Traveling with me are three other bloggers, Rob, Teri and Ryan; the South African four.  After three weeks of tweeting each other we finally met at the gate 37B to board our plane.  Every moment is exciting for me because this is my first time flying out of Dulles #airportfetish and flying South Africa Airways.  On the plane we all sat in the same row behind first class just an arms reach away from the empty flat bed seats.

Regardless coach was great because I had the best flight attendant Karabo.  She had an exquisite hair style with the personality to match.  She served us many free bottles of Savaugon Blanc and Chenin Blanc!  Sadly she would leave during our hour long layover in Dakar, Senegal.  The four of us stayed up the entire 7 hour flight chatting about our world travels and I spent the next 8 hour leg to Johannesburg watching the Green Lantern and In Time.  Total time on South Africa Airways flight including the layover was around 17 hrs but it couldn’t contain my excitement when I landed.

We exited baggage claim, meet our host David and transferred to the Intercontinental Sandton Towers Hotel.  David has a mifi router for us to stayed connect online so make sure you follow my twitter and like the facebook fan page to get real time updates.  We checked into the hotel and rooms is amazing, check out the room tour  video.

The Sandton Tower room is spacious and well appointed with a comfortable king size bed, plenty of lights, flat screen TV that you can listen to in the bathroom, good quality iron, open closet space, bath tub and my two favorite amenities are a strong shower head and heavy towels.  There is nothing like great water pressure and a good towel to quickly dry yourself.

After a 30 minute shower we walk thru the mall connected to the hotel and enter Nelson Mandela square were we posed in front of his three story statue.

David, WWN, Ryan, Teri, Rob

Lekgotla is our diner location and it is an experience as soon as you walk thru the door.  It has an Africa theme and since this is my first time visiting the motherland I was enamored by the decor.  And the house band played original songs adding a nice touch to the evening.

While sitting at the table a hostess offers to wash my hands on the spot with a bowl and wooden pitcher filled with water and I opted for Zulu face paint.

Everything we ordered was delicious, my favorite was the crocodile even though we ordered three plates of calamari!

Appetizers: 

Senegalese Calamari: Crispy friend calamari served with peanut, lemon and chilli sauce

Crocodile Carpaccio: Thin slivers of crocodile served with mango chutney, chermoula and tomato jam

Ethiopian Naan Breads: Garlic, seasame, olive paste, chilli and feta

Mini Sosatie Braai: A trio of lamb boerewors, chicken espetada and beef sosaties sever on hot coals and dipping sauces

Entree:

Zanzibar Kingklip: Grilled fillet of kingklip topped with a spicy peanut and curry sauce

We concluded diner with a shot of Amarula, an african liqueur that has a coffee like taste on top with a smooth fruity blend at the bottom.  Today’s journey was a 24 hour experience that was a perfect kick off to the next two weeks in South Africa.  South Africa Tourism has blown me away for far an this is only day one!

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Its hard for me to put my excitement into words, I’v tried to imagine what I will experience and at the same time I’m looking forward to all the surprises along the way.  My main goal is to share everything with you so you can feel like your there with me!  Well, I’m off to the airport…SHOWTIME!!!

Looking at the map brings perspective to the magnitude of Africa.  All of the most powerful countries can fit inside of Africa and now its time for Africa to shine.  This year a few of my friends have moved to Africa to capitalize on the emerging economies and they have made Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa home.  Now those countries are my top three destinations to visit!

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La Boca

A colorful neighborhood made famous by its vibrant colored buildings.  Tourist come here to take pictures and enjoy the random street entertainment and daytime activities.  Although La Boca has sketchy parts stay within the tourist zones and enjoy the what La Boca has to offer.  Another neighborhood Palermo is a hip area where you can rent an apartment and submerse yourself in the culture of restaurants, cafes, boutiques and nightlife.  Visit the Evita Peron museum and learn about her legacy of Argentina.  Lastly the United States dollars quadruples in Argentina so prepare to live like a king!

Montego Bay, Jamaica

Pier One

“Yahman, enjoy yourself”, is motto when your in Montego Bay.  Warm weather, soft sand beaches and delicious food is what I call a trifecta!   Pier One on Friday nights is an adventure if your into dancing all night, having drinks with fellow partygoers or being amused by everyone trying to sell you everything; Pier One is an absolute must.  Your literally Dancing under the stars once you tilt your head towards the sky and notice there isn’t a roof above you.

Roatan, Honduras

West Bay Great Barrier Reef

Roatan is an island located off the coast of Honduras.  You can expect to do three things hear enjoy the 2nd largest great barrier reef by snorkeling, scuba diving or lay out on the this nice stretch of white sand beach.  Either way paradise is the perfect description to describe West Bay.  Many people came here to scuba dive and have never left.  As a result you will discover a melting pot of expats and visitors from around he world.  If you need a place to stay check out Foster right on the beach.

Caye Caulker, Belize 

Go slow is the theme hear and this is where you shift gears from overdrive to neutral.  Caye Caulker (pronounced key) is where you walk, ride a bike or use a golf cart to get around the island.  Affordable is the theme on this caye that is a better alternative to its big sister Ambergris Caye.  Caulker is laid back and so are the prices food is $10-15 per meal, hotels $15-25 for private cabanas and $1.50 drinks during happy hour isn’t a option.  You can also access the Great Barrier Reef and enjoy the beauty earth has created.  If your adventurous hire a boat operator to give you a ride to a deserted caye and have lunch.

Sosua, Dominican Republic

DR has the best prices when it  comes to all-inclusive and if you have a family that is great news for your wallet.  Sosua is a small little town on the north side of the island and close to the airport.  It provides a great mix of tourist and locals with a lil grit to it.  Playa Sosua is a relaxing beach lined little huts selling food, drinks and souvenirs.  You can utilize a tour guide for excursions for a reasonable price.  Santo Domingo can be reached in 3 hour also.

Photo credit: Tourisms

Rome

Rome is very sexy because of the history, food, language, fashion, and the Italians are a lot friendlier than the French.  Rome is known for the Colosseum, but an evening stroll to the Fountain di Trevi at night when the tourist have cleared out is the better choice.  The world famous fountain stands 85 feet high and 65 feet wide.  You can participate in the tradition of throwing a penny in the fountain, but before you do make a wish.  If you brought her all the way to  Rome, wish for many years of bliss together.  Buy a map, rent a bike and explore the city, you don’t need a tour guide being stuck with a bunch of other tourists.  Enjoy the freedom of seeing Rome on your own and if you want more information about a sight ask a Roman and hear the history from their point of view.  The food lives up to all the hype of true Italian food not American Italian.  The best pizza in the world is in Rome, sorry Chicago.  After dinner spend the evening in a piazza for drinks and great conversation.  If you’re outgoing strike up a conversation with some locals and exchange stories.

Photo credit: American Feist

Napa Valley

Journey to Napa Valley for vineyards and wine tasting.  If she is a foodie then she knows her wines but your a novice you sure to pick up a few things.  Book a room at the Cottage Grove Inn and, enjoy rockers on the porch, wood burning fireplaces and  complimentary bikes along scenic roads to wineries.  Buy a few bottles and bring them along for dinner at local restaurants.  Breakfast is included with your stay.  Bring her here to eat good, add some wines to your collection and unwind.

Cottage Grove

Photo credit: Virgin Media

Shoal Bay, Anguilla

Anguilla is a luxury escape and one of the main activities is to relax on the beach.  Shoal Bay voted one of the best beaches in the caribbean is a heavenly beach.  White sand and turquoise waters are the two main attractions you come here to enjoy.  If your style is luxury beach bum then Anguilla is the place you’re looking for.  There is nothing more sexy then being on a beach with your woman flocking in the Caribbean sun.

Photo Credit: Life on a silver plater

Cabo San Lucas

Cabo Azul is a luxury all-villa resort designed with a 3 tier pool, swim up bar and pool beds; you will see all this before you enter your room. The 1-bedroom villa is 1200 sq ft and comes with a king size bed, jacuzzi in the bedroom, walk-in shower, living room, dinner room and full kitchen.  Save money on food by heading to their local version of Walmart down the street and buy groceries.  During the day hangout pool side or enjoy the sand near the resort.  The undertow is too strong so no swimming out there.  If the luxury life of your villa gives you cabin fever participate in one of the many excursions that range from zip lining to ATV tours.

Los Cabo is a timeshare haven and before you leave the airport one of the competing time share hustlers will probably offer you around $300 dollars of free activities in exchange to hear one of their presentations before you leave.  They will give you money for your taxi and feed you breakfast, just be prepared to say “no’” a lot if you’re not interested.  The booze cruise in Cabo San Lucas is a great outing to let loose and meet new people after you’ve met everyone at Cabo Azul.

La Boca is one of the most colorful neighborhoods in the world.  Every color under the rainbow is used to covered the facades of this Buenos Aires neighborhood.  A top tourist attraction you will see bus loads of people visit to spend the day in La Boca.

My curiosity grew to find out where did Jeremy Lin come from?  He grew up in Northern California and lead his high school team to a state title and Harvard offered him a spot on their men’s team.  He played all four seasons and graduated with a degree in Economics with a 3.1 GPA.  I still wanted to know more about him; where did his parents or grandparents come from?  I discovered his parents are of Taiwanese and Chinese decent.  Taiwan has a huge basketball influence and I’ve experienced it first hand when I visited and played basketball on the streets of Taipei.  Taipei’s vibe is a mix of Hong Kong and Tokyo, nothing is overstated.  Watch the webisode and to see my WORLD WIDE basketball skills!

In the video Whitney speaks about how she had been to Japan, India, Italy and Spain and seen those people in there home and she is finally home to see her people.  I’ve been to those countries and felt the same way and now this week, I’m finally going home to South Africa.  Enjoy the performance of Whitney Houston, celebrate her life and pray for her family!

Think, Work, Serve

When I first saw it I was confused initially trying to figure out which signal to follow.  Unfortunately the sculpture was recently removed to make way for road improvements.  Hopefully, London will erect it again for everyone to enjoy!