- DRIVE: San Diego to Los Angeles (2 hours)
- FLIGHT #1: Los Angeles to London (10.5 hours)
- FLIGHT #2: London to Johannesburg (11 hours)
- FLIGHT #3: Johannesburg to Cape Town (2 hours)
(*NOTE - During the course of this travel bonanza, we lost Friday altogether.)
With well over 30 hours of travel and layover time under our belts, I'm sure you can imagine it was quite the relief to finally land in Cape Town. All the stress of flights, connections, customs, boarding and baggage checking finally behind us, we were finally able to breathe and forget about all the stress...
Until we rented the car.
Now, I had privately been a bit worried about my first experience with driving on the left side of the road and the right side of the car. I wasn't sure what it would be like, how different it would be, and what the South African drivers would be like. I had spent a good amount of time getting directions before we left so I could minimize the stress of the driving. Since we didn't have international data plans, our iPhones were no help in navigating, so we had to do our prep-work before the trip. So how did we do?
Let's just say it wasn't mine and Julie's best moment.
Between our jet lag, major hunger, physical exhaustion (neither of us slept well on the flights), and unfamiliarity with the area, we immediately got stressed and lost. As soon as I would miss a turn, I'd blame Julie, and as soon as I got anxious, it made Julie anxious, and we both just went into complete shutdown mode. The roads actually were incredibly well-marked and not confusing, but just being new to an area makes you second guess every set of directions you have.
Panic. Sheer Panic.
After a very humbling drive that featured about ten U-turns and 30 expletives (only out of my mouth...Julie is a saint), we finally arrived at our home base for the next four nights, The One-8 Hotel.
During our Cape Town research in the prior months, we found this hotel and really liked it because of the area it was situated (Green Point), the free parking inside its gates, the overall look, and of course, the price. We couldn't have picked a better place, as it featured very nice rooms with large bathrooms, as well as a downstairs lobby where they cooked us a fresh, hot morning breakfast every morning. The two main attendants were extremely attentive and helpful, as they would end up helping us plan our itinerary almost every morning before we headed out for the day.
Since we were absolutely exhausted, and glad to be done with the navigating process, we threw our bags down, crashed on the bed for a much-needed siesta, and agreed to get up in a couple hours to go walk around to the local waterfront area and get some food. And so we slept.
HARD.
And when we woke, everything was right in the world.
After freshening up a bit, we packed up the backpack and began our stroll down the main drag in Green Point, as we made our way down to The Waterfront, a popular tourist area and mall where tourists and locals alike shop and choose between many different food options. As we walked to dinner, we passed the Green Point Stadium, which was one of the host sites to the World Cup in 2010. We noticed very early on that South Africa was a melting pot as it pertained to food, with many cultures being represented in the food world.
Julie at the V&A Waterfront
True to form, Julie opened up the Lonely Planet "Cape Town" edition and picked out a great sushi place called Willoughby's inside the Waterfront mall. We asked our waiter what was good, and we ordered off a few of his suggestions. We ordered a glass of wine while we waited, and as soon as that first taste of the wine hit our tongues, we knew we were in for a great trip. Not only because we love drinking, but because we had a full day planned to the South African wine country in Stellenbosch. If this wine was any indication of what was to come, we were in for a great wine trip. The food ended up being amazing, especially some rock shrimp that were absolutely addicting. It was far and away their most popular item on the menu, and we had no problem understanding why.
Our first glass of wine at Willoughby's
After dinner we took a few photos, but felt the overwhelming chaos of the day start to take its toll on our bodies and minds, so we slogged back to the hotel, ready for a full night's sleep...in a bed, not a plane seat. And holy hell, combine that with a glass of wine, good food, and a long walk...we were done-zo.
NEXT UP - We drive the western coastline, see the local fishermen bring in their catch, eat a 12-course meal, and get covered in glitter.
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