I’m back in Europe and it feels good.

Firstly, I would like to start off by saying that in all likelihood, I will never fly South Africa Air ever again. On my way down, the service from the flight attendants was rude, and the real kicker was the way back. The plane was utterly empty, yet, I was forced to pay 4065 ZAR or 415€ more or less for taking home with me 41.5 kg of luggage. The funny thing however is, that I took with me approximately 38 kg going down there, I could do nothing to convince the woman otherwise because my “ticket” the one from Frankfurt to Barcelona read 20kg, which is standard for intra European flights, unless, you’re flying intercontinental, and then it goes up to, if I am not mistaken 40kg. Anyways, the wonderful people at South African Airlines are going to be presently bombarded by e-mails , phone calls, and letters until I receive a credit of 4065 ZAR in my bank account.

Moving on, after three months in Africa it’s really refreshing to feel the cold winter air on one’s face. I thought I would never really long for cold weather, but after a year of what was more or less an endless summer. I’m quite glad I’m here. I’m in Barcelona for a bit less than 48 hours, and then off to Poland, where my entire family will spend Christmas together for the 1^st time in 20 or so years. As you can image I’m really looking forward to it. However, the holidays and being back in Europe bring with it another reality, that of finding a job. So while people are merry, in the Christmas spirit and all that, I will be glued to my laptop, reading cases, and practicing for consulting interviews, that the companies I applied to were nice enough to hold off until the New Year.

And that is… more or less it. Pictures and videos from Africa coming soon.

I'm back in Kaapstad and alive and almost well.

So it's over, I would have stayed an extra day or two on tour, but as things have it, I got really sick on my way down to Maputo from Tofo (Mozambique) and was utterly unable to do anything but head to the closest clinic, get tested for malaria (as of two days ago I still dont have it) and head straight for Cape Town. Now.... I'm back in Cape Town, staying at a friend's house until I fly out of here on the 18th.

As for the trip. Wow! Fun adventure filled, crazy, so many stories I could write about. But I'll just give you the highlights, almost got arrested twice, one in Botswana, the other time in Mozambique, I'm now a PADI certified open water, and deep diver. Breathing under water is soooo cool, I cant even explain it. You have to try it. Victoria falls, is impressive, really impressive, mist water everywhere, but the poverty, and the people with AIDS you see, are heartbreaking. A lot of it is heartbreaking, but you can only do so much, and what I did to help, well maybe it will make some difference in these people's lives.

As for losing things and having things stolen. 1 pair of Gucci sunglasses - gone, 1 pair of Cool Shoe Co. flip flops - gone, 1 really cool Zambia towel - somewhere in Bloemfontein, and then some other minor things, like a knife, pens, hat, socks, etc... etc... are somewhere. Anyways, photos coming soon as well as a synopsys of the trip.