Tag Archives: G Adventures

Travel Confessions

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Letizia from Dutch Goes Italian tagged me for the Travel Confessions series. Thank you so much Letizia!  As you can tell from Letizia’s blog name…she’s Dutch, but loves everything Italian!  If you ever plan a trip to Italy…she’s your travel source!

There are a few rules in the Travel Confessions series:

  • Post a photo (or photos) and description(s) of your confession(s) in a new post.
  • Tweet your post with hashtag #TravelConfession and follow/tweet @Traveling9to5
  • Tag 3 other travelers you’d love to see

Travel confession No. 1

I prefer traveling solo…most of the time.  For some of the obvious reasons…you pick what you want to see and do…eat where and what you want…walk at your own pace…decide when you’re ready to leave…don’t have to deal with a traveling partner’s annoying habits (we all have them)–such as complaining..moodiness..overly talkativeness, etc..odd sleep schedule or snoring, etc.

I also enjoy it because I love to meet new people and it’s easier when you’re on your own.  This is a photo from my solo six week road trip through the Southern U.S. back in November.

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Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Wanderlust

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I’m excited to participate in the Adventure and Travel Magazine Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for Bloggers.  This week’s challenge is Wanderlust!  I have had a bad case of Wanderlust at times and looking at past adventures tends to kindle that flame even more.

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Broke down in Africa

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As I mentioned in my last post about Victoria Falls, that you can read about here, we switched Overland Trucks and Tour Directors on my 35 day G Adventures Overland Truck African Adventure.  I was relieved about the truck switch because we had broken down five times driving through Namibia and Botswana!

Originally, we were supposed to have a different truck, but the first morning of the trip, as they were beginning to load the truck with luggage, someone drove by and ripped the doors off of the truck!  I took a photo of the road and truck for most of them.

 

This first breakdown was the longest…over an hour…so the Danish girls decided to get some sun…

Road – breakdown #1

Road – breakdown #2

Road – breakdown #3

The next two days of my 35 day G Adventures African Overland Truck adventure were spent doing a variety of things…organizing my luggage, doing laundry (I only paid to have someone do my laundry twice on the trip), had another massage and a pedicure, internet time (usually I had to pay for wireless), napping, and dinner out with the new group,

The following morning we got on the road by 6:45am and drove 7 hours to Lusaka, Zambia and set up camp at the Eureka Restcamp.  There were some zebra roaming around the campsite…pretty cool!

Okavango Delta – Beautiful Africa

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On day 16 of my 35 day G Adventures African Overland Truck adventure my group went for a three-hour walk in the Okavango Delta in Botswana.  We were surprised to see so much wildlife!  We saw Giraffe, wildebeest, warthog, elephant, antelope, zebra, and hippo.  Here is a buffalo skull on the trail…

We didn’t eat breakfast before the hike, so we had brunch upon our return.  Usually, our breakfasts consisted of instant coffee, cold cereals, bananas, sometimes yogurt, and granola or oatmeal were offered.  If we had a long driving day in the overland truck, we would pack a sandwich and eat on the truck.  Sometimes, when we were able to stop, we would have a pasta salad or something more substantial.

Here are a couple of photos of the women.  I loved this girl’s shoes…

After a short nap and swim, I read some in my book, “The Last Rhinos”.   We went for a mokoro boat ride to find wildlife and saw hippos.  As the sun set, I knew it was a magical time…

Once we were gathered around the blazing campfire that evening, our Mokoro drivers (or polers…I’m not sure what they’re called), who also camped with us, sang native songs!  One of the songs was “Beautiful Africa” and with each stanza, it changed to “Beautiful Hippos”, or “Beautiful Giraffe”, etc.  They clapped their hands loudly to the beat!  We decided to sing songs from our countries to them.  There were three Americans and we sang…”Take me out to the Ballgame”!

The Okavango Delta is an area that is still pure and peaceful!

Day Six of my 35 Day G Adventures African Overland Truck Experience

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After arriving in the beautiful town of Swakopmund in Namibia at 11am on day 6 of my 35 day G Adventures African Overland Truck experience, I took a taxi about 4 blocks to a separate hotel from the rest of the group.  Our accommodation for two evenings was to be in a dormitory style co-ed room with 7 of us (including some loud snorers), and there were no other single rooms available, so for $50 a night, I thought it was a great deal.  My room had a skylight and three beds.

After checking in, I went for a walk around the town.

I was surprised at how clean, upscale and new everything looked.  It was not overly crowded, but the few tourists I saw seemed to be mostly European.  Most of the shops had bars on the doors/windows and there was some barbed wire here and there.

I found a salon and had my artificial nails removed for the first time in years.  They weren’t holding up well with all of the camping.  That evening, I met the group for dinner at a restaurant called Napoletans and feasted on Greek pizza!

One of the positives of traveling in Africa by Overland Truck is the ability to see so many different places along the way!  This isn’t the Africa most Americans envision!