Category: Travel

Traveling Sick: What would you do?

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

I felt a chill shortly following our presentation of the gifts and supplies we had brought

Taking off

from the U.S. for students at St. Peter Claver Primary School in Soweto. Then a general feeling of weakness throughout my body that forced me to grab the nearest seat. I felt drained.

I took an aspirin that I got from Sandra, one of my traveling partners, and waited for it to take effect. All I wanted to do was go back to bed, pull the sheet over my head and sleep. But our flight back to the States was leaving in less than 7 hours.

Up until lunch time, I still had no idea what was wrong – just that I felt lousy. And a few hours later when we were having lunch with the teachers, Judith our other traveling buddy, started to feel sick as well.

When the coughing started, I knew for sure – it was the dreaded cold – the last thing I wanted to have on any flight, let along one that lasted 17 hours.

A cold in an enclosed space is bad for everyone so after checking in, we stopped at a pharmacy at the O.R. Tambo International Airport and bought cough drops and other cold remedies. Once on the plane, we got blankets and pillows so we could sleep.

Despite taking the cold medication and continuing to pop cough drops throughout the flight, we coughed sporadically. We felt badly about being sick and I hope we didn’t infect anyone else.

Two things come to mind on looking back: if there is a optimal time to get a cold while traveling, it would be on the day of. A day or so later, when a full blown cold developed, would probably have forced us to postpone our flight. It is never advised to travel with a severe cold as changes in cabin pressure on takeoff and landing can cause serious hearing problems.

Since our bodies were dealing with the onset of a cold, it was easy to sleep. We did for most of the 17 hours and it made the time pass quickly.

If you feel a cold coming on or get one before you fly, take the same precautions you would if you were at home. This is what I usually have on hand: Vitamins C, D and zinc – great immune system boosters and cold fighters; my personal favorites – Alpha CF and Kold Kare, taken at the start of a cold to reduce its severity and duration. If I’ve waited too long, I take over the counter remedies such as Sudafed, Afrin, etc., which help to relieve the symptoms.

So, do you think we should have flown with the early signs of a cold?

Travel Rules: What Not to do When You Visit New York City

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

New York City boasts an impressive array of attractions and activities – from Central Park to Broadway – that draw about 40 million American and international visitors annually.

Where to go, what to see

And we love that you come, because last year alone, you pumped $39 million into our economy.

But for people like me who work in the middle of some of the City’s most popular tourist areas – Times Square, Broadway, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central, etc., it feels like all 49 million of you descend on those areas right at rush hour.

So, if you happen to find yourself in any of these areas during rush hour, here’s what not to do:

  1. Don’t Hold up Traffic: Between 7-9 a.m., New Yorkers rush to get to work and between 4-6 p.m., they will almost run you over to catch the bus or train or subway that will take them home. Since you’re on vacation, you stroll. So if you’re caught during rush hour, rather than have us swearing, “Tourists!” under our breaths (or sometimes, at you), move to the side and let us rush past so we can get home to pick up the kids, send the nanny home, feed the cat, walk the dog, etc.
  2. Don’t Walk More than Two Abreast: A lot of sidewalks in the areas mentioned are wider than normal but it’s not an invitation for you and your entourage to spread out. Be mindful of us trying to get home, so walk don’t walk more than two abreast.
  3. Pay Attention: With some of the most interesting buildings in the world, like New York Public Library, the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, etc., we understand that you will want to stop, look up and take photographs. But during rush hour, don’t stroll and look up at the same time or turn around quickly. We wouldn’t want to run into you.
New York

Living in this magnificent city has taught me to be a more thoughtful visitor so when I go to other countries, I follow my own unwritten rules.

What are some of your travel rules?

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Here’s How to Travel with Friends and Keep Your Friendships Intact

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

One of my guy friends once told me that he never goes on vacation with any of the women

Judith, Sandra and Marcia in Lesotho

he dates because he knows traveling together would ruin his relationship.

After traveling with my relatives on many occasions, I was close to adopting my friend’s attitude, just to preserve the ties of family.

But my trips with friends had gone well enough.

So when my friend, Sandra, announced that she wanted to spend her milestone birthday traveling for two weeks in Southern Africa, I knew I couldn’t let my best friend travel alone. Sandra and I had traveled together many times before and had fun so I wasn’t too concerned. Judith, our newish friend and I share the same astrological sign, so I knew there’d be a good chance we’d have similar temperament.

All three of us had been out on many occasions – to concerts and dinners – but what would 2 weeks of being in such close proximity to each other do to our friendships?

So, here’s what we ended up doing that, I think, not only helped us to have a very memorable vacation and kept our friendships intact.

  1. Have an organizer: Someone must take the lead in planning the trip or you won’t get off the ground.
  2. Know each person’s interests/objectives: Sandra suggested early on that all three of us name the top 3 things we wanted to see or do while.  Getting each person to identify their ‘must-sees’ ensured that each person’s interests were addressed. It also meant that each person gets to experience at least one thing she wouldn’t necessarily have chosen herself, like the safari, for example.
  3. Pitch in: If possible, assign each person the responsibility for planning a part of the trip. In our case, we had 3 different cities, Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg. Each person selected the city they wanted to plan. Another good way to get everyone invested in the trip and also allows each person to become the resident ‘expert’ on a particular place.

What are your tips for maintaining friendships while exploring the world?

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We Thought You Were White!

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

It was Sandra’s suggestion that we donate supplies to a school in South Africa – preferably one that hadn’t benefited from the largesse of some other donor – and Judith and I agreed, gladly.

We bought pens, pencils, notebooks, erasers, sharpeners, pencil cases and T-shirts – enough to be given to the kids who needed them the most.

The principal had sent letters to the parents of 36 students inviting them to the school that Saturday morning “to receive gifts.”

So on our last full day in South Africa, we made our way to Soweto’s St. Peter Claver Primary School with Roger Phambane, who had made the connection.

On our way, Roger, called “Uncle” by the children, picked up between 10 and 15 of them, something we discovered he does every morning and evening. He also picked up one of the teachers, Zuzu.

Jasmine, the CEO

This young lady was one of the students Roger picked up. As she entered his van, she politely introduced herself as Jasmine, the CEO, then began scolding Roger for being late (our fault – we had gotten to a slow start after the previous night’s braai). One by one as the other students were picked up, she handed them sweets that she pulled from her bag.

Students at St. Peter Claver School, Soweto

The teachers had the students, as well as a few parents who accompanied their children, assemble in a classroom. We introduced ourselves, then each student – aged between 6 and 11 – walked to the front of the classroom and did the same. They were also asked to say what they’d like to be when they grew up.

Everyone cheered the future doctors, teachers, football players, musicians and lawyers. But the loudest cheers were heard when the smallest child in the room announced that he was going to be president of South Africa.  We were also touched by another student who said he wanted to be a father.

We took photos of each student with their gifts, then as a group. Following the presentation, we joined them in ring and tag games.

Students and teachers of St. Peter Claver School
Sandra, Pinky, Judith, Zuzu and Marcia

When we spoke to the teachers, one said matter-of-factly that she thought we’d be white. All they knew about us was that we were three women from Canada (not sure how where they got that from). Absent any other details, they assumed we had to be white.

We were surprised by her statement. But we understood: they wouldn’t have known who we were, that each of us give back regularly – whether through volunteering or donating money or supplies – as we were doing.

But it got me thinking about she was actually saying: that black people don’t give back.

Teachers at St. Peter Claver with Roger, far right

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Air Travel Charges: Will a restroom fee be next?

Posted on by Marcia Mayne
Boeing 747-400 at London Heathrow Airport in 1...
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First, food service disappeared. Then, a charge for pillows and baggage appeared. And one for window and aisle seats and those with extra legroom. Now some airlines are charging a fee for seat selection.

Will a restroom fee be next?

While travelling in South Africa, on each of our South African Airways flights – Johannesburg to Victoria Falls to Cape Town to Durban to Johannesburg – meals were served.

On the shortest leg, Durban to Johannesburg, which lasted about an hour, we had lunch – a choice of a chicken or beef sandwich. I was shocked that we were even offered something to eat, then very pleasantly surprised because it was delicious. So delicious – and I don’t throw words like that around lightly – that I ate the whole thing.

And, oh, they also served wine. When the flight attendants came down the aisle with beverage trays, I expected sodas but then I noticed wine. Curious, I watched as a few rows before ours, the flight attendant stretched a hand to pass the bottle of wine but no money was passed back. I watched again, just in case I missed the exchange. Nothing. No money changed hands. It was a nice surprise.

Now, the argument can be made that since South Africa is a wine producing country, wines would be plentiful and inexpensive. And they are but there’s still a cost associated with its purchase. So why isn’t SAA charging for beverage service?

Food is plentiful and cheap in the U.S., but American airlines charge for snacks. If the argument is that they needed to make money, they could have kept the (hot) meal service and charged us for it. Better yet, they could have included it in the ticket price. I hate pretzels and chips – they just fill your stomach with air and empty calories.

On both our KLM flights – New York to Amsterdam to Johannesburg, we were served sumptuous and appetizing meals that were artfully packaged.  (I wish I had some photos!) And the flight attendants were friendly and attentive and generally a fun bunch that, especially on the Amsterdam to Johannesburg leg, made the long flight pleasant.

Delta, the carrier we flew back to the States on, did serve us dinner and breakfast. It would have been criminal to fly 17 hours straight without food!

So tell me again, why do so many US carriers – and all the international airlines that follow suit – offer what appear to be rock bottom prices if they can’t make a profit?

Did they do some psychological or behavioral study that shows that we gravitate towards lower prices, adopt it as a business model (and a way to attract more travelers) and now cannot sustain it without going bankrupt?

There needs to be a revisiting of the airline fee structure. Either charge me everything up front (the fair price) or don’t charge me at all.

I don’t know what infuriates me more – the nickel and diming, or that I feel so powerless to stop it.

I guess we’ll all cry ENOUGH when they start charging us to use the restrooms!

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How about a braai?

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

About an hour after we left Durban‘s King Shaka Airport, we were at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. Though only a short distance away, it felt like a different world.

As we exited, we noticed Stefan looking anxiously towards the arrivals gate then at his cell phone, as if trying to decide whether to make a call. We shouted his name and he turned and smiled widely. It was wonderful to see his familiar face.

Despite the fun we’d had in Victoria Falls, on safari at Hwange National Park, in Cape Town and Durban, Johannesburg felt as if we were returning home.

As soon as exchanged hugs and settled into the jeep, we – Sandra, Judith and I – began chattering all at once, like giddy teenagers tripping over each others’ words eagerly trying to get the stories of our adventures out to Stefan as quickly as we could.

Stefan had some news of his own. While we were gone, Shepherds Court, the guest house he owns and where we had stayed when we arrived in Johannesburg, had seen a flurry of new arrivals and was fully booked so he decided to put us up for our last night in Joburg at his pool house. He dropped us off then left to do some shopping.

We settled in and made our way to the kitchen of the main house and opened a bottle of Tall Horse, a local wine we had fallen in love with. The door bell rang unexpectedly. It was Thope. She had several bottles of wine with her and told us that Stefan planned to have a braai – a kind of a barbecue – for us before we left. A braai? We were excited!

In our two weeks in Southern Africa, we had not been to a braai. We hadn’t thought about it — it wasn’t even on our must-do list.

Finally, Stefan returned and more friends arrived. The men went about setting up and cooking ribs, pork, beef and boerewors (sausage) while we women remained inside drinking and chatting.

Once everything was ready, we moved outside to the covered porch area where the huge braaier was located and the party began.

We had eaten so much beef in Southern Africa, we’d joked among ourselves that we’d  have to take a vacation from meat when we returned to the States. But what’s a braai without meat? The beef was surprisingly tender and flavorful and hours later, almost all of it had been washed down with several bottles of South African wine.

After the braai
And several bottles of wine
Just before dawn

If we didn’t have plans to go to Soweto later that morning, we would probably still be there, chatting and laughing. We had a fabulous time. It was about 3 a.m. when we finally stumbled into bed on our last night in South Africa.

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Durban’s Miles of Smiles

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

Our last morning in Durban began with us watching the sun as it rose over the Indian Ocean.

Golden Mile Awakening

And watching as the area known as the Golden Mile, Durban‘s popular stretch of beach came to life with vendors, tourists, swimmers, people out for their morning walk and workers cleaning up the beach.

Golden Mile Morning

One of the things we wanted to do was dip our toes in the ocean. The sand was almost golden brown and soft under our feet. It was our only time in the water since we had been in South Africa.

We waded in, stepped back and screamed almost at the same time when the water hit our feet.  It was a nice, bracing cold. But just wetting our toes wasn’t enough. We walked further in as the water lapped our calves. It felt great.

The water was a little brisk!

When we returned to our room, our clothes were wet and flip flops full of sand. Disappointingly, I didn’t get any shells on the beach.

Near the street, a few people had gathered to admire this artist’s rendition of a cheetah

Golden Mile Cheetah

and a lion made from sand.

 Golden Mile Lion

Durban’s artistic flair.

Garbage?

What’s DSW doing on the side of this garbage receptacle? Sorry, Sandra, it’s not the shoe store.

Sculpture

During our last drive through Durban, we came across these sculptures that I just loved.

Golden Mile Sculpture

Before we left the U.S., I had seen photos of Durban’s rickshas and the drivers online. I knew I had to see and ride in one.

And as Don drove us around, we spotted this one. I was so excited, I started to jump out of the car before he even came to a stop.

Golden Mile Ricksha

The driver obligingly put on his elaborate headgear but we didn’t have time for a ride. I could only take these photos.

Ricksha ride?
Color infected even the fence of this building
And this tree
This cube caught our eye
Then we saw this tree in Sandra’s favorite color
Moses Mabhida Stadium

Named for a former general secretary of the South Africa Communist Party, Moses Mabhida Stadium, played host to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Another view of the stadium
Coastline and highrises
Sibaya Casino from the highway

On our way to the airport, we noticed this building from the highway. It was the Sibaya Casino & Entertainment Kingdom. It looked impressive, if a little out of place.

Sibaya Casino Entrance

This would be one of my last photos of Durban. It had been a whirlwind three days. We had done a lot, racked up several thousand miles and made friends.

Compassline Africa, our travel agent in Durban, had taken fabulous care of us. If you ever plan a visit, send Tanya or Alison an email. They left us in the capable hands of Don “How’s ya Granny” Botterill who proudly showed off his beautiful province and shared personal and family stories, including the one that a distant relative was one of the first people to open the Sani Pass route through the Drakensberg Mountains to Lesotho.

Our goodbye to Durban was bittersweet – it meant we had just one more night in South Africa.

Goodbye Durban, till next time.

Back to Joburg.

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Should We Extend Our Germ-Free Bubble of Protection When We Travel Abroad?

Posted on by Marcia Mayne
A collection of decorative soaps, commonly fou...
Image via Wikipedia

Living in the U.S., we’ve become accustomed to a certain standard of living and hygiene and assume, unwittingly, that these same standards are more or less universal.

I was reminded of this while traveling through South Africa. We couldn’t get used to bathtubs and basins in older establishments that were equipped with separate taps for hot and cold water – but no mixer.

Obviously, the smart thing to have done was to run a bath but that involved a whole set of assumptions all connected to other people’s germs and how clean the hotel bathrooms really were. (I doubt we had brought bleach with us!)

So it got me thinking about our preoccupation with germs. Don’t get me wrong, I know they can be deadly. A co-worker once went on vacation and a few weeks after returning, fell into a coma from which she never recovered. But that’s an extreme situation.

Germs are everywhere, including on our own bodies. So why have we become so preoccupied with something we can never get rid of? Have we become phobic?

Whenever we women use public bathrooms, we squat or line the toilet seats with covers and never touch the taps or door handles after we wash our hands.

We spray the air to camouflage normal, everyday odors and ourselves to control and mask our natural scents.

Following the 2009 H1N1 scare, hand sanitizers became ubiquitous at office doors, restrooms and outside elevators, even though washing with soap and water would have been sufficient.

Of course, the more potent the products we develop to combat everyday bacteria that simple soap and water can counteract, the more resistant they will become eventually.

Will a day come when we export to other countries those bacteria that have become resistant here, like H1N1 came here?

Further, should we extend our germ-free bubble of protection when we travel abroad?

What stories do you think your clothes tell?

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

It wasn’t until I was sitting in the dining room of the Beach Hotel on the morning of our last day in Durban that I finally realized what I’d been missing during the two weeks we traveled around South Africa.

SA Jazz singer, Lorraine Klaasen in traditional beaded collar

At a table close to ours, a group of nattily attired women in dresses made from African fabric, sat engaged in lively conversation. In this room of business people, young professionals and tourists, they were beautiful and regal and easy to spot.

Nowhere in our travels had we seen a display such as this. Most of the women we had seen had coats on, the others – hotel employees, etc., wore uniforms.

Years ago on my first trip to Africa, as I waited to change planes at the Leopold Senghor Airport in Dakar, I watched, mesmerized, the Senegalese women dressed in riots of colors and patterns – no two women looking alike.

That’s what I missed, I thought to myself.

To me, more than anything else, seeing women in traditional African dress is an unmistakable statement of cultural reference, connection and identity that always makes me feel proud of my African heritage. I didn’t realize how much until then.

What stories do you think your clothes tell?

Durban: Golden Mile Smiles

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

I’m still not sure what it is about Durban – I can’t quite put my finger on it exactly. But whatever it is, it creeps under your skin, sneaks up to your chest, grabs hold of your heart and just doesn’t let go.

Could it be the sunrise?

Alison at Compassline Africa had booked us into the Beach Hotel and the room we had gave us front row seats to the most spectacular sunrise we’d seen in a while. And as we watched the sun rise slowly above the horizon, I thought of this version of Bob Marley’s Lively Up Your Self. (Bob would have loved Durban too.)

Sun peeking over the horizon
Pinkish yellow rays of the morning sun
Slow rise
Coming up
Sky with a golden sun
Brilliant sunrise

The thing we looked forward to doing in Durban was to dip our feet into the Indian Ocean. So following the sunrise, we got dressed, had breakfast and went down to the beach.

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