South Africa Race-Cation - Travel Day

Karel knows how much I love international travel (and warm weather) so late this summer, when he mentioned to me that we should participate in Xterra South Africa on January 22nd, 2023 I was excited for the opportunity to visit a new continent.

After a few months of researching, planning and travel hacking, I was able to put together an affordable two weeks to experience the sights, culture, trails, animals, food and people of South Africa. I realize travel is a privilege and we had/have to work really hard to travel but it's something that makes my life feel whole. My favorite type of travel is when I can combine culture and nature - alongside riding my bike in new places. 

If you have a trip to South Africa on your bucket list - or anywhere in this world - I strongly encourage you to start planning. With a bit of saving and a lot of planning, you too can have a life-changing trip.

For those who are curious, here is the breakdown of our trip (I'm pretty proud of myself for planning a 2-week race-cation to South Africa, including a 4-day safari for less than $5000!)

Paid in advance: 
Flights - $1160 per person (main cabin on Delta, booked late October) = $2320 
Airbnb - $594 (7 nights)
Rental car - $445 (Rav4 SUV from Hertz for 8 days)
Flights for Safari - $305 (Safair airline, priority boarding)
4-day Kruger Safari Package - $481 per person (Safari with us) = $962
Garden Court Sandton City - $76 (breakfast for two included)
Xterra race entry - $36 per person = $72
TOTAL = $4774

What was free: 
-No money spent at airports (and we were 11 of them) with lounge accesst thanks to our Amex Platinum Business Cards (which includes Priority Pass membership). 
-Free luggage storage at Best Western while we were away at our Safari. 
-Free night at Best Western thanks to Credit Card points from Capital One Visa. 
-Free shuttle to airport from Best Western. 

Extra money spent during trip (1 USD = 17.6 South African Rand): 
-Uber
-Meals/Groceries
-Tips and donations 
-Souvenirs and gifts
-Enterance fees (ex. hiking, mountain biking)

We left our house/pet sitter and our furry crew around 11:30am on Sunday. It was strange leaving on a Sunday (and later in the day) so it almost felt like a normal weekend day for us. We did a workout in the morning (Karel rode the trainer and I ran) and finished our packing/house cleaning before we were driven to the airport by my mom’s partner Alan. I hired a pet sitter from Rover.com and she stayed at our house for the entire 2 weeks that we were away. 

We arrived early to the airport to give ourself time to check in with our bike bags and to enjoy the airport lounge, thanks to our new Amex platinum business card (with all of our travels this year, I’m seeing if this CC is worth the yearly payment. So far, with our lounge access, it’s well worth it!). There was no line for checking in with Delta for our 2 suitcases and bike bags (with our mountain bikes inside – including Apple air tags on each bike and in our suitcases for tracking) and we were quick through security with TSA pre-check. We got some work done in the lounge and enjoyed a light meal before boarding our plane around 2 for our 2:50pm flight to Atlanta.

It was a quick flight to Atlanta and I watched some of a movie that I downloaded onto my iPad. When we arrived, we needed to go from the B terminal to F so we took the plane train to the international terminal. We waited in line for the Delta Sky Club lounge for around 10 minutes. This was our first time in this lounge and the food was amazing. It was so nice to enjoy “free” food, especially a salad w/ tofu. Although we only had an hour before heading to our gate, we thouroughly enjoyed our time in the lounge (and Karel loved the coffee options with good tasting coffee). 

Around 4:50, the boarding process started for our 6pm flight to Johannesburg. This was home for the next 15 hours - our longest flight ever. Karel was not excited. I sat in the middle seat, next to a nice guy who was visiting his mom for the first time in 6 years. Karel had the aisle. I thought I was booking the front row of Main (behind Comfort +) but turns out there was no bulkhead so my idea to have extra leg room failed through. I should have just booked to aisle seats for us next to one another. Oh well. We had two meals on the plane and snacked on our trail mix that we brought. We each watched two movies and slept on and off. I enjoyed one vegetarian meal that I requested prior to the flight (for some reason they didn't have my request in so they had to search for an extra meal. They do have a vegetarian option with the complimentary meal service but I always request a 'special meal' (which is free) as the options are a lot better - and you get served first. We got up for the restroom and to stretch a lot. Overall, for this being our longest flight so far, it wasn’t too bad. It actually went by rather fast and I think going through the night helped as we were naturally tired and the flight was long enough that we could take a few longer naps.

Fruit, bread, bulgur salad and rice with vegetarian meat, beet sauce and vegetables. 

We arrived to the Johannesburg airport around 2:30pm and had a two hour layover. Because we were on the same plane to Cape Town, we departed the plane for cleaning and stayed in a holding wing. We were provided water and snacks while waiting. We then re-boarded our plane and made the 2 hour flight to Cape Town. I tried not to nap but I caved and fell asleep for a short time. We finally touched down to South Africa on Monday evening around 8pm. It was a long two days of travel but we were so excited to finally touch down on this new continent.

There was no line for passport control so that went by quickly (unlike the time it takes to enter the US) and then we picked up our bags/bikes. We then went to the rental car kiosk to get our SUV from Hertz. We were both very nervous about the driving situation with a right side of the car driver and driving on the left side of the road so for our dark 45 min drive to Gordon’s Bay, I had to remind Karel “left, left!” a lot throughout the drive. We survived. We made a quick stop at the gas station as we were really hungry. This was our first opportunity to try new foods. Karel got some type of meat "pastry" and I got a yogurt drink and a bag of ginger crackers. We were notified by our Airbnb host that load-shedding (shut down of power) was at 10pm so when we arrived just after 10pm, it was pitch dark out. Thankfully the host had a few portable lights for us to use. She showed us around the Airbnb and we were welcomed with a lot of wind – which made for a refreshing night of sleep with our door open (no AC). Surprisingly, we both slept pretty good after falling asleep just after 11pm local time (7 hours ahead of EST). We had a good night of sleep and I woke up around 9am excited for our first official day in South Africa.