off to africa!

Well, you can imagine how excited I am to be going on this big adventure to Africa with Bob, Sue and Max. We'll be gone for two weeks to South Africa, Zambia and Botswana. And Sue says we're going on two safaris, to Victoria Falls, Capetown, a Rhino Walk and the wine country. I can't wait!

Yesterday I flew with Sue and Bob (in the overhead bin, not my preferred seat!) from Seattle to JFK. It was an uneventful flight and we finally got to the Hotel Kitano in Midtown Manhattan around 10:15 PM.

They went to the hotel lounge and heard some jazz, the Billy Drummond Trio. They said they were really good, although they only heard the last few tunes. Then they went to some lounge for a nightcap and back to the hotel.

This morning I stayed behind while Bob and Sue did some last minute shopping. I hope they bought something for me! Sue had a fairly long list so they took a cab uptown. Afterwards they cabbed it to Max's apartment and the three of them had lunch at a cool noddle joint called Momofuko Noodle Bar (translated that means "lucky peach" in Japanese).

Now they're at Max's apartment while he does his final trip preparations. I am stuck back at the hotel with all the baggage. Not fair!

Our flight is at 5:55 PM Saturday night and they say we have to be there three hours in advance. We're flying on South African Airways, and it's a 17-hour flight with refueling in Senegal. I've already asked Sue not to put me in the overhead bin so hopefully she will let me sit with her. She and Bob have seats together and Max is behind them on aisle. It's a big Air Bus and everybody has individual TV/movie screens so hopefully there are some good movies for bears!

We'll land in South Africa around 5:30 PM on Sunday (they're nine hours ahead of the West Coast). It's spring time down there, but Max checked the weather and it was 92 degrees Fahrenheit in Zambia. Phew! But it's a bit cooler in Cape Town.

Oh, my mom said she was reading the new Oprah magazine and Oprah said she forgot her passport when she landed in South Africa. She even put it in a special pink passport holder so she wouldn't forget it. Six hours later, government officials gave her a temporary passport to enter the country, where she is building a school for girls.

I hope Sue remembered to bring my passport. I don't think Teddy has the same clout as Oprah!

Copyright 2006 Sue Frause. All rights reserved.