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Oh The Places Derek & Anne go...…

and so it began......

Derek and I met in 2006 when I was helping out that office’s Admin at a company picnic in Reno. He worked for the same construction company there. We hit it off and that kicked off the growing love and travel. Every other weekend one of us was flying back and forth between Reno and Seattle. (In between we talked on the phone everyday for about 3 hours.) On October 13th he came out of security in Seattle and got down on 1 knee and proposed. You could say the LUV airline (Southwest Airlines) brought us together.

Since then we have done trips together to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Alaska, Idaho and many more. We also love to jump in the car/truck and go on day adventures, weekend getaways, road trips even a 5.ooo mile road trip. Our trip to Vancouver was our first “out of country” trip.

We are excited for more adventures to come and being able bring you all along with us……

off to South Africa.......

Welcome!

Our trip has been in the works for years. We had planned to go a couple of years ago but COVID had us cancelling and then trying again.

The time has come! We are all set to head to South Africa this June.

It is both bittersweet and exciting.

A friend of ours had passed away. She was an amazing woman who had a love of travel and life. When Shauna passed we bonded with a whole new and old friends. Coming together in a shared love for this amazing woman and we found common bonds of dogs, food, travel and so much more.

An idea came up…. We should all go to South Africa to the safari Lodge Shauna had loved. To honor her by going together and spread her ashes in the amazing place she loved.

So it began. The group meetings, ideas flying all around and Derek making great food,

We all decided to make this an adventure and travel together around South Africa.

So began the planning with Jean, Cecily, Susan and Katy (who Facebooked us since she lives in New York) and of course Derek and me. This began the travel of the six.

We knew we would be at the Kambaku Lodge first and the jumping off point so we could decide the rest. Deciding to the first lodge made the most sense. This is how it all came to pass. Also we will be able to spread the ashes on a game drive on Shauna's birthday.

Once we all decided this was going to happen we all started researching all kinds of things. Where to go , what to see and how it was all going to work.

I had spent some time at AAA travel and the nice ladies helped me with maps, ideas and many other things. If you are a member it is a great resource for all kinds of domestic and international travel.

We decided to start off this adventure in Johannesburg South Africa and end in Johannesburg. Thanks to Airbnb we are staying in a great house on the beach outside Cape Town, There will be penguins and sightseeing as we will have a rental van. Going into Cape Town to see the waterfront and a tram up to Tabletop. The first place we will go is to take a tour out to Robben Island that is famous as the place where former South African president Nelson Mandela was an inmate for 18 years.

We will then jump in the van and drive along the coast and ending at the sister lodge of Kambaku called At The Sea, There will be hopefully deep sea fishing, riding horses on the beach and relaxing.

After recharging for a couple days we will fly back to Johannesburg. Then jump in the rental and head out to our next hotel which is near The Cradle of Humankind. Looking forward to doing some stargazing.

Then it is time to end our time in South Africa and head home. Added bonus is that we have a 9 hour layover in London and in the daytime. Looking forward to exploring and maybe meet up with some friends.

Then back on the plane for the final stretch back to Seattle.

While we are on the trip I will do my best to post everyday. So keep checking back to see updates.