Phew….sigh of relief…we are traveling again now that COVID isn’t quite so deadly. Of course, our first big trip was to be with our dear friends, Dani and Marius, in Africa! As COVID was locking down the world in March 2020, we like everyone else cancelled our travel plans. We had intended to meet Dani and Marius in Europe to see two of their daughters and families. Flights cancelled and a credit in the account. We really missed them during the long travel drought!
In April of this year, it was beginning to look like we might be able to see them again in 2022! All of us had been vaccinated and had been responsible during the pandemic. We started to dream and then we started to plan for what became a 28 day journey together!
United Airlines is now flying direct from Newark to Johannesburg! That makes it really easy to get from here to there! After finding the best travel days, we booked the air travel! August 5 – September 2! We could barely wait!
Knowing the Universe would land us the perfect itinerary – our goal – Botswana, Dani went to work to book the Botswana portion of the trip. Patience is key in these endeavors! The trip would be a mixture of time at a private game reserve in South Africa and a 4×4 adventure (more in the next post on this!) on our own into the Okavango Delta and the Moremi Game Reserve. How, and when, and where were to be determined, even after we landed!
As the weeks wore on, Dani’s travel consultant, Oka Swamps (http://okaswampstravelandtours.com/), was busy working to get campsites lined up for us. The week before we left, the plan was more or less in place. Fly into JoBurg on the evening of August 6, spend the night in Pretoria and then get up early, jump into the Land Cruiser with the rented 4×4 trailer and head for Martin’s Drift to cross the border into Botswana.
John and I booked Premium Economy seats and then bought a chance to be on the upgrade list. We wouldn’t find out until the day we flew, but figured it was worth a try! If we didn’t get bumped up to business class, United would refund our investment! Lo and behold – being in the flow – we enjoyed Polaris business class both ways! Sleeping on each flight really set us up for success!
As for the “plan” – not so much! You will have to check out the next post to see how it all unfolded!