Off to France

Left for the airport for a 1:00 pm departure for...Salt Lake City. (Delta no longer has a direct flight to Los Angeles, the tickets were frequent flyer business class, so on to LA via Utah.) Our connection was canceled for mechanical reasons but they had a spare and we got to LA with time to spare. While at the Air France counter in LA we observed a French women "of a certain age" having a discussion withe a supervisor. It seems her traveling companion, a dachshund, was, in the words of the supervisor, "overweight". I think he meant over the weight allowed for dogs in the passenger cabin, but she took it to mean he was fat. Heated discussion occurred-"Overweight, nonsense, just look at him" etc. We had to leave the scene before the outcome was known.





Boarded the AF flight at 11:30 pm, got into the comfortable Business Class seats, had a glass of champagne, and slept until about 2 hours out of Paris CDG. As we were waiting for our bags I got paged by AF. They were concerned that our bags had not made it. As I was filling out the paperwork the bags were found. Bev was making a mental note of the missing items that would have to be hastily replaced and our good luck in having key items in the carry ons. We have never had this misfortune in all of our traveling and our record remains intact. We are now at the hotel and leave for Normandy tomorrow. Time for some wine and food.





Ron and Bev





PS As Ron was filling out the paperwork for the (not) missing bags Bev observed the French lady and her dachshund strolling through the arrival hall. AF rules are no match for an aggravated Frenchwomen of a certain age.

We are off !

Sunday, September 14

The beige safari clothes are in the suitcases, passports at the ready, the shot records up to date, the dog nanny arranged and we head for the Sacramento Airport in 45 minutes. We leave on a happy note after celebrating the wonderful wedding, of Ian and Kareena Parks yesterday in San Jose.

We are headed for the beaches of Normandy for a few days. Ron, in his trip planning extraordinaire, figured out that it was someplace we'd always wanted to see and happened to be almost the same time zone as South Africa so would afford an opportunity to change our time clocks.

Botswana

Zambia

South Africa

Getting Ready

Hank's Aero Adventures has sent a large packet of "homework" including charts of Southern Africa, a treatise on South African Air Law, a cross country to plan, and a CD recording of South African Air Traffic Controllers speaking what may well be English. It takes a bit of practice to understand it, hence the CD.



We fly from LA to Paris on the 14th of September. We will take a few days to see Normandy, a part of France we have never spent any time in, before flying to Johannisburg on the 19th. The other advantage to the stopover in France is that it give us time to adjust to the time difference. Johannesburg is almost due south of France, so there is not much time difference. On arrival, after a nights sleep at our hotel, Toadbury Hall, Ron has to take a written examination and two flight checks. South Africa requires that all pilots in command of South African registered aircraft be licensed by South Africa. Bev will tour the Jo'burg area for the two days it will take to complete the examinations.





On September 22 we set off for the bush. We will be traveling to 5 lodges over the next 12 days. The lodges are located in the countries of South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia. The map above give a general reference. We will post individual maps of each country as we travel.

From Johannesburg to Cape Town-Vineyard Hotel

Must do:

• 10 minutes from town Mount Nelson hotel for tea



• Table Mountain, cable car ride to top



• Constantia wine region -20 minutes



• whale wathcing on the western cape?



• Harbout House restaurant (window seat)