April 22, 2025
Another travel day Is upon us, the last in our little car, and first flight since we arrived in Cape Town back on March 17th. Packing to get on a plane took an extra level of precision as we need to get all our stuff back into the 4 carry on suitcases and 4 backpacks.
We squeezed it in and made a pile of stuff we need to ship home before we head to the airport in George. Everyone enjoyed one last continental breakfast. Ollie discovered they had a jar of pickles and tried to slowly eat them all before we left. The hotel was also kind enough to vacuum out the car before we returned it, a month of crumbs and sand from the kids.
We stopped at Postnet (a third party that uses DHL) to try and get a box shipped home, what a nightmare. The people were helpful but cost and rules were brutal…. Needed to itemize everything and wooden items were not allowed without a certification they had been fumigated. Nearly $400 for a medium box to get shipped back to Kayleen’s parents. Lesson learned was to buy small souvenirs or ask visitors to travel with an extra duffel and we’ll pay to check the bag to go home. Anyone visiting us be prepared to be asked for a favor.
We stopped at bakery in Knysna (il de pain), on the way to George. It was closed yesterday but we really wanted to try. Kayleen and Lenny popped in and got cheesy bread sticks for the boys, almond croissant for me, and cookies for later. It is one of the most popular bakeries in SA, wish we had a chance to eat there.
After an hour and a half drive, which provided some solid Harry Potter listening time, we made it to the Europcar rental return. It was mostly painless after the car took a beating during our weeks with it. Will get to see how that credit card insurance coverage is for a few dings and scratches!
We were in the airport two and a half hours before our flight only to discover it would take about 10 minutes to get through security. Luckily there was a place to eat upstairs with an old indoor playscape and well as one, free, old school arcade game. The name of the restaurant was Whimpy, and I would describe it as a bad Friendly’s. At least it helped kill some time. The names of some restaurants in SA have been weird, two examples being Whimpy and Slop’s.
We made it onto the plane for the short 1.5 hour flight to Johannesburg (Joburg) where we spend the night at an airport hotel before heading to Safari tomorrow. The flight was pretty bumpy and they had a strange rule about headphones. No one was allowed to have headphone in while the plane was taking off or landing, as if we could possibly help with either of those things.
Ollie’s water bottle became pressurized when we took off so when he opened it midair it exploded water in his face which gave us a good laugh.
We landed safely and it was about a 10 minute walk to the hotel. We took the boys to the indoor pool before dinner to try and burn off some energy. The pool was located on the top floor and was right outside the spa treatment rooms. We were politely reminded to keep our noise down a few times. I tried but eventually gave up and just smiled and took the reminder every 20 min or so. Who puts spa rooms opening to a pool where kids are allowed??? We will be back there in a week ready to be scolded again.
Ollie continues to go on runs of endless questions on a wide range of topics. It is hard to keep track of all the funny ones while fighting off exhaustion but this one was good. When asking a question about Australia, Ollie phrased it as, “What’s the place we’re going that starts with A but is on the back of the world?”
Then it was dinner time at the hotel restaurant, Quills, with a few round of Uno. Then off to bed before our big safari adventure starts in the morning.
