Ready to get some Glenn Hodgson all up in ya?
8.22.2011
Glenn Hodgson on breathing recirculated farts, being a grammar nazi, and how much he loves to slappa da bass.
A blogger known simply as Gary Cool sat down with Glenn before the release of Dragonflies 3D. They talk ink, emo hair, and more:
8.09.2011
Who's ready for round 3?
If you are not yet signed up for the emails though the Parlotones website you are missing out! Go now and sign up to get exclusive content. My email was graced with a free download of one of the acoustic songs off Eavesdropping On The Songs of Whales AND the announcement of some of the dates for the NEXT round of touring. Yes, people, that is correct - The Parlotones are coming back in October (because they miss us!) to a city near you!
So sign up for the emails and stay connected because before you know it, they'll be back in the US giving our ears new melodic tunes to love :)
Dani
7.29.2011
Official South Africa blog post #1
So, my original plan for my blogging was to do it as I went along while on my trip. As you all likely no, that was a big FAIL. I took lots of notes on stuff and thought that I would just go back later and write each day's blog based on my notes, but some days there was just SO much that happened that I'm afraid those blog posts would get ridiculously long, and possibly boring, so....... I've decided I'm going to break up my posts based on topic rather than day. Topics will include (but may not be limited to): 
The flight itself was amazing. Honestly, I wish I'd gotten the pilot's name because it was the smoothest flight from taxi-to-taxi. Take-off was impressive. None of that stomach-sinking-into-your-thighs feeling. There was just a titch of turbulence as we went through the storm clouds to get up above them but it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expected. The rest of the flight was smooth as glass. The landing was absolutely perfect. Like a feather landing on a still pond. Amazing! We arrived in NYC around 6:30 am and had about a 5 hour layover. We grabbed our bags and saw a Dunkin Donuts and I haven't had DD in forever so we had to stop and grab a couple of donuts and some coffee. The coffee was absolutely horrid! We asked for iced caramel lattes and the lady making the coffee couldn't understand English. The lady working the register was trying to translate, but she had a long line she was trying to take care of. We ended up drinking about 1/3 - 1/2 of our coffee before tossing it. We got to the right terminal and went to check in with South African Airways and I have to say, I'm actually glad we had that long layover. The line was outrageous! It wrapped and wrapped and wrapped around. We were in line about 90 minutes. That was just for check in. Then we had to stand in line for about another 30 minutes just to drop off our checked baggage. THEN we had to go through the security line (about 45 minutes all said and done). At least going through security was smooth! But sheesh. 
We got to our gate and still had awhile to wait, which was fine by us. Now, I don't know how many of you have ever had to wear compression stockings, but it was recommended by my doc that I get them for the long flight because I've been experiencing bad ankle swelling just when sitting around normally. They were ridiculous! Practically impossible to get on! I honestly have no idea how the heck my mom is able to get them on. I didn't put them on for the flight to NYC but I did put them on while waiting for the flight to Johannesburg. I swear I had an audience while fighting with the things. Of course, it didn't help that I have short legs and the stockings were just a titch too long so I was trying to stop them from "bunching" down around the crease in the ankle. What a nightmare! They did help some, but I still experienced some bad swelling, despite them and despite getting up to walk several times on the flight. But I digress... So we boarded our plane to Joburg and found our seats were right over the front of the wing. Now, normally I'm not a big wing fan (I like a nice, unobstructed view) but I had enough of a view and it wasn't bad at all. Our seats were very comfortable with two exceptions: 1) the arm rest between Dan and I went up but not all the way. It couldn't be tucked in between the seats which was really a pain. 2) The headphone jack for the in-flight entertainment was on the inside of my seat and the plug was freaking huge so it kept digging into my thigh/hip. Maybe if I weren't so big in that region I wouldn't have had such a problem with it, but still. 
The staff of South African Airways were great. Our flight attendant always had a smile on his face and was always willing to go the extra mile. Everyone was given a blanket and a pillow. At the beginning of the flight we were given little "welcoming packages" that contained a travel toothbrush, a small tube of toothpaste, some comfy socks, and an elastic eye cover to help with sleep. They also served two meals over the course of the flight. The food on the way to Joburg was actually pretty good, too. A bit salty, but good. The in-flight entertainment was GREAT though! 
I got to see a beautiful African sunrise as we were flying in. I'd tried to get some pics, but I was doing it with my iPhone. They sort of came out. What do you think? 
When we landed in Joburg we were a bit unsure of what it would take to find a taxi or a shuttle to get us to our guesthouse but we didn't need to worry for long - as soon as we walked through the doors we were practically accosted by taxi drivers and such. He helped us with our luggage and took us down and out to his car. It looked nothing like a taxi (no sign and no meter that I could see) and we were, of course, a bit nervous. The guy was really friendly though. He got us to our guesthouse and it cost us R500 (R is for Rand which is the currency in South Africa). We got checked in and Dan wanted to crash. I just wanted a shower so I freshened up while he dozed. After about an hour or so we decided to go out for dinner and we chose to go to the Montecasino to look around, especially since the Teatro where the Parlotones would be performing is there. The cab ride cost us R80. We thought that was a nice difference from the R500! The cab ride back, however, was R150. No clue why it was double, but there it is. Go figure. Another time we took a cab over there it was R120 and then R160. It wasn't consistent. LOL. Before we were ready, it was time to leave Joburg and head down to Cape Town. We headed back to the airport and it was another R500 - at least that one was consistent! The one thing that was a bit annoying about this, though, was that our guesthouse said they offered a shuttle to the airport. We asked about it the night before and were told it would be there for us at 11am. When we checked out, we were told that the person with the shuttle was having trouble finding petrol and he (the concierge, for lack of a better term) had called us a taxi instead. We thought he would at least pay for part of the cab ride since we were supposed to have the shuttle, but alas, we had to pay for the whole thing. Bah! Not a huge deal, but kind of annoying, you know? At the airport we got checked in to our flight and headed to our gate. When it was time to board the plane, we found out that our seats were at the very back of the plane. Uggh! I absolutely HATE flying at the back of the plane. It's always bumpier and you can't recline your seats. Double Uggh! We finally got off the plane, got our luggage, and immediately found a nice shuttle (and pretty cheap at R100) to our guesthouse which was in Sea Point. Upon learning this was our first time in Cape Town, the driver took us on a bit of a more scenic drive to drop us off. It was beautiful. Our guesthouse was just a couple of blocks from the beach, too, which was really nice. Our time in CT was way, way, way too short. That was compounded by the fact that I got sick, too. We took a couple of the city bus tours around town, which I'll talk about more in my Cape Town post. Now, I should mention that once we got checked into our guesthouse in CT, Dan realized he couldn't find our glasses. I had just bought new glasses with a brand new prescription on the day we left but I had put them in my glasses case while I was wearing my sunglasses. Dan had his sunglasses in his glasses case. Both cases were in the pocket of his jacket. We had no idea what had happened to them. He was pretty sure they must have fallen out of his jacket on the airplane. We called the airline and the airport but nothing like what we described had been turned in. Dan was HUGELY bummed about my new glasses going missing, and also because he no longer had any sunglasses and his eyes are pretty sensitive to the sun. When it was time to head back to the CT airport to fly back to Joburg, we decided to head out a little earlier just to check with lost and found and such to see if our glasses had been found. First we had to do our check-in, though. That turned out to be a bit of a cluster. We asked if we could check-in for both flights - our CT - Joburg flight and our Joburg - NYC flight since it was on the same airline with just a long layover in Joburg. That was no problem, thankfully. However, what was a problem was the seats that he tried to give us for the flight from Joburg to NYC. We'd already been assigned seats when I won the tickets and accepted everything. They were confirmed. We were supposed to have the same seats flying back as we did flying out 44A and 44C. The guy said those seats weren't available and tried to put us at the far back of the plane. NO FREAKING WAY was I going to fly on a 16 hour flight at the back of the plane. Sorry. The only other option, he said, was to be split up. Again, no deal. We finally had him "assign" us the seats together at the back of the plane (second to last seats) and I decided to go over to the ticketing agent to see if it would be possible to upgrade. I would have been willing to pay a couple grand to upgrade rather than sit at the back of the plane. She took our boarding passes that we'd been issued and said "I don't know why he gave you these. It says right here on the computer that you are confirmed for 44A and 44C." She then directed us to the check-in manager - who just happened to sit next to the guy who originally helped us. Now, don't get me wrong. That guy was very nice and pleasant. He just didn't give us the seats we were supposed to get. So when we went and talked to the manager, he looked over with a slightly panicked look on his face and asked her "Is there something wrong?" She kind of looked at him and then looked back at me and said the same thing about not knowing why he hadn't given us the seats we'd been originally assigned. She changed the boarding passes and we were on our way just as she went over to talk to him. No idea what they said, but I guess I don't really care, either. We needed to go see about the glasses, anyway. When we finally figured out who/where we needed to go, only Dan was allowed to go back. He went back and I waited. And waited. And waited. And then I heard them announce pre-boarding for our flight over the PA system. I started to kind of freak out because we still had to go through security! I was just about to go knock on the door when Dan came out shaking his head. No luck. We rushed through the airport, managed to breeze through security (YAY!) and got to our gate just as they started regular boarding. We found out when we got on the plane that the guy who had given us the wrong seats for the other flight had actually split us up on this flight. The seats were set up as 2-4-2 (two by the window, an aisle, 4 in the center, an aisle, and two by the window). He put us both on either end of the 4 seater, even though I specifically told him I preferred a window seat. Thankfully I was able to switch seats with a nice gentleman so that I could sit next to Dan. Actually, I think the guy was happier that way - he got an aisle seat. It was kind of annoying though. I was feeling really crappy from being sick and slept most of the flight from CT to Joburg. When we landed I was really groggy. We got our stuff together and I made the sad decision to not attend Neil Pauw's art exhibit. I was just too wiped out to be jaunting all over town and making sure I got back to the airport in time for the flight, so we just kind of hung out in the airport instead. The first thing we did was go looking for lost and found. We found it easily and explained what we'd lost and the guy pulled out a book where everything is logged and has full descriptions. As I looked down the page I saw them - two different eyeglasses cases, one saying Jones New York (mine). I was so excited!!! So, yes, we got our glasses back. Woohoo!!! We then spent the rest of the layover time looking in the various shops and buying some last-minute souvenirs until our plane boarded. The flight back to NYC was a bit bumpy at times. We apparently flew over a cyclone in the ocean and some icky weather off the coast of Africa. I don't mind a little turbulence when it's not the kind that jostles you all over the place. There was only one time when we had the big jostling turbulence so it was good. The staff was still friendly, but didn't go out of their way as much as they had on the flight over. In fact, it seemed like every time I'd ask for something, I was told they didn't have it or she'd bring it and then never did. For example, I asked for hot tea at one point for my throat and I was told they weren't serving that yet but they would be soon. So I asked for a bottle of water instead and she said she was out in the cart but she'd bring one right back. She never did. I had my call light on and no one ever came, either. Then when she came back awhile later with the drinks for the food, I got my tea but also asked for a bottle of water and I was told that they were out of water completely. Crazy. We weren't even half-way into the flight yet. The oj I had burned my throat like mad so I chose not to drink that anymore and it turned out that I just didn't drink nearly as much as I should have on that flight. Oh well. I'll also mention the food wasn't nearly as good, either. The dinner was okay but the breakfast main course (supposedly french toast with a berry sauce) was absolutely gross, unfortunately. I took one bite and gagged. The "french toast" was round like a pancake but had the consistency of rubbery bread. The berry sauce was very bitter. The other option they had for breakfast was a mushroom and swiss omelette - but given my egg sensitivity, I couldn't do a full egg breakfast. I knew I'd be pushing it with "french toast." In addition to the food/drink issues, my monitor for in-flight entertainment kept going out. It was like it kept rebooting. At one point it got completely hung up on what looked like a DOS prompt (I think it was linux but still). When I asked the flight attendant, she said she'd be back. She never did come back. I fiddled with the controls a bunch and finally got it to come back. It rebooted a couple of times after that but I figured bringing it to the attendant's attention wouldn't do anything. 
We arrived in NYC for a 7 hour layover. We had planned on going out into the city for just a little bit since neither of us had been there before but then we saw the heat index - 118? HECK NO! So we stayed in the airport. It was probably just as well. We went to the kiosk to do our check-in thinking that would be faster than standing in the semi-long line for check-in. The line for the baggage drop off was only 5 people deep. So we did the kiosk check-in and got in the baggage drop off line. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. Oy vey! We were the next in line and I looked over my shoudler at the main check-in line - it was empty. Figures, no? So we finally get up to the counter and then we're told "You have to take that wrapping off the luggage." (We'd had it mega saran-wrapped in CT.) No one had said anything about having to take it off. We asked if they had any scissors - nope. And, of course, anything of ours that would have been sharp was inside the luggage. Uggh! Using keys and fingernails, we finally got all the tape and saran wrap off of the luggage and turned back to the lady who started helping other people instead of us, despite us standing right there. Oh, I was annoyed! Eventually we got the checked luggage dropped off and we were on our way to security. All of the other security stuff we'd done up to this point on the trip had been so easy, but I knew we were in NYC so it would probably be more strict. Security in and of itself was fine, but the people working the check-the-boarding-passes-and-IDs were really rude. There was a line for us to get in just to get that beginning part checked. We got in that line and then all of a sudden people were being directed over to someone else that was working. People started cutting in front of us due to the confusion. The lady we were directed to looked back at the other chick and was like "Um, you take half of these people" and she just shook her head. Finally we got up to her, showed our boarding passes and IDs and she looks at the bag around my neck and the gift bag in my hand and says "You have too many personal items." I said "I'll put the gift bag into the backpack with the computers (which I was holding) after we get through security." She said "No, you'll do it now." *rolleyes* So I shoved the bag into the backpack and she looked like she was about to check to see if our carry-on luggage would fit in their little luggage sizer thing and I just pushed past and went up to the main security checkpoint. *whistles innocently* Everyone was great once we got up to the actual security checkpoint. No problems, no "molesting" lol. It was nice. Once through security, we ate breakfast - a real breakfast for me LOL - at a restaurant in the airport and shared a mimosa. Yum. Then we found a charging station and charged up the computer and the phones. We explored many of the shops, read our nooks, etc. I even bought a souvenir from the NYC JFK airport - a nice bag that is like a purse and works great for my nook and such. Eventually it was time to board our flight to Dallas. The flight was a blur. Once again I found myself just dozing like mad. Once we landed in Dallas, though, I was a bit hungry. We ate at a TGI Fridays at the airport and then just hung out until our flight home. The flight back to DIA was quick and Dan slept the entire time. He actually fell asleep before take-off and woke up just after we landed. At first he thought we were still on the ground in Dallas. LOL! We got our bags and then went out to meet our ride home. Really, all said and done, the travelling aspect of the trip wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. In fact, it was pretty darned good, I think. You always expect at least a few frustrations when travelling, so... yeah. I would definitely do it again - in a heartbeat. Only thing I would change is giving myself a LOT more time in Cape Town!
Originally posted at Falling Into My Own Sarchasm and cross-posted here.
- Airplanes/airports/travel
- Places we stayed (guesthouses)
- The Lion Park
- Johannesburg
- Cape Town
- The Dragonflies and Astronauts show (OF COURSE!)
- Hanging out after the show
- Food/eating out/ordering in while in a different country
- The Montecasino
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It was late night, Tuesday, July 12th, when we began our journey to Denver International Airport (DIA). It was raining pretty steadily and all around us was one of the biggest and coolest electrical storms I've seen. Honestly, if I hadn't been getting ready to get on an airplane and fly through that I probably would have enjoyed it a LOT more! In fact, the storm was pretty massive, and left major amounts of hail and such in Cheyenne - http://blogs.wyomingnews.com/blogs/shutterspeed/2011/07/12/hail-storm/ Crazy crazy! I'm one of those people that insists on getting to the airport at least 2 hours before my flight. I've had too many close calls, especially due to long security lines, so I prefer to play it safe. Now, despite the fact that we were taking the red-eye into New York City, I still wanted to be safe. It turns out that check-in was super-fast and security was a breeze. Of course, this put us at our gate super early. We ended up grabbing some bottled water and french fries from the McDonald's (the only thing open at the airport at that hour besides the bar LOL) and went and sat down by our gate. Dan pulled out his nook and started reading and I pulled mine out, as well. I was going back and forth between reading and futzing around on my phone on Facebook and Twitter. What can I say? I'm an internet social butterfly. LOL.
The flight itself was amazing. Honestly, I wish I'd gotten the pilot's name because it was the smoothest flight from taxi-to-taxi. Take-off was impressive. None of that stomach-sinking-into-your-thighs feeling. There was just a titch of turbulence as we went through the storm clouds to get up above them but it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expected. The rest of the flight was smooth as glass. The landing was absolutely perfect. Like a feather landing on a still pond. Amazing! We arrived in NYC around 6:30 am and had about a 5 hour layover. We grabbed our bags and saw a Dunkin Donuts and I haven't had DD in forever so we had to stop and grab a couple of donuts and some coffee. The coffee was absolutely horrid! We asked for iced caramel lattes and the lady making the coffee couldn't understand English. The lady working the register was trying to translate, but she had a long line she was trying to take care of. We ended up drinking about 1/3 - 1/2 of our coffee before tossing it. We got to the right terminal and went to check in with South African Airways and I have to say, I'm actually glad we had that long layover. The line was outrageous! It wrapped and wrapped and wrapped around. We were in line about 90 minutes. That was just for check in. Then we had to stand in line for about another 30 minutes just to drop off our checked baggage. THEN we had to go through the security line (about 45 minutes all said and done). At least going through security was smooth! But sheesh. 
We got to our gate and still had awhile to wait, which was fine by us. Now, I don't know how many of you have ever had to wear compression stockings, but it was recommended by my doc that I get them for the long flight because I've been experiencing bad ankle swelling just when sitting around normally. They were ridiculous! Practically impossible to get on! I honestly have no idea how the heck my mom is able to get them on. I didn't put them on for the flight to NYC but I did put them on while waiting for the flight to Johannesburg. I swear I had an audience while fighting with the things. Of course, it didn't help that I have short legs and the stockings were just a titch too long so I was trying to stop them from "bunching" down around the crease in the ankle. What a nightmare! They did help some, but I still experienced some bad swelling, despite them and despite getting up to walk several times on the flight. But I digress... So we boarded our plane to Joburg and found our seats were right over the front of the wing. Now, normally I'm not a big wing fan (I like a nice, unobstructed view) but I had enough of a view and it wasn't bad at all. Our seats were very comfortable with two exceptions: 1) the arm rest between Dan and I went up but not all the way. It couldn't be tucked in between the seats which was really a pain. 2) The headphone jack for the in-flight entertainment was on the inside of my seat and the plug was freaking huge so it kept digging into my thigh/hip. Maybe if I weren't so big in that region I wouldn't have had such a problem with it, but still. 
The staff of South African Airways were great. Our flight attendant always had a smile on his face and was always willing to go the extra mile. Everyone was given a blanket and a pillow. At the beginning of the flight we were given little "welcoming packages" that contained a travel toothbrush, a small tube of toothpaste, some comfy socks, and an elastic eye cover to help with sleep. They also served two meals over the course of the flight. The food on the way to Joburg was actually pretty good, too. A bit salty, but good. The in-flight entertainment was GREAT though! 
I got to see a beautiful African sunrise as we were flying in. I'd tried to get some pics, but I was doing it with my iPhone. They sort of came out. What do you think? 
When we landed in Joburg we were a bit unsure of what it would take to find a taxi or a shuttle to get us to our guesthouse but we didn't need to worry for long - as soon as we walked through the doors we were practically accosted by taxi drivers and such. He helped us with our luggage and took us down and out to his car. It looked nothing like a taxi (no sign and no meter that I could see) and we were, of course, a bit nervous. The guy was really friendly though. He got us to our guesthouse and it cost us R500 (R is for Rand which is the currency in South Africa). We got checked in and Dan wanted to crash. I just wanted a shower so I freshened up while he dozed. After about an hour or so we decided to go out for dinner and we chose to go to the Montecasino to look around, especially since the Teatro where the Parlotones would be performing is there. The cab ride cost us R80. We thought that was a nice difference from the R500! The cab ride back, however, was R150. No clue why it was double, but there it is. Go figure. Another time we took a cab over there it was R120 and then R160. It wasn't consistent. LOL. Before we were ready, it was time to leave Joburg and head down to Cape Town. We headed back to the airport and it was another R500 - at least that one was consistent! The one thing that was a bit annoying about this, though, was that our guesthouse said they offered a shuttle to the airport. We asked about it the night before and were told it would be there for us at 11am. When we checked out, we were told that the person with the shuttle was having trouble finding petrol and he (the concierge, for lack of a better term) had called us a taxi instead. We thought he would at least pay for part of the cab ride since we were supposed to have the shuttle, but alas, we had to pay for the whole thing. Bah! Not a huge deal, but kind of annoying, you know? At the airport we got checked in to our flight and headed to our gate. When it was time to board the plane, we found out that our seats were at the very back of the plane. Uggh! I absolutely HATE flying at the back of the plane. It's always bumpier and you can't recline your seats. Double Uggh! We finally got off the plane, got our luggage, and immediately found a nice shuttle (and pretty cheap at R100) to our guesthouse which was in Sea Point. Upon learning this was our first time in Cape Town, the driver took us on a bit of a more scenic drive to drop us off. It was beautiful. Our guesthouse was just a couple of blocks from the beach, too, which was really nice. Our time in CT was way, way, way too short. That was compounded by the fact that I got sick, too. We took a couple of the city bus tours around town, which I'll talk about more in my Cape Town post. Now, I should mention that once we got checked into our guesthouse in CT, Dan realized he couldn't find our glasses. I had just bought new glasses with a brand new prescription on the day we left but I had put them in my glasses case while I was wearing my sunglasses. Dan had his sunglasses in his glasses case. Both cases were in the pocket of his jacket. We had no idea what had happened to them. He was pretty sure they must have fallen out of his jacket on the airplane. We called the airline and the airport but nothing like what we described had been turned in. Dan was HUGELY bummed about my new glasses going missing, and also because he no longer had any sunglasses and his eyes are pretty sensitive to the sun. When it was time to head back to the CT airport to fly back to Joburg, we decided to head out a little earlier just to check with lost and found and such to see if our glasses had been found. First we had to do our check-in, though. That turned out to be a bit of a cluster. We asked if we could check-in for both flights - our CT - Joburg flight and our Joburg - NYC flight since it was on the same airline with just a long layover in Joburg. That was no problem, thankfully. However, what was a problem was the seats that he tried to give us for the flight from Joburg to NYC. We'd already been assigned seats when I won the tickets and accepted everything. They were confirmed. We were supposed to have the same seats flying back as we did flying out 44A and 44C. The guy said those seats weren't available and tried to put us at the far back of the plane. NO FREAKING WAY was I going to fly on a 16 hour flight at the back of the plane. Sorry. The only other option, he said, was to be split up. Again, no deal. We finally had him "assign" us the seats together at the back of the plane (second to last seats) and I decided to go over to the ticketing agent to see if it would be possible to upgrade. I would have been willing to pay a couple grand to upgrade rather than sit at the back of the plane. She took our boarding passes that we'd been issued and said "I don't know why he gave you these. It says right here on the computer that you are confirmed for 44A and 44C." She then directed us to the check-in manager - who just happened to sit next to the guy who originally helped us. Now, don't get me wrong. That guy was very nice and pleasant. He just didn't give us the seats we were supposed to get. So when we went and talked to the manager, he looked over with a slightly panicked look on his face and asked her "Is there something wrong?" She kind of looked at him and then looked back at me and said the same thing about not knowing why he hadn't given us the seats we'd been originally assigned. She changed the boarding passes and we were on our way just as she went over to talk to him. No idea what they said, but I guess I don't really care, either. We needed to go see about the glasses, anyway. When we finally figured out who/where we needed to go, only Dan was allowed to go back. He went back and I waited. And waited. And waited. And then I heard them announce pre-boarding for our flight over the PA system. I started to kind of freak out because we still had to go through security! I was just about to go knock on the door when Dan came out shaking his head. No luck. We rushed through the airport, managed to breeze through security (YAY!) and got to our gate just as they started regular boarding. We found out when we got on the plane that the guy who had given us the wrong seats for the other flight had actually split us up on this flight. The seats were set up as 2-4-2 (two by the window, an aisle, 4 in the center, an aisle, and two by the window). He put us both on either end of the 4 seater, even though I specifically told him I preferred a window seat. Thankfully I was able to switch seats with a nice gentleman so that I could sit next to Dan. Actually, I think the guy was happier that way - he got an aisle seat. It was kind of annoying though. I was feeling really crappy from being sick and slept most of the flight from CT to Joburg. When we landed I was really groggy. We got our stuff together and I made the sad decision to not attend Neil Pauw's art exhibit. I was just too wiped out to be jaunting all over town and making sure I got back to the airport in time for the flight, so we just kind of hung out in the airport instead. The first thing we did was go looking for lost and found. We found it easily and explained what we'd lost and the guy pulled out a book where everything is logged and has full descriptions. As I looked down the page I saw them - two different eyeglasses cases, one saying Jones New York (mine). I was so excited!!! So, yes, we got our glasses back. Woohoo!!! We then spent the rest of the layover time looking in the various shops and buying some last-minute souvenirs until our plane boarded. The flight back to NYC was a bit bumpy at times. We apparently flew over a cyclone in the ocean and some icky weather off the coast of Africa. I don't mind a little turbulence when it's not the kind that jostles you all over the place. There was only one time when we had the big jostling turbulence so it was good. The staff was still friendly, but didn't go out of their way as much as they had on the flight over. In fact, it seemed like every time I'd ask for something, I was told they didn't have it or she'd bring it and then never did. For example, I asked for hot tea at one point for my throat and I was told they weren't serving that yet but they would be soon. So I asked for a bottle of water instead and she said she was out in the cart but she'd bring one right back. She never did. I had my call light on and no one ever came, either. Then when she came back awhile later with the drinks for the food, I got my tea but also asked for a bottle of water and I was told that they were out of water completely. Crazy. We weren't even half-way into the flight yet. The oj I had burned my throat like mad so I chose not to drink that anymore and it turned out that I just didn't drink nearly as much as I should have on that flight. Oh well. I'll also mention the food wasn't nearly as good, either. The dinner was okay but the breakfast main course (supposedly french toast with a berry sauce) was absolutely gross, unfortunately. I took one bite and gagged. The "french toast" was round like a pancake but had the consistency of rubbery bread. The berry sauce was very bitter. The other option they had for breakfast was a mushroom and swiss omelette - but given my egg sensitivity, I couldn't do a full egg breakfast. I knew I'd be pushing it with "french toast." In addition to the food/drink issues, my monitor for in-flight entertainment kept going out. It was like it kept rebooting. At one point it got completely hung up on what looked like a DOS prompt (I think it was linux but still). When I asked the flight attendant, she said she'd be back. She never did come back. I fiddled with the controls a bunch and finally got it to come back. It rebooted a couple of times after that but I figured bringing it to the attendant's attention wouldn't do anything. 
We arrived in NYC for a 7 hour layover. We had planned on going out into the city for just a little bit since neither of us had been there before but then we saw the heat index - 118? HECK NO! So we stayed in the airport. It was probably just as well. We went to the kiosk to do our check-in thinking that would be faster than standing in the semi-long line for check-in. The line for the baggage drop off was only 5 people deep. So we did the kiosk check-in and got in the baggage drop off line. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. Oy vey! We were the next in line and I looked over my shoudler at the main check-in line - it was empty. Figures, no? So we finally get up to the counter and then we're told "You have to take that wrapping off the luggage." (We'd had it mega saran-wrapped in CT.) No one had said anything about having to take it off. We asked if they had any scissors - nope. And, of course, anything of ours that would have been sharp was inside the luggage. Uggh! Using keys and fingernails, we finally got all the tape and saran wrap off of the luggage and turned back to the lady who started helping other people instead of us, despite us standing right there. Oh, I was annoyed! Eventually we got the checked luggage dropped off and we were on our way to security. All of the other security stuff we'd done up to this point on the trip had been so easy, but I knew we were in NYC so it would probably be more strict. Security in and of itself was fine, but the people working the check-the-boarding-passes-and-IDs were really rude. There was a line for us to get in just to get that beginning part checked. We got in that line and then all of a sudden people were being directed over to someone else that was working. People started cutting in front of us due to the confusion. The lady we were directed to looked back at the other chick and was like "Um, you take half of these people" and she just shook her head. Finally we got up to her, showed our boarding passes and IDs and she looks at the bag around my neck and the gift bag in my hand and says "You have too many personal items." I said "I'll put the gift bag into the backpack with the computers (which I was holding) after we get through security." She said "No, you'll do it now." *rolleyes* So I shoved the bag into the backpack and she looked like she was about to check to see if our carry-on luggage would fit in their little luggage sizer thing and I just pushed past and went up to the main security checkpoint. *whistles innocently* Everyone was great once we got up to the actual security checkpoint. No problems, no "molesting" lol. It was nice. Once through security, we ate breakfast - a real breakfast for me LOL - at a restaurant in the airport and shared a mimosa. Yum. Then we found a charging station and charged up the computer and the phones. We explored many of the shops, read our nooks, etc. I even bought a souvenir from the NYC JFK airport - a nice bag that is like a purse and works great for my nook and such. Eventually it was time to board our flight to Dallas. The flight was a blur. Once again I found myself just dozing like mad. Once we landed in Dallas, though, I was a bit hungry. We ate at a TGI Fridays at the airport and then just hung out until our flight home. The flight back to DIA was quick and Dan slept the entire time. He actually fell asleep before take-off and woke up just after we landed. At first he thought we were still on the ground in Dallas. LOL! We got our bags and then went out to meet our ride home. Really, all said and done, the travelling aspect of the trip wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. In fact, it was pretty darned good, I think. You always expect at least a few frustrations when travelling, so... yeah. I would definitely do it again - in a heartbeat. Only thing I would change is giving myself a LOT more time in Cape Town! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Look for the next post, coming soon!Originally posted at Falling Into My Own Sarchasm and cross-posted here.
7.19.2011
I've been bad; I'm sorry!
I know I've been really bad about blogging. I'm so sorry! I promise to get everyone caught up on what's been going on here in South Africa. Between the time just getting away from us and the internet not being reliable at our previous guesthouse, it just made blogging difficult. I've been taking as many pictures as possible as we go along. :-) I've uploaded a few teaser pics to my Facebook account if anyone would like to take a gander: Facebook Photo Album. In the meantime, here is a list of things to come: The Parlotones Dragonflies and Astronauts Live Rock Opera show. Gambling in the casino (where I left R50 up). Hanging out after the show with Alicia, Sandee, Tash, and a few of the guys. The Lion Park (including my obligatory injury LOL). More info about our guesthouse in Johannesburg. Our flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town (what a doozy). Our first evening in Cape Town. Today we are going to go down to the wharf and walk along the beach. Tomorrow we are going to go down to the Cape of Good Hope and see some more ostriches and some penguins, too! We want to do a wine tour, as well, but we may run out of time. We'll see. We leave Cape Town on Thursday afternoon and head back to Johannesburg where we'll have a several hour layover before our flight back to the States. That evening, Neil (the drummer of the Parlotones) is having an art show of his work. I'm hoping that the layover will be long enough that I'll be able to go, even if just for a short while. We'll have to play it by ear, but it looks promising. Ok, time to finish pulling myself together to head down to the wharf. Talk to y'all later!!
Originally posted at Falling Into My Own Sarchasm and cross-posted here.
Originally posted at Falling Into My Own Sarchasm and cross-posted here.
7.15.2011
It's been a great day so far!
So, the hubby is kicking back and relaxing and I figured I'd take the opportunity to blog a bit of what's happened over the last few hours. :-) Last night, we decided to head over to the Montecasino for dinner and to kind of look around. It's a really nice place; very (very) reminiscent of the Emporium shops at Ceasar's Palace in Vegas. Lots of little shops and boutiques, a full casino area, a bunch of different restaurants (including a KFC LOL), a movie cinema complex, and, of course, the Teatro which is where the Parlotones are performing this week. Before we headed out, however, I thought I might try to spruce myself up a bit. I pulled out my CHI flat iron and got my adapter AND converter all plugged in and then turned the CHI on. *BUZZ* *ZIP* *POW* *SIZZLE* *SMOKE* all within about 10 seconds of plugging in/turning it on. The thing blew up. *cry* $200 down the drain. Dang it! I was told that the converter WITH the adapter should be fine for those appliances. Huh... guess not. Then I went to plug in our power strip to charge my computer. SAME THING HAPPENED. Power strip has now gone buh-bye. Dang it! I gave up and basically just said screw it and we left with me looking like crap. Ah well. So we stopped and got dinner at one of the restaurants at the Montecasino. I had lamb chops with a baked potato (nom nom nom) and Dan got the Schnitzel combo (one beef, one chicken) with a baked potato. We both like sour cream with our baked potatoes so we ordered some of that. He ordered a coke and I a hot chocolate. Honestly, the hot chocolate tasted really weird to me. I can't even really describe what it was that tasted so different. I did drink 2/3 of it but I doubt I'll order it again. When we got our food, the butter and sour cream for the potatoes came on the side. I put a bit of butter onto the potato and went to put some of the sour cream on when I realized it was, for lack of a better term, fluffy. "Hmm..." I thought and then tasted it. Yeah, it definitely tasted sour! LOL I think it may have been goat sour cream - it had a very similar taste to goat cheese. Either way, it wasn't something I was particularly in the mood for so I ended up leaving it off of the potato. The lamb chops were fantastic. I'm not sure what kind of a sauce they used with it, but it was very, very nummy. Dan seemed to enjoy his schnitzel, too. We decided to skip dessert and went to the cinema to buy Harry Potter tickets and then we walked around while waiting for the movie to start (we had about an hour to kill). The very interesting thing about the cinema here is, when you buy your tickets, you choose your seats as well, like you would at the theatre. I admit that I was a bit surprised at how many tickets were still available - apparently Harry Potter isn't *quite* as popular here as it is elsewhere. So, we walked around the shops and found some very interesting things, including a pair of *really* ridiculous shoes (see picture below). We also found a shop that sold various religious statues/statuettes and they covered all sorts of religions. It was really cool to see Christian things next to Pagan things, next to Hindu things, etc. I loved how open it was. Though I did find it funny that the name of the store was Sin. *snicker* We took a look around the casino, as well, and decided we'd come back and do a little gambling later. Hey, it can't hurt, right? Teehee! And we found that the casino has a currency exchange which was really helpful as we found we needed to convert a bit more money. The taxi from the airport to the hotel was a bit pricier than we'd expected. Finally, it was time to go see Harry Potter. I'm not going to say much other than I LOVED IT!!! Despite the fact that they changed quite a bit, I really feel they did the book justice, and they kept with the way the films had been going. I can't wait to see it again when I'm back stateside!! After the movie we grabbed a taxi back to our hotel/guesthouse. The taxi driver had no clue where he was going, got lost, had to keep checking his map, and then had to turn into a gas station to ask for directions - all while we were being metered. The ride back was literally twice as much as it had been to go to the Montecasino earlier that night. We were a bit annoyed by that, to be honest. Once back in our room, we gave the kiddos a quick video call via Skype on the iPhone and then I soaked in the big soaking tub for a bit. Boy, that felt sooooo goooooood. Then we crashed. This morning I was nice and awake but Dan was still exhausted. They serve a complimentary breakfast here until 10am but I couldn't get him to budge. The internet here was down and I've been trying to conserve battery power away, especially with the blowing up of electronics that happened. I'm kind of afraid to plug my computer - especially work computer - into the outlet. Eep! I took a nice long shower while Dan slept and then finally my stomach just couldn't handle it anymore - and I needed to take my meds anyway and can't on an empty stomach - so I forced Dan out of bed and made him take a shower. Then we took a nice long (loooong) walk up to the nearest shopping center and had some Sushi for lunch. Nom nom nom. We then went across the way to the Woolworth's so I could buy some Parlotones wine. Ohhhh yeah. I got all three kinds. If it hadn't been such a bloody long walk, I'd have bought many more bottles. I figure I'll do that later, though. I've promised several bottles to my lovelies back in the States! We finally made it back to our room and we've just kind of been resting and relaxing since. We're planning on going out and about town tonight, though not entirely sure where just yet. Last night we saw a bunch of people coming out of the Teatro after the Parlotones show and I was really shocked (pleasantly so) at how diverse the group of people was. Old and young, dressed up and relaxed, men and women and some kids.... it was especially great to see that everyone was wearing a big smile on their faces! Okay, time to go get a bit of rest and then we'll see what we end up doing tonight! Love you all and hope you're well!
Originally posted at Falling Into My Own Sarchasm and cross-posted here.
Originally posted at Falling Into My Own Sarchasm and cross-posted here.
7.14.2011
We have arrived!
That was a very long flight. Phew! Okay, let's see, where to start... We got onto the plane for South Africa via South African Airways. Seriously, if you ever decide to go to SA, fly them. They are wonderful!! There were pillows and blankets on every seat. The staff were very friendly and super polite. The seats were, for the most part, pretty comfortable. (They probably would have been more comfortable if I didn't have such a wide tush, if ya catch my drift. LOL) We got our carry-on luggage put away and settled in for the flight. The one thing I found very interesting was that they didn't allow the window shades to be down during take-off or landing. Same thing with using pillows or blankets. They had to be put away for take-off and landing. Strange. Hehe. Take-off was nice and smooth and pretty much instantly we were over the ocean. There were a lot of clouds so we couldn't see much once we rose above the cloud bank. I decided to try to sleep right away since I knew the time change would kick my butt, and I'd already been up most of the night. They offered lots of drinks and snacks and we got our first meal a few hours after take-off. It was actually really tasty. I took a picture of my meal with the hubby's phone but I'm not sure where he put it so I'll have to upload it later. I read my nook for a bit, watched some of the in-flight movies, etc. Mainly I just tried to pass the time. 15 hours on a plane is a looooong time. LOL! They served us breakfast about 2 hours before we landed. There were two options available - french toast with berry sauce or scrambled eggs with tomatoes and mushrooms. Given my egg intolerance, neither choice was ideal, but I figured I'd have the best luck with the french toast. Dan had the scrambled eggs. Mine was pretty good. I forgot to take a picture until I'd already finished my food. Oops! Beside the french toast, there was a cup of yogurt (strawberry-banana), a bowl of fresh fruit, a croissant with butter and jam, and coffee, tea, or juice to drink. I tried the coffee and I must admit I wasn't a big fan. It tasted burnt, which is always possible on an airplane, right? Hehe. I looked out the window and saw the veeeery beginnings of sunrise so I took some pictures with my cell phone. Then I decided I should get some better quality ones and got my camera out and took a few shots - they're below. As we began our descent, I realized we were truly floating over a sea of clouds and I took a couple of pictures of that, as well. In addition, I took a couple of shots of Johannesburg as we approached. Both the flight and the take-off/landing were pretty smooth. A few bumps and shifts here and there but certainly nothing major at all. I was very impressed. I've had horrible flights on the less-than-two-hour flight from Denver to Vegas so to have such a great experience on such a long flight is awesome! Getting off the plane was pretty normal, but then we had to have our passports checked and stamped. The line moved really quickly for that, thankfully. Then we went to baggage claim to get our bags and that seemed to take forever! After that it was a quick jaunt through customs (Nothing to Declare!). Then I experienced my first real "culture shock." We were immediately talked to by porters of all sorts wanting to know where we were going, how we were getting there, if we had a connecting flight, if we needed to convert money, etc etc. Their accents were all so thick, and they spoke so quickly, we had a really difficult time understanding them. Thankfully they were patient with us and we finally got hooked up with a taxi to take us to our hotel. He was very nice - though it was interesting that there was no meter or anything like that for the driving, nor was the car really marked as a taxi. No one had heard of our hotel (which is really a guesthouse, not a hotel) because it's apparently a relatively new one. Thankfully I had all of our hotel information printed out and showed them the address and we were on our way. The drive out was longer than I expected - about 40 minutes. It's funny; on the map, it didn't look like we were all that far away from the airport, but apparently we were! We got to the hotel/guesthouse, did our check-in and were brought to our room. It's very interesting, just like the pictures. One thing I noticed, though, is that there are no phones in the rooms. Hmm! I'm thinking I may try to buy a disposable cell phone or something to get us through the trip. Dan was exhausted and pretty much immediately crashed. I was just cold so I pulled out my special blankie and snuggled up with it and flipped through the channels. Imagine my surprise when I come across a show that is based off of American Idol, only it was the South Africa version. But not only that, get this - it was an episode of auditions where they all had to sing Parlotones songs - and the Parlotones were up on the stage with them playing like a back-up band. It was actually kind of surreal! Great to see the guys on TV, though! (Unfortunately, the majority of people singing were horrible and destroying some of the best Parlie songs!) Okay, I'm going to post a few pics and then I'm going to wake the hubby so we can get some dinner. I'm hungry!! Talk to you all soon! :-) [gallery]
Originally posted at Falling Into My Own Sarchasm and cross-posted here.
Originally posted at Falling Into My Own Sarchasm and cross-posted here.
7.13.2011
south Africa trip - day one
Leg 1 of the trip (Denver to NYC) is complete! I was worried about the flight out because Denver was under some severe weather - tornado warnings in eastern Colorado and massive lightning and thunder in the Denver area. Amazingly enough, though, the flight was incredibly smooth! Best flight I've had in ages, actually. Go figure. And watching the lightning *beneath* the plane was freaking cool! JFK airport is interesting. I'm glad we had as long of a layover as we did - may not have made it through the massive lines otherwise! Well, we are getting ready to board the South African Airways flight, bound for Johannesburg. When next I post, it'll be from SA! See y'all on the flip side!
Originally posted at Falling Into My Own Sarchasm and cross-posted here.
Originally posted at Falling Into My Own Sarchasm and cross-posted here.
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