Tag Archives: World Cup

The Little Train that CAN: Our First Ride On The Gautrain

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10 June

Much like it takes leaving the United States to remain appreciative of all that we as a nation possess, the same goes for South Africa. Even though it is very possible to live a comfortable first world lifestyle in ZA, there are always those differences stemming from our diverse cultures. Dealing with the target on your back in ZA as a white person, never mind a tourist or an American, is quite different from most other nations. The lack of Internet access, which my iPhone and job at Apple have made such a necessity, plus the craziness on the roads that seems to be ‘proudly South African’ can lead to a dissatisfaction upon arrival. The fact that my first few days in country were troubled with a lost airline bag, and food poisoning, my return to South Africa had been far from pleasant. However, two weeks in Mozambique with the beautiful chaos that is most of the continent brings my appreciation for ZA back to a all new high. 2 weeks of seafood had also been my limit and being able to grab a fast food burger at Steers (a local burger joint) was certainly needed to balance my diet.

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The Magic Carpet Ride Begins

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The journey that has been 3 years in the making is about to commence. Six months in country, academic classes, refereeing in northern Virginia to build up the funds, interning in the District of Columbia, and extensive trip planning has all been in preparation for this: the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

The next two months will be spent fulfilling my Southern Africa bucket list and enjoying the most one of a kind event humanity has created in it’s few millennia of existence. For one month the attention of mankind is focused on one country and 90 minute competitions between 22 men with a ball.

Alisa and I are all packed after one final day of checks and errand running to complete our packing list: 2 more SD cards (could only find cheap 4 GB ones; that only adds 45 min of 720p 60 Fps to my PlaySport, but oh well), toiletries, two microfiber towels that we found at the MCX on Quantico, and a Snugpack ‘elite’ (which was an unexpected expense), and some first aid supplies, and torch. It’s a tight fit in my adidas bag, but Alisa is bringing two mammoth bags, so most of the supplies are in those. The electronics and valuables will be on our person on the flight over…

Both of us feel like this has been such an easy pack. Even though I’ve moved across the Atlantic six different times, and packed a bag for trips spanning the globe, there’s always been some level of trepidation about finishing it all in time. This time, it seemed to go so smooth, and with no last minute packing (or repacking by my mother). So Alisa and I are concerned by the lack the worry, though it might be a signal of us reaching that age where future planning and foresight have come together with a trip that requires minimum items. We both know the territory we’re going to cover (save Mozambique, which will be an adventure like none other), so we know the clothes and supplies we need, as well as the fact that we can obtain anything our heart desires in South Africa (save Jelly Bellys :). Perhaps when comparing this pack to the one we did before our 6 month stay in Durban is what is throwing us. There we had to bring a substantial number of ‘extras’ in terms of clothes, supplies, and academic accessories. This time, its just us, our clothes, our medicines, our cameras, my iPad, Alisa’s Macbook Pro, and some Trident gum. We will be more mobile over these two months, and it will be interesting if picking up to move on a moments notice will be what we expect.

We fly to JFK in the morning and then straight into Joburg, arriving the next day. We get two full days in the city before hopping on a bus and heading to Maputo in Mozambique. Hopefully it will not be during this time that it hits us that the critical thing we’re forgetting comes to the forefront of our brains. It’s weird to think that by the end of the week we’ll be sitting on a white sand beach in Mozambique sipping Mojitos or Amarula with our feet in dangling in the Indian Ocean. After the past 7 months of both of us giving the majority of our time to Apple/Human Rights Watch/Search for Common Ground/Soccer officiating, it’s strange to think that we’ll be able to….. relax?

Even to me, going to Mozambique in order to relax and recuperate before heading to the ‘mission’ of following around my nation in the World Cup seems just too good to be true.

It’s exciting to be getting out of the cage that has been Northern Virginia. I returned here just over two years ago with a degree from one of the best universities in the world and found that no one wanted to pay me for my services. A journey through multiple NGOs, hundreds of soccer games, and 7 incredible months working for the world’s most envied company has created a future that was not at all envision in August of 2008, and  has caused me to follow paths I did not expect to take. However, my goal all along that time was to make it back to South Africa in the summer of 2010. Now, that has been achieved.

To all that have been apart of my journey up to this point, I owe you a great thanks for helping reach this point and hope that you’ll continue with me as I travel routes new and old!

South Africa Navigation App Quest

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Since the announcement of Apple’s iPad, I knew it would provide the perfect solution to not owning an unlocked iPhone for use in South Africa. My original plan had been to route my trip through one of the few countries that sell unlocked iPhones, and then sell the phone before my departure from Southern Africa. However, with the iPad 3G being sold as an unlocked device and a full GPS, this offered a better alternative than having to go the first route.

Having a device that could use Vodacom’s telecom network and also function as a GPS device led to research into which iPhone/iPad apps were available to use as a GPS in South Africa. A quick look through iTunes brought up the following apps: NDrive South Africa, Navigon Southern Africa, TomTom Southern Africa, CoPilot Live South Africa, and Nav4D South Africa. I immediately dismissed Nav4D simply by the screen shots and in their description of the app, it was simply the generic wording, no dedication by the developers to even type up a custom description. Then there were four, let’s compare the challengers below:

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15 Days Out

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Life has been proceeding at a brisk pace since the beginning of April. It’s shocking to look back at our last post of over a month ago, as it seems like just the other day. Unfortunately, our current jobs keep us very busy and there has been little resolution on Mozambique. We have decided to simply head to Maputo, check flights to Nampula, and if they’re not to our liking then we’ll slowly head north till it is time to turn around.

Our Lonely Planet – Southern Africa came the other day along with out Kodak Playsport camera. You can see the first shots of it on www.theafricanfile.com under the video blog.  With Lonely Planet as her inspiration, Alisa has been scouting out Victoria Falls and tours to Etosha in Namibia and Chobe in Bostwana. These seem to be popular among the backpackers and tour operators in Livingstone, and Alisa is trying to find us something that will be cost effective compared to trying to do these on our own with no transportation. We haven’t yet worked out how to get to Livingstone, but it seems like all we need to do is get to Windhoek and then there will be transport out to Zambia from there.

In the time just before this, we have decided to head straight from our last World Cup match in Bloemfontien to Windhoek via Kimberley. However, getting between these two places is not as easy as one would expect, because even though they are seperated by just a few hours, they are not on a popular travel route. Buses run from Joburg to Cape Town through either of these two towns, but not between. Our plan was to leave Bloem to Kimberley, then to Uptington and up to Windhoek. This is all still possible, but buses are infrequent and may require us to spend up to 4 days in Kimberley. After reading the Lonely Planet exerpt on the town though, that might not be a bad thing. This seems to be the going plan, but Alisa needs to set out firmer dates for Livingstone and a possible tour based out of there.

Alisa seems to be willing to sacrifrice the Garden route in order to see Etosha and Chobe, so we may be arriving back in Cape Town after the WC Final (11 July). I had been hoping to get to experience the day of the final in country, but that might be something that has to be sacrificed in order to see what we want to see.

Hopefully, accommodation in South Africa will be sorted by next week, and Alisa can coordinate our Livingstone plans simultaneously so those are all set by the time we depart.

Everything in terms of supplies, has been acquired or on our final checklist. Hopefully this weekend will see everything come together so that our 4 pre-flight days can be spent packing and buying last minute items.