Tag: Travel

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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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?

Sani Pass: Would That be a 4-Wheel Drive or Donkey?

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

When I spoke with Kieron Audain, the student and author who contacted me from Durban, he asked if we’d be visiting the Drakensberg. I had no idea what he was talking about. All we had been thinking about for Durban was a visit to Shakaland, a tour of the city and Umhlanga Rocks, and finding some good Indian restaurants. It was going to be a leisurely two days.

But when I Googled it, I knew we’d have to go.

At more than 11,000 ft., the Drakensberg Mountains is the highest range in Southern Africa. It is also home to Tugela Falls, the second highest waterfall in the world and the location where several hundred rock paintings done by the Bushmen, the indigenous people of Southern Africa, can be seen.

I was even more excited when I saw the Sani Pass, the dirt road that zigzags 9,400 feet up the Drakensberg Mountain and connects the Kingdom of Lesotho to the province of KwaZulu Natal.

We wanted to do all three: visit Tugela Falls, see the Bushman’s paintings and venture up the Sani Pass but dropped Tugela Falls when we realized we’d have to climb a chain ladder to get to parts of it. In addition, there really wouldn’t be enough time.

So following our visit to Shakaland and our overnight stay in Ballito, we checked in to the Sani Pass Hotel located at the foot of the Drakensberg Mountains just before lunch to begin our drive up the Pass.

Sani Pass Hotel

I just love these thatched roofs.

After checking in, we began the climb up the rugged Sani Pass, a kind of no-man’s land between the South African and Lesotho border control posts.

Leaving South Africa

The nearly 14 mile road up the Sani Pass is so dangerous, only 4-wheel drive vehicles (or 4-legged animals) are allowed.

4-wheel drive vehicle needed

But the views are spectacular.

Sani Pass road

In the early 1800s, King Moshoeshoe and his followers settled in this remote area to form what is now the Kingdom of Lesotho rather than being co-opted by King Shaka Zulu.

View of the mountain
This is a remote area

There’s no way to drive straight up.

Zigzagging up the mountain

The best way to climb the mountain.

Sani Pass Switchback
Snow on the Mountain
Yes, that’s where we just came from

While we waited for lunch, we visited the Sani Top Chalet.

Sani Top Chalet
Sani Top Welcome
Sandra

Yes, we actually travelled 9,400 feet up the Drakensberg Mountain to have lunch at the Highest Pub in Africa.

My lunch
This bread was delicious!

I had heard so much about gluhwein, the wine, rum and sugar mixture served warm at the pub, I had to try it. I guess it’s better on a really cold day.

Sani Pass Gluhwein
Flying with the birds

Since the Sani Pass route is so dangerous and is unlit, it is closed at 4:00 p.m. daily. Shortly after lunch, we began the drive back down.

Under the setting sun, the mountain is breathtakingly beautiful.

In the shadows
It would be suicidal to drive here at night
Drakensberg rocks
More stunning views
Fire on the mountain

During winter, the vegetation becomes brown and dry. Burning off the dry grass to promote new growth.

Smoke on the mountain

Before we arrived at the South African border control, we ran into a few people climbing the mountain on horses and donkeys.

4-wheel drive or donkey?

Before the road was cut, this was the only way up the Pass. Residents would travel down to Good Hope, a now defunct trading post at the foot of the mountain, to trade blankets for supplies.

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I am proof: Some Black people can’t dance! My attempt at Zulu dancing

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

I’m a free style dancer. I’ve been dancing all my life but no one’s ever taught me to dance. I dance by myself to the music I feel and abandon my body to the rhythm.

I’m not bragging. I know I can dance and I dance very well. When I go to parties or clubs, I hardly sit down – I’ve been known to dance all night!

The one thing I hate most is having someone teach me a dance move and then expect me to follow after one demonstration. It is then that my normally fluid body becomes heavy, my feet become uncoordinated. They never seem to connect to what I see. (Don’t even add a mirror to that equation – because it’s then that I am the most awkward.)

Zulu dance at Shakaland

So as I sat enjoying the Zulu (mostly) men doing their powerful stick dance, I was content and focused on watching and photographing their moves.

Inside the hut

That is until Smagna, our Zulu tour guide, called for a male and female volunteer to join the dance from the small group of visitors at the evening’s festivities.

After he picked the male from the ‘male’ side of the hut and looked in our direction, I knew. He walked right over, stood in front of me and stretched out his hand.

It wasn’t a very complicated dance routine. We did a few practice moves -step, step, step, STOMP! Step, STOMP! (I can do that!) – then the drummers began beating their drums furiously. Try as I might, I could not follow what the dancers were doing or remember what I had learnt.

I’ll try anything once

When it was over, I thought, thank God, my humiliation is complete. I’ll never see any of these people again, I said aloud as I consoled myself.

But as I write this, I know, somewhere in Germany or the UK or France or some other country, some individual is sharing their photos of their visit to Shakaland and saying, I have proof: some black people can’t dance!

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Shakaland, Home of the Zulus

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

I thought Shakaland would have been touristy and kitschy – it wasn’t.

Located in a beautiful and tranquil area of rolling hills overlooking the Phobane Lake, Shakaland is an authentic Zulu kraal with beehive thatched huts built on the set where the movie, Shaka Zulu was filmed, the same land on which the Zulus fought many battles.

That movie was, I believe, my first introduction to King Shaka, one of Africa’s famous warrior kings and the man credited with uniting the various Nguni people into one large, proud and powerful Zulu nation whose influence can be felt today.

I didn’t watch the movie but the name stuck in my memory.

King Shaka of the Zulus, was born in 1787 and ruled for 10 years. During that time, he established himself as a military genius and a statesman.

Entrance
Shakaland
Shakaland Building
Overlooking the lake
One of the beehive thatched huts
Replica of a Zulu kraal

Smagna, our guide, explaining the workings of the kraal. The women’s huts were always on the left, the men on the right so that they could protect the women and children from intruders. For that same reason, men would always walk ahead of the women.

Single Zulu women

Single Zulu women wearing short beaded skirts. Older women wear clothes that cover their bodies.

 

Zulu woman

 

With the chief
Traditional dancing

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Countries I want to visit?

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

Funny you should ask. Just yesterday, I emailed a friend and travel partner about visiting Gabon, a country I’ve

Sculpture from Gabon

visited and she wants to visit.

Why Gabon? Well, besides the fact that I have longtime friends who live there, Gabon has stunningly beautiful wildlife, so a trip to the Lope-Okanda Reserve is a must; fabulous white sandal beaches, at Pointe Denis and Cap Esterias, for example. (I remember Le Cap being almost deserted.) I’d also like to see and do more outside of Libreville, like visiting Port Gentil and perhaps M’bigou, from where the popular M’bigou stone comes.

Rounding out my three countries would be Ethiopia and India. Both rate high on my scale for culture and history.

Ethiopia is an enchanting place that I’ve always wanted to see. One of my roommates shortly after college, was from Ethiopia. I remember a calendar she had that read, 13 months of sunshine. It puzzled me — how could there be 13 months? How did they come up with that number? I thought it was hyperbole. It isn’t. It’s actually a slogan for the Ethiopian Tourist Board.

But it’s more than that. You see, Ethiopia follows the lunar calendar, with each month lasting 30 days. The 13th month has 5 days, 6 if it’s a leap year. So, in Ethiopia, it’s actually 2003 this year, not 2011.

I’m absolutely fascinated by the ruins of Aksum and the stone churches at Lalibela. I’m surprised that I have not been yet.

India has been on my radar for many years now but I’ve never made the next move even though I also have a friend who lives there and who extends annual invitations. A visit to the Taj Mahal alone would be worth the trip.

India has fabulous food, fabrics, jewellery. It’s a place I know I’ll talk about for months after my visit.

So in answer to your question – these are the countries I’d like to visit.

Bon voyage to me!

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Do we really need two days to see Victoria Falls?

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

When our travel agent told my friends and me that she’d booked us for two days in Victoria Falls, we balked. None of us was convinced we’d need that length of time to look at water, no matter how spectacular it was. Boy, were we wrong!

We arrived in Vic Falls on a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon after a pleasant trip from Johannesburg. As we left the arrivals lounge, we were greeted by the sound of drumming and singing. We couldn’t help but watch as this agile and athletic group of musicians greeted us. It was a fitting welcome to Zimbabwe.

Vic Falls Airport Welcome

Since we were leaving the next morning to watch game at Hwange National Park, we knew we had only a few hours to see the Falls. Our plan was simple: check in at the hotel, grab a bite to eat and head out.

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