In the spirit of running this trip completely unplanned, when I arrived in Cape Town I wasn’t really sure when I was leaving, where I was going, or really what the plan was going to be. I had a vague inkling of going to Johannesburg and then Tanzania, but that’s really it. I had what seem now as grandiose intentions of taking time during my three weeks between work and my flight to plan out SOME stuff…but everything I had to do seemed to expand and take up every single moment until I was literally walking out the door. That always seems to happen though, doesn’t it?

When I got to Cape Town, everyone, INCLUDING my friend in Joberg, essentially told me NOT to go there. And I figured I had time to decide what I wanted to do since my hostel was cheap and I didn’t have any specific time constraints. Plus, being in a hostel kind of helps you figure out random things to do by talking to everyone else… and after some chatting and some of my own research, I decided that I wanted to hit Victoria Falls. I figured I would fly there, then fly to Dar Es Salaam, ferry to Zanzibar, and when I was done there, fly to Kinshasa to hang with KT.

Then I looked at the cost of flying to Victoria Falls (Vic Falls) from Cape Town. The prices were steep.

Not so steep that I couldn’t afford them, I had the cash and/or the air miles, but it just seemed like such a waste to spend so much money to just fly to Vic Falls to turn around and fly to Zanzibar as well… and then I thought about checking to see if there was any kind of overland transport that I could take so that I could at least see some of the country and check out the desert and everything else on the way… and that’s when overland safaris popped up. And that’s what did me in.

I got sucked into the rabbit hole of checking out overland safaris and treks to Victoria Falls from SA.

After two days of intense research and a LOT of “sorry we’re booked up for the next two months” replies, James, the activities coordinator at Never@Home, popped over to where I was frustratedly pounding on my keyboard, and asked what I was planning for the next few days.

I told him about my #struggleisreal situation, and he said to hang tight and he’d be right back.

After about half an hour, he popped back with a grin – he’s found me two tour options, one short tour for 7 days that had space and went from Joberg to Vic Falls, and a second 19 day tour that went from Cape Town to Vic Falls. Both were overland and camping, leaving that weekend, and since I was booking so last minute, I would get 30% off of either option (they were both from the same company, Acacia Africa).

On my third research day, I met with James at 8am to book the 19 day overland tour. Because, come on, who the heck do you think I am?

Oh, by the way, the 19 day tour left the next day and required a sleeping bag…. So guess what I spent my Friday doing?

Yep, you guessed it, getting my credit card flagged for fraud because I bought a tour, took out a ton of USD from American Express to pay for the local fees, bought a sleeping bag, and shopped for a bunch of warm clothes to take with me. Oh, and also a small lunch of falafel.

LUCKILY when my card froze, it wasn’t for the $2.50 falafel…. Because THAT would have been embarrassing. It was for my hoodie, raincoat, and scarf/hat, which is only SLIGHTLY better, but still embarrassing. I had serendipitously purchased airtime for my Telkom SIM card that morning though, so I was able to call Visa and after 15 minutes, get my card unlocked so I could buy my stuff.

After my intense shopping spree, I swung back to my hostel to check into flights from Vic Falls to Kinshasa, since KT wanted me there by the 31^st for apparently the “Best Party in Kinshasa” – and who am I to refuse a fucking badass party in one of the most dangerous countries in the world?

Exactly. Can’t miss that shit.

So I figured it would be ideal to fly out from Vic Falls on the 30^th so I could arrive in the evening and then have the 31^st to chill and get ready for the party. Especially since we’re arriving in Vic Falls in the afternoon on the 27^th, then I would have the whole day on the 28^th to enjoy the area as well.

Unfortunately, there were NO feasible flights on the 30^th, with the only ones available getting me in at 11:30pm on the 31^st or not until the afternoon on the 1^st of November. Soooooo I ended up booking a 1pm flight from the Zambian side of Victoria Falls, through Joberg, to Kinshasa, getting me there at 11:30pm on the 29^th. I allllso ended up paying cash instead of using miles because if I had used miles, it would have been 17,500 miles plus $200 USD, and if I just paid cash it was $422 (for reference, 35,000 miles and $68.71 is what I paid for my flight from JFK to Cape Town). So I figured it was a crap value for my miles so I went cash on it. (PLUS now I’m closer to status for next year – probably only one more flight. 😀 )

After the flight booking and informing KT of the plans, I jumped out of the hostel and to my pre-departure meeting for Acacia Africa, my tour company, which was at a hostel around the corner. The meeting went swimmingly, and then I headed back to Never@Home for my last night. I ordered sushi, read through my itinerary for the trip a bit more thoroughly, packed EVERYTHING in my bag, and then passed out for a few hours before my 7am alarm so I could catch the 8am tour start.

Holy. Heck.

Annnnnnnnd there you have it! If that’s not impulsive and spur of the moment, I don’t know what is! Here’s to cruising around South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe for 18 nights and 19 days with my “Perfect 10” tour group. Introduction post to the team soon!