Kelly and I have been planning a trip to Southern Africa for two years. We wanted to see the dunes in Namibia, go on safari in Botswana (I have loved the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series for ages), see Victoria Falls (see both sides in Zimbabwe and Zambia) and visit South Africa and Lesotho and Swaziland (since we are country counters).

When I originally reached out to my favorite travel agent for help, she came back with a quote of $47,000 for two weeks. After I picked myself off the floor, I realized I needed to get on the internet and figure out the trip by myself (which I normally do anyway).

If you read my blog, you know I started with free round trip business class tickets that I booked via United Airlines. I have two United credit cards that I use for EVERYTHING! I charge my house insurance, car insurance, travel, anything that will allow me to use a credit card. Ken does the same. So between us, we rack up a lot of points every year. I may not get the best connections (see my last post), but I can get us there. My rule is if the flight is more than six hours, I go for business class. If less, I can endure economy.

We flew into Johannesburg and then out of Cape Town. Here’s what we did for four weeks for about a third of what my travel agent quoted me for two weeks. Not including shopping, of course — which is fabulous!

I knew we would be tired after our trip and didn’t know a lot about areas of Johannesburg so I opted for a tried and true hotel chain — Four Seasons. It was a bit of a splurge at $300 per night, but I wanted us to be comfortable and have a nice place as a base. It was a beautiful hotel, complete with amazing gardens and located in what Kelly called the “Beverly Hills” of Jo-berg. From there we were able to use Uber to get around the city for super cheap (average ride ran $2-3) and saw all the sites: the Apartheid Museum, Constitution Hill, a free city walking tour, the local Sunday market and a number of good restaurants. Food is very inexpensive in South Africa and we enjoyed many meals at what seemed super-cheap prices. Fine dining for two at about $50 and many quick meals for $15-20 for both of us.

After 5 days in Jo-berg, we flew to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, for a four-night visit at a farm near the famous dunes. We spent a night in Windhoek, walked around the city center, found some cute shops and stayed in a German hotel that was very Fawlty Towers-like!

The farm sent a car and driver that took us for the 5-hour drive to We Kebi, a delightful 10-cottage lodge that is home to more than 2,000 animals. We found out that few Americans visit Namibia. Most visitors are from Europe and they tend to do self-drives around the country. We were happy to be driven and not have any worries about vehicles, break-downs or finding our way. Some roads are paved, but the last hour to the lodge was on a dirt road.

When we drove up to reception, we were met by zebra, eland and warthogs. Wow! We were over the moon.

Our stay there was nowhere near some of the crazy prices I found on the web: $2000-3000 per night! We paid less than $500 for four nights which included breakfast and dinner.

Food was good. We had a hot breakfast of eggs and bacon, fruit, yogurt and toast. Dinner was some type of game (oryx, steel bak and eland) with potato and one vegetable. Dessert was also served. The lodge had a limited bar. No bourbon for me, but they had wine, gin and scotch — for the European guests.

Activities were extra and we opted for a full-day drive to see the dunes at Sossusvlei, a two-hour visit to see the cats at a neighboring lodge and a two-hour game drive around the 200,000-plus acre farm. The additional charge for the activities was about $400. We fell in love with Namibia, the people and the desert landscape. The dunes are a once-in-a-lifetime experience and a definite must-see.

When we returned to Windhoek, I had booked us in the Protea Hotel. Ugh. Don’t stay there. It was inexpensive and clean, but sorely in need of remodeling. The bathroom was so small, you could barely get in it. Suffice to say, one night was enough.

We next flew to Victoria Falls on Air Namibia. (All our other internal flights were on South African Airlines.) When we arrived in Victoria Falls, we were met by a car and driver from our hotel, the Victoria Falls Hotel, an early 1900s colonial style 5-star hotel. I had done some homework on where to stay to see the falls and there were only two options up to my standards. The Victoria Falls Hotel is on the Zimbabwe side of the falls. The Royal Livingston is on the Zambia side and was about $200 more per night, so I opted for the less expensive option — still not cheap at $400 a night (including breakfast). Because tourists are a captive audience in Victoria Falls, prices tend to be on the high side. Meals were more along the lines of typical US prices, rather than the low prices we had seen in South Africa.

Victoria Falls is magnificent — well worth the trip. The town is small, chock full of souvenir shops — most not that great. We hired a driver to escort us through customs and drive us to the Zambian side of the falls and had a delightful afternoon walking along the falls and taking zillions of photos. The next day, we easily walked to the Zimbabwe side of the falls at sunrise and had a different — but also spectacular — view of the falls, complete with a heavy mist from the water. We were told we would get wet on the Zimbabwe side, but we didn’t. I think that is mostly to get folks to buy or rent rain gear.

The entire area is safe. We felt comfortable walking around town and had dinner and lunch there — a nice way to try out some of the unusual offerings.

We left Victoria Falls and our next stop was a safari lodge in Botswana, close to Chobe National Park.

We were picked up at our hotel in Victoria Falls by a driver in a van and driven to the border, where we off-loaded, walked through immigration in Zimbabwe, went to a different van and were driven to the Botswana immigration office. We went through formalities there and then exited with our luggage, having to wade our shoes in a disinfectant bath at the border. In the second van, we were driven to the Kasane, Botswana airport, where a third van picked us up and drove us to our safari camp, Chobe Elephant Camp. It all sounds a bit complex, but was done with very little fanfare and great efficiency.

Chobe Elephant Camp has 10 cottages and a main lodge where we ate meals and gathered for daily instructions. We were introduced to our guide, Jeremy, who drove us for the three days we were there. We were paired with a couple from Chicago and went on an evening game drive the day we arrived. The next day we had an early-morning game drive and then a boat ride along the river. Our final day, we had a morning and evening game drive with lunch at the lodge and time for a little down-time.

The people at the lodge were fantastic. Jeremy was sweet, kind and so knowledgeable about the animals, birds and landscape, that I don’t know that I will ever remember all he taught us. We saw elephants, zebras, giraffe, impala, buffalo, many gorgeous birds and a pride of about ten lion munching on an elephant they had killed. It was amazing. We were able to get so close to the animals it was surreal. Since we were in a national park, the animals are used to the game vehicles and for the most part are not too timid. Of course, we could not get out of the safari trucks unless we were at a predetermined “stretch” point.

Food was quite good at the lodge. Before heading out for our game drives at 7 am, we had a light breakfast. Fruit, juice, yogurt, toast, muffins and cheese/ham. About 9:30 in the morning, we stopped for hot tea and cookies. Lunch was four to five cold salads and meats. Sundowners were served on the game drive, with one or two appetizers, as we watched the sun set over the park. Dinner was excellent. First a soup was served and then we went to the buffet line for a meat, starch and two vegetables. Everything was delicious.

When we left Chobe Elephant Lodge, we did the reverse driving scheme and headed to the Victoria Falls airport, where we flew for our final stop to Cape Town.

We arrived yesterday and so far love the city. Shopping has been first rate and we are back to inexpensive meals and Uber rides. We are staying at the Mount Nelson Hotel, another colonial hotel from the late 1800s.

Stay tuned for final thoughts on Cape Town in a few days. For now, we’re loving being at the bottom of the earth!

Everyone in my family knows I will do anything for a free airline ticket — especially for a business class ticket. Well, I may have met my match.

Kelly and I arrived yesterday in South Africa using my United Airlines points to score two free business class tickets. It took me an entire weekend to find the tickets and the connections were — well, not the greatest. But, I figured what the heck.

I left Gainesville for what was supposed to be a 7 am flight to Atlanta, which turned into an 8:30 flight after I got up at 5:30 am. Ok, no worries. I arrived in Atlanta, made it to the gate and met Kelly there. We boarded our flight for Newark with no problems and arrived there, flagged down a black Suburban, which took us to JFK airport. I had researched prices and figured anything under $150 was a good deal. We were good to go there.

Our next leg was from JFK to Cairo. We settled into our business class seats and had a fairly decent dinner and then stretched out in our almost-flat seats for a night’s rest. We arrived in Cairo, deplaned and found our guide who would spend the day with us touring two Egyptian museums. (My free tickets included a luxurious 12-hour layover in Cairo.)

After a day of touring, we arrived at the Cairo airport only to find that our flight was delayed two hours, until 1:15 am. OK, no worries, we figured. We got on the plane finally and passed up dinner in favor of sleep. We settled in for the night and awoke an hour before landing — or so we thought.

The flight steward then announced that the Johannesburg airport had bad visibility and we were going to divert to Durban. Ok, that shouldn’t be too bad?

After sitting in the plane at Durban for three hours, we were finally informed we were flying to Jo-berg. A mere 50 hours after leaving Gainesville, we finally arrived.

Was it worth it? I’m still trying to decide. Stay tuned for more about South Africa, which so far looks spectacular!

Anyone who knows my husband, Ken, knows what a train-i-ack is. So, it was no surprise that he wanted to go on the Canada Rail Rocky Mountaineer trip across the Canadian Rockies. Not one to pass up a trip, I did a bit of research and found out I could finally get to Lake Louise on this train trip. I’ve heard of the incredible beauty of Lake Louise and the Fairmont Chateau for decades.

We did a few things correctly on the trip, but also had a few screw-ups. Here is our itinerary complete with suggested changes to make for the perfect trip.

We flew from Gainesville on the new American flight to Dallas and changed there for a flight to Seattle. We found the flights quite nice, with plenty of time to grab a bite to eat in Dallas. We stayed two nights in Seattle, but if you have never been there before, I’d suggest at least three nights. We have two favorite hotels there, the Alexis and Inn at the Market, where we stayed on this trip. It is a block away from Pikes Market and an easy four blocks to Nordstrom’s.

We spent the afternoon walking around Pikes, bought some fish to ship home and had a nice lunch at the Athenian in the market.

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Tip No. 1: Rent a car to get to Lake Louise

The next morning, we flew to Calgary. We planned to spend three nights at Louise and figured we would avoid a horrendous drive thought the mountains and hire a driver to take us to Lake Louise from the Calgary airport.  Cost was $350. The road was a beautiful 4-lane road and the route so easy a child could drive it. We quickly realized we should have rented a car and driven ourselves for a lot less money.

Tip No. 2: Don’t stay more than one night at Lake Louise.

Not wanting to be stranded for three days, we were lucky to find a Hertz rent-a-car desk at the hotel and arranged to hire a car for a day. We drove to Banff — about 45 minutes away — and had lunch, wandered around the town which is chock full of shops and cafes and visited the Banff Springs hotel. Turns out the Banff Springs hotel— also a Fairmount hotel— is older than the Lake Louise hotel and has a lot more to do. Prices seem about the same. We talked with a number of folks who had spent a few days in Banff and then a day at Lake Louise. That is probably the right choice. Banff seems to be geared more towards tourists and there are galleries, shops, and many restaurant choices.

When we got to the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, we found out there wasn’t much to do there other than hiking. With the ground covered with snow and ice, hiking was out.

You really do need to go to Lake Louise to see the lake and the mountains. It is one of those famous geological sites that does not disappoint. All the service people at the hotel are young and 85% are from Ontario — fresh out of school and recruited to work for three months or so. We were told they have a 70% turnover rate. Our trip was in April and we got snow and a frozen lake. But we were told that June, July and August are so busy you can barely see the lake because of the mobs of people. Although it would have been nice to see the lake unfrozen, I don’t think I would have been crazy about being there with the masses. Fall is another good time to visit. When you stay in Lake Louise, you are pretty much stuck with eating all your meals at the hotel, as there is nothing much nearby. Even if you don’t stay at Lake Louise, eat lunch at the lobby-level bar/restaurant – which has amazing views of the lake. An hour or so taking in the scenery should do the trick.

From the Lake Louise hotel we were picked up for the train ride. Luggage had to be transported by truck, as there is no room on the train for luggage. I wanted to sleep in, but had to pull my toilet articles out of my roller bag, so I could get dressed without my bag. This is one of the reasons I generally don’t like group travel. Those early morning calls are a bitch when retirement has gotten you used to sleeping in.

We were bussed to the train station in Lake Louise – a location used in numerous films including Dr. Zhivago — a quaint spot where we wound up spending a couple of hours since the train signal in Banff had frozen over and delayed the train from getting to us.

I must admit the staff was more than accommodating. They had coffee, hot chocolate and pastries laid out to feed us and one of the staff gave a talk about the area, the trains and the wildlife in the national park (this area is all part of the Canadian Park system).

When the train arrived, we were shown to our car and hopped onboard, walking over a red-carpet and greeted by all the team who would serve us throughout the two-day journey.  We had purchased the gold service, which put us on double-decker car. The top of the car was where we sat and it had a huge plastic dome so we could see all the sights. Underneath were the dining room (where we ate breakfast and lunch every day) and washrooms. (Not restrooms in Canada!)

The train trip was spectacular – complete with more food than you could eat. Snacks of wine and cheese and nuts and trail mix were served all day long. The train car was divided into two meal servings. On day one, we were in the second serving. On day two, we were switched to the first serving – so everyone had a chance at both servings. Breakfast offered a choice of six items – the same menu for both days. Lunch was a hot meal and the menu changed from day one to day two. Wine was served throughout the day and a limited cocktail menu was also available. The dining room was beautifully appointed and we sat with several different couples. For train food, it was pretty good.

The days were long on the train. We didn’t get into Kamloops the first day until after 7:30 pm. We had been warned that hotels there were moderate at best. We would up in a Doubletree which was a lot like an old Holiday Inn. Clean and dreary colors, but fine for one night. Nothing you would want to stay in for any length of time, however.

The second day started with bus boarding at 7:15 and ended in Vancouver at 8:00 pm. Since the Rocky Mountaineer travels on tracks owned by the two Canadian rail companies, freight trains have first priority and we often had to wait for another train to pass by. The Rocky Mountaineer travels at about 30 miles per hour, so you are not clipping along. But you do have plenty of time to enjoy the scenery, relax and eat and drink. The staff gives a steady explanation of the sights, locations and general information.

We had booked our own hotel in Vancouver and stayed at the Metropolitan, a small hotel in downtown, where we stayed on our last trip to Vancouver. We liked it and found plenty of shops, museums and restaurants nearby. Vancouver does not have Uber or Lyft, so we used regular taxies to get around.

All in all, a good trip. Ours was 12 days – but you could easily make it more or less – as your schedule dictates. The highlight of the train trip is surely the service and scenery. Be prepared for long days and sit back and take it all in!

If you’ve never been to Mexico City, get on a plane and go now. Not only is it a great destination, but we sure need to let Mexico know that all Americans aren’t crazy.

And if you have been guilty of thinking all the stereotypes about Mexico were correct, let me tell you they are all wrong.

The people are smart, friendly, kind and hard-working. And Mexico City is modern, sophisticated, safe, clean and easy to get-around. We saw no signs of Montezuma’s revenge, as the food was some of the best I have eaten anywhere in the world.

Kelly and I planned our trip to be a foodie and art experience. Here’s what we did and how you can make your trip fun and easy.

Getting there: We booked our flight out of Atlanta on Delta and got a non-stop flight that took about 3.5 hours. We didn’t really shop around for a flight deal, since we had limited time and specific dates we wanted to travel. Our tickets ran around $600 each, round trip. We left at 12:15 and arrived around 2:45 (Central time) — perfect for us. We hate early morning and late night flights. If you shop, I am sure you can find less expensive flight rates.

I had arranged to have a car pick us up at the airport — not knowing what the airport situation would be. However, don’t spend the money to do that (about $100). Just exit the airport and you’ll find a line of taxies. Grab one and take it to your hotel, which will be about a 40-minute drive. The cost will be about $20-30 US. If you use a hired car, you have to trek through the parking garage with your driver — rather than walking out the terminal door and getting right in a taxi.

Where to stay: Since I am a bit of a hotel snob, we stayed at one of my favorite luxury hotels, the Four Seasons. The rate was $250 a night — a steal for a high-end hotel. It is located in the financial district and everyone there was helpful and professional. The hotel has one of Mexico City’s best bars and believe me it was a real treat. We had a different, creative and delicious drink every night. We’re talking award-winning cocktails.  And their coffee shop has the best almond croissants I’ve ever had.

Tip: when you check in, ask for a room near the elevator. They have only one bank of elevators and it seemed like a mile hike just to get to our room.

There are a number of good hotels throughout the city. A St. Regis, numerous Hiltons, Holiday Inns and Marriotts. You can find something for every budget. Be sure to check the neighborhood when you pick a hotel. The old district is lovely, as are a number of residential areas, such as Polanco with tree-lined streets and lots of cute restaurants.

Weather: When we visited in mid-July, the weather was cool and breezy. About 70 degrees in the daytime, perfect for walking around. Bring a light jacket for the evenings and you’ll be in good shape. I brought a hat, thinking the sun would be gruesome, but I didn’t need it since it was so overcast.

Getting around: Before you leave for your trip, be sure you have the Uber app on your phone. You won’t believe how easy and cheap it is to use. We did our share of walking, but Mexico City is a huge city (21 million people) and we used Uber regularly to get around. The best part is you don’t have to speak Spanish.  Just put in your destination and you’ll get a note about how long you must wait for your driver, the price and you’re off. For most of our trips, we waited 1-2 minutes for our driver and the most expensive trip we had was a 45-minute drive across town for the huge price of $12. Most of our trips were $2, $4 or $6. The 40-minute drive back to the airport was $6.

What to do: The purpose of our trip was art and food. Kelly looked up the top restaurants in Mexico City and booked reservations using Open Table, or went to the restaurant website and booked through the Mexican equivalent of Open Table. I won’t go into the details about the food here. Suffice to say, we had wonderful food in sophisticated to cozy local settings. When Ken and I were in Mexico 45+ years ago, the big worry was getting sick on the food. Not anymore, folks. It is safe and world-class. Food in Mexico City will dazzle you and at half the cost you would pay at a nice restaurant in the US. Read Kelly’s blog for where we ate and photos of the food we had.

Tip: Be sure you plan your trip around museum opening times. Most are closed on Mondays.

After we checked in at our hotel, we walked to the city park a block away (twice the size of New York City’s Central Park). It is a great place to soak up local flavor and see vendors hawking all manner of food, toys, trinkets and souvenirs. The Museum of Modern Art is located there and we took a quick stroll through it to see a very nice collection of art. Try to have at least two hours to see everything in the museum.

On day two, we hired a car and driver to take us to see Teotihuacan, the Mayan city, complete with pyramids, about an hour outside of town. Kelly’s blog will give you the details. It was a great trip, despite the rain. If you don’t want to hire a car and driver, there are numerous bus trips and tours to the pyramids. We were happy to have the driver and car since it rained and we waited out the showers in the comfort of an air-conditioned car.

An early morning visit to the Frida Kahlo museum started day three. Be sure to get there early, as the lines can be long and slow. The day we went, the museum opened at 9:30 and we got there around 10 and had a 30-minute wait. The museum is actually the house where Frida and Diego Rivera lived, so it is a special place. See Kelly’s blog for details.

We then Ubered to Pujol for our eight-course taco tasting menu. It is worth the trip to Mexico City if you do nothing else but eat this meal. Kelly’s blog explains all the details and shows photos of what we ate. Totally amazing!

We only had time to visit three museums, but Mexico City has tons of them. And there are numerous day trips you can take from the city.

Walk around the city, shop at the markets, visit museums, listen to music at the cantinas and eat. There is so much to do, three days wasn’t enough. But we will be back. Hope you can make it there, too. I think it is a winner — and especially easy for a short hop.