Now that we’re retired I really want to go somewhere warm for the entire winter. My husband, Jim, however, isn’t keen on the idea of being gone for an extended period. We’ve compromised by taking several shorter trips to warm spots over the cold months.
About the time we decided a cruise of the Hawaiian Islands would cost more than we wanted to spend, I received an email from Jetsetter.com offering a special deal on a trip to Vuyani Safari Lodge in South Africa. I told Jim it would cost less to go there for 7 days than a cruise of Hawaii and he said, “Let’s go.” Check it out at www.vuyanilodge.com to see where we’re going.
After booking the trip, I watched airfare prices for a while and finally booked a Delta flight from Des Moines to Atlanta, then Atlanta directly to Johannesburg, but the ATL to JNB leg is nearly 16 hours! More on that later.
Tips for booking airfare: I use a number of sites like kayak.com, farespotter.net, and airfarewatchdog.com. Each one allows you to set alerts to send you a daily or weekly email with the current price at various airlines and online booking agents for your desired route. Kayak also has a tool that shows the airfare trend that tells you whether to buy or wait. When you’ve watched prices long enough to know a good deal when you see one, jump on it before it’s gone. Then stop looking. If the price goes down, you’ll just feel bad and who needs that? Incidentally, you can also sign up at Airfarewatchdog for their newsletter sent to your email each day showing the best airfares from your selected home airport to all kinds of destinations. If you just want an inexpensive flight and don’t have a destination in mind, this is a great tool. That’s how we ended up going to Boston.
We have 2 days in Johannesburg before Vuyani Lodge picks us up and drives us 5 hours northeast to the lodge located just outside Kruger National Park. We usually like to go off on our own to explore but I’ve read conflicting reports about crime in JoBurg so we’ve selected the safest options for touring the city. The first day we will do the City Sightseeing JoBurg Hop On Hop Off Red Bus and day 2 we’ll have a tour guide from Themba Day Tours and Safaris show us Soweto. I checked each of these organizations through Tripadvisor and both show very positive reviews.
Another tip: I always try to check hotels, restaurants, and sights on Tripadvisor.com. The reviews are submitted by users like me and are very helpful in planning our trips.
If you have favorite tips to share, please post a comment.
Tomorrow I’ll tell you about some unusual preparations for this journey.