Trip report Part 3: South Africa (The others were
Seychelles and
South Africa Safari at Mhondoro, Hong Kong will be after this).
Hotels (yes Benevolent Dictator, I will eventually add these to the hotel thread
) :
Hyatt Regency Johannesburg, 8k Hyatt points. Arrival night in SA before my safari. Took the Gautrain from airport to save some money, if you’re maybe 2-3 people cheaper to take an Uber. I wanted something away from the airport and this was the best acceptable deal. Awesome hotel! Attached to a new outdoor mall with lots of food options including a pharmacy store chain (which I desperately needed after having my legs bit to crap in the Seychelles one night as aloe was not cutting it, fyi don’t forget your bug spray to dinner even 1 night there!). I would totally stay here again! If your room faces the courtyard you will need earplugs due to bird noise. Road noise reported from other side so this is better imho.
Protea North Wharf in Cape Town, friends & family type rate, hotel recommended by people on Reddit award travel. Acknowledged Gold Status & upgraded 1 room level. HUGE! Full kitchen (didn’t use it), saw dirty glasses so wouldn’t want to anyway. Washer/dryer combo in unit. Very small, 2 hours to wash, I recommend hang dry instead of trying to use its dryer function. I knew this going in from TripAdvisor so I was ready. Coffee shops within walking distance for breakfast much cheaper than hotel breakfast. Located in a business type district. I stayed aware & was safe walking around during the day. Close to V&A waterfront, can walk from hotel (I didn’t end up doing that). Use an Uber at night. Would stay here again even at the normal rate or points rate.
Ten Bompas Hotel, Design Hotel by Marriott. Transit night between CPT-JNB and JNB-HKG. Used 35k cert from my credit card. Cash price was like $300 or something ridiculous so seemed like a great use of a cert. Ubered to/from airport. Was excited because it’s a boutique type hotel and it was my first Design Hotel but the property was in desperate need of refurbishment. Being in the middle of a neighborhood there are no other options besides their fancy restaurant. I ate lunch there and it was good but I just Ubered back to the mall I’d explored by the Hyatt for dinner & Starbucks breakfast the next morning. Uber is SUPER cheap. Breakfast was $10 USD total- 2 ubers, tip, Starbucks drink & pastry, much cheaper than the hotel would have been. Do not recommend. Stay at Hyatt Regency on points instead.
An older couple on my safari stayed at the JNB airport hotel and were happy with the convenience of it. If you want easy or don’t have lots of time on your hands look into that instead.
Flights: Booked direct with Kulula, 2 flights JNB-CPT & CPT-JNB ~$50/each. No frills discount carrier, would book again. Escaped over weight bag fee first time (guess clerk took pity on me) but had to pay the fee on the return flight. I knew I’d be charged it as the weight limit is quite low but it was only like $30 USD. Kulula is now in the Chase portal but the flight numbers and times did not match what I saw from the airline and expert flyer so be very careful if you book like that.
Lounges:
Bidvest Lounges at JNB & CPT via PP. Both fairly full, enforced 2 hour prior to departure rule for entry. Food not good, snacks ok. Drinks fine, free booze during afternoon & evening. Nice to have a comfy seat for a bit.
Shongolo Premium Lounge at JNB when I was departing on Cathay. CX printed off a lounge pass for me at check-in as a J passenger. Food better than Bidvest but nothing great. Alcohol available but idk if the wine was any good as I stuck to water that morning.
Cape Town:
4 nights, 3 days to explore. Wish I’d planned more time!
Day 1 Hop On Hop Off Bus, rode in the open air up top for awesome views- did free walking tour of Bo’Kaap, Table Mountain Cable Car, V&A Waterfront & Aquarium. I recommend them all, even the Aquarium- many of the fish were different than I’m used to seeing in CA/HI, it’s not big and I read most everything & was done in like 2 hours, worth it for sure (but not the penguin part! I LOVE penguins- LOVE LOVE LOVE- but not here. They have warm weather penguins in open exhibits in an enclosed building so it smelled horrid).
Blessed with a beautiful day when I did Table Mountain!
Isn’t this gorgeous? Even upside down there’s beauty here
I’d totally consider a couple beach days outside of Cape Town if- “when” if I’m being honest!- I come back.
Day 2 Cape Tour booked through Chase Travel Portal, was great, especially visiting the Penguin Colony! Lunch place had a baboon problem as soon as people left a table. This one attempted to abscond with a coffee (which he drank some of before being chased off, lol!). Alas much of it spilled as he jumped on top of the awning and the rest he lost when he dropped the mug upon landing
So. Many. PENGUINS!!!!!
Day 3 was a Wine Country Tour booked through Chase Travel Portal. As we went through Stellenbosch downtown I kept thinking about
@WDWMomof3 DD and how neat it must be to study abroad here! (Take a gander at her blog if you haven’t y’all!) As a California wine lover I was especially looking forward to this part and I enjoyed it. Although one winery gave me a special pricing list in USD with shipping to the US of a case for like $20. Which was a crazy low rate until I rather quickly figured out the wine bottles were priced 3x the going rate on their normal price list ROFL. Didn’t care as I wasn’t buying but fyi. Wine is cheap in SA, if the prices look like they do stateside you’re getting ripped.
I had an evening food tour booked with Chase cancelled by the vendor by email a few days before, I’ll do a separate post on that refund process as I had to do it for a tour in Hong Kong as well.
Of note:
-I LOVED South Africa. Fascinating country, I cannot wait to go back & spend more time. The blending of cultures, variety of religions, development of a young democracy. Just awesome.
-I was safe. I tried to be smart, walk at day, Uber at night. Left some cash and a debit and credit card and my passport in my safe in case I was robbed (I wasn’t!). Common sense helps too- if all the buildings in the area have 10 foot walls & barbed wire, call an Uber even during the day (Johannesburg). Admittedly I lived in Stockton, CA for a few years so it takes a bit more than normal to scare me safety wise but that also means it’s no big deal to me to enact extra safety precautions others might not think about.
-Uber was great, Pei even tracked. Many people hopped in the front of their Uber at the airport and driver’s were a bit weirded out when I got in back on a couple of occasions but I always travel in back for safety and even for cultural comfort that is not something I will change. Freebird is supposed to work but I was too worried about issues locating me after I had issues with it in Orlando.
-Research the Uber pickup zone at airports before you leave for home or you’ll end up in the middle of the aggressive taxi solicitors at the airports insisting they match Uber prices- yeah, sure...
. @bernina is right though, I got one for free via my employer (the bank). I opened it 4 years ago and have never borrowed a dime from it LOL! I finally have a reason to use it 
Your approved quickly
On the approval !
