Our trip began on June 8th, when we started the very arduous trek from Austin, TX to Johannesburg. We drove 3 hours to Houston, flew 15 hours to Dubai, "enjoyed" a 10 hour layover in Dubai, and then flew another 8 hours to Johannesburg, where we went through customs, gathered our baggage and then attempted to navigate an hour-plus through Johannesburg traffic on the wrong side of the road. After nearly two full days with little to no sleep. But we finally made to our hotel, with our marriage and sanity in tact.
Our first stop of the trip was technically Dubai, on the evening of June 9th. With 10 hours to kill, we figured we might as well sneak out of airport for a while and check out the city. Holy hotness batman! Neither one of us had ever experienced that kind of heat and humidity in our lives. The Celsius to Fahrenheit calculation is a little rough, but it was near 120 degrees well after 8pm. I guess that's summer in the Middle East.
With lots of time on our hands, we decided to visit the Burj Khalifa, which is currently the tallest building in the world. We went up the tower to the observation deck at the top, which was neat, but since it was dark, the views weren't quite what I'm sure they are in the daytime.
Afterwards, we took a cab to another area recommended by one of J's friends from business school (who is from the United Arab Emirates), and had an amazing Indian dinner. Much better than airplane food! By this point, the heat and jet lag were getting to us, so we cabbed it back to the airport to enjoy the AC. Around 4am we boarded our flight to South Africa. We were both able to catch a little shut-eye on this leg.
Finally, we arrived on June 10th! J attended the 2006 World Cup in Germany and had been talking about going to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa for about as long as I've known him. He may have shed a tear when we landed and he was able to pose in front of this sign.
After the aforementioned, bleary-eyed drive on the wrong side of the road through the not-so-nice parts of Johannesburg, we arrived at our first hotel. We showered, had an early dinner, and were in bed by about 7:30pm.
The next morning, we rose at 4 am (which was not at all difficult due to the jet lag), got ready, and headed out 3 hours NW of Johannesburg to Pilanesburg National Park. We had really wanted to do a real African safari during the trip, but because of the World Cup, they were all booked up months in advance (and they were wildly expensive, so it was probably for the best.) Instead, we read about Pilanesburg National Park, where you can drive yourself through the game park and view all kinds of animals in their natural habitat-- all for about $20 per car. We did have to sign away our rights to sue if, say, we were eaten by a lion, but we figured it just added to the excitement! Here we are, about to enter the park:
That is a full grown male lion. Sure enough, within about 10 minutes of driving into the park, we spot this guy strolling down the road. The picture isn't great, and unfortunately we don't have any better pictures because of what happened next. He walked right up to our car and stopped and stood so close that his mane was brushing against the driver side door (Jason's side.) I was holding the camera and wanted to take more pictures, but Jason was (understandably) freaking out a little bit and didn't want to startle the lion. So we just sat in the car for a few minutes... really still... and then he walked away. After we exited the park a few hours later, we asked one of the guards if it was normal to see lions (thinking maybe they just stocked the place with animals to entertain the tourists) and they assured us that, no, it was very rare to see a lion and they were surprised and impressed that we saw one. Who needs a real safari, huh? We also saw numerous elephants, zebras, rhinos, ostrich, wildebeest, and a bunch of other animals I'm probably forgetting.
Very classy safari rest stop!
After our DIY safari, we drove back to Pretoria, the capital of South Africa about 45 minutes north of Johannesburg. We stayed at a hotel there for two nights. The first night (June 11th) we went to the local fan park to watch the inaugural World Cup game between South Africa and Mexico. The South African fans were out in full regalia to cheer on Bafana Bafana (the team's nickname).
Afterwards, we enjoyed a traditional South African feast:
The next day, June 12th, was the day Jason had been anticipating since he won World Cup tickets in the ticket lottery months prior-- the US vs. England game. We drove another two hours NW to Rustenburg to watch it. J was all geared out with an official US warm up jacket and jersey, but I made do with a red scarf and a flag I bought in the parking lot. (Oh, and June in South Africa-- particularly the northern part-- is cold. We kind of thought "it's winter in Africa-- how cold can it be?" Wrong. It was about 35 that night. If you stick with me long enough to read my future recaps of the trip you will see that I appear to be wearing the same thing every day. That is because I essentially wore all of my clothes, every day.)
Here I am in front of the stadium with a bunch of US fans. This was a great game for us to see live because a.) it was a US game, so it was obviously fun for us to cheer our team on; and b.) the fans went all out. Soccer is definitely a second tier sport within the US, but the small group of US soccer fans are intense. England is obviously a very serious soccer (football) nation, and the US fans played up all kinds of revolutionary war / Patriot themes with costumes and old colonial flags. The excitement and fanaticism of the crowds at World Cup games actually even exceeds what you will find at your biggest football rivalry in the United States. It's truly a spectacle.
The first leg of our trip was off to a great start, but it actually got better... (like that cliff hanger?) Next up... Cape Town.
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