the deleted archives of the interweb. Oh list, you and your fresh things will forever be missed.
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PRIOR BLOG POSTS: Year Abroad Intro: • Welcome to our Newest Blog! Again! • The Move - Dissected, Probed and Then Probed Some More • The Voyage (Part 1) - If At First You Don't Succeed, Trying Again Won't Work Either • The Voyage (Part 2) - The Layover to Rule All Other Layovers • A Personal Life Update - Establishing Our Shallow Roots A Guide to South Africa: • How to be an Expat When You Aren't Technically an Expat (Part 1 - Bank Accounts) • How to be an Expat, When You Aren't Technically an Expat (Part 2 - Health Insurance) • Load Shedding - Keeping the Lights Off in South Africa Since 2007 • 195 Ways to Fight a Pandemic - The South Africa Edition • Halloween in South Africa - Playing Catch-Up Since 2016 • SnapScan - South Africa's Glimpse into America's Future • Thanksgiving in South Africa - Where My Turkeys Be At? • Life at the Epicenter of Omicron - A Different Type of Cancel Culture • Playgrounds - The Starbucks of South Africa • Cost of Living in South Africa - An Exploratory Journey of Everyday Expenses Trips: • Namibia Roadtrip (1 of 3) - Driving a Shake Weight to Sossusvlei • Namibia Roadtrip (2 of 3) - Searching for Souls in Swakopmund • Namibia Roadtrip (3 of 3) - Getting our Safari on at Etosha National Park • Weekend Getaway in Robertson - A Trip Down Pleasantville Lane • Summer Holiday Trip (1 of 3) - Glamping Without the Glam in the Drakensberg Mountains • Summer Holiday Trip (2 of 3) - The Historical Chronicles of Kruger National Park • Summer Holiday Trip (3 of 3) - Searching for Whales and Spare Tires in the Overberg • Visitors Round 1 - The Woodmans - An Expedited Exploration of Everything • The Great Wildebeest Migration - 15 Years of Waiting Decided in 15 Minutes • Ngorongoro Crater - A Pre-Migration Layover Inside an Inverted Volcano • Ndutu - The Safari to Rule All Other Safaris • Serengeti National Park - Seeking Out Simba at an Abandoned Pride Rock • Zanzibar - The Island of Sugar, Spice and Most Things Nice • Visitors Round 2 - Let's Ignore Our Sanity & Do All The Things • Wild Coast - A Little Tatse of the O.G. South Africa Cape Towning: • Spring Break in September - Just as Strange as it Sounds • A Day in the Life of a South African Expat - The Visual Edition • A Wrinkle in Our Spare Time • Our Final Week in South Africa - A Bittersweet Symphony of Bucket Lists The Other Stuff: • This is 40: The South Africa Version |