Day 4: Lion Park and Zoo

Lion Park – Played with 2 lion cubs
Zoo – walked through with second cousin, Ingrid, her husband Greg, and their two cute children
Wayne took Misty for a romantic dinner to a Swiss restaurant called Ernest. The restaurant overlooks the ocean.

Day 3: Bonded with water

Muesli in bed for Misty
Day trip to seaside village – Port Alfred – to visit family
Canoe ride around canals of Royal Alfred Marina
Misty’s first swim in the Indian ocean
Evening with sis and b-in-law

Day 2: Beachwalk, and koeksusters

Wayne made breakfast in bed for Misty. Misty met Jackie, our housekeeper. Misty and Mom went shopping and Wayne and Dad ran some errands. All had lunch with my old school buddy – Jason. Of the 12 grades, we were in the same class for 10 of the years.

In the afternoon we went to my sister and brother-in-law’s house by the beach. Misty and I had a nice walk along the beach whilst looking for seashells. For dinner we had leftovers from the past 3 days.

Also introduced Misty to “koek-susters.” Pronounced: cook-sister. They are twisted fried dough thingies soaked in syrup. A South African classic.

Wayne and Misty read each other African proverbs before going to bed. Remember: “Follow the customs or flee the country” – Zululand proverb.

Day 1 in S.A. - Boxing Day

Instead of celebrating Christmas with Wayne’s family this year, we celebrated December 26th - Boxing Day. Learn more about Boxing Day at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day

The day came complete with food, gifts, and lots of candy. After the gift exchange, Wayne took Misty for a walk around his neighbourhood. On the walk, Misty was introduced to “the bird” – the Hardie-Dar. When she heard the bird scream she taught it sounded like a Terradactyl dinosaur. Now its time for more food – roast lamb!

Dallas to East London via Atlanta, Dakar, and Joburg

Dallas Check-In Lady: "Oh, the Russell's. Going to Africa for Christmas I see."
Wayne & Misty: Look at each other and just smiled :-)

Dallas to Atlanta: Wayne sat next to a really talkative old chap. They spoke the entire flight about the old chap's world adventures. From corruption in Nigeria to suspicious business deals in Brazil.
Misty thought: "How annoying!!!"

Atlanta airport: It took us a record 15 minutes to get from our domestic flight to our international gate. Praise the Lord!

Atlanta to Dakar: Delayed 10 minutes. (You'll see how this made a difference...)

Dakar: Flight delayed by 15 minutes due to a more-than-thorough inspection of the airplane by the Senegal Secruity Bureau. They thought Misty was hiding drugs.

Joburg: Arrived 25 minutes late. Now we only had 70 minutes before our domestic flight to East London. We ran off the plane to Passport Control. We were the first passengers through Passport Control. Baggage claim took forever. Ran from international terminal to domestic terminal. In the process, Wayne ran the trolley full of luggage over Misty's foot. Ouch! In the end we did not make the flight :-(

Joburg Delta-Customer-Service-Lady: "I can get you one room at a hotel."
Wayne: (Thinking: "How do I tell this lady that we are not married even though we have the same last name?") Weird moment.

Overnight in Joburg: Delta airlines placed us in a 4-star hotel. After an adventurous taxi ride we arrived at the hotel (Misty finally realized where I get my sometimes crazy South African driving skills). We had free dinner & breakfast coupons. Wayne ate a huge rump steak for dinner and Misty had a vegeterian wrap. Delicious! Misty couldn't sleep so she watched TV. She was so dissapointed because there were only old American movies (They were advertised as new). She couldn't find any South African films. Only cricket. Had a huge breakfast too.

Joburg to final destination: We were placed on standby to East London. And we got on the flight to EL. Another Praise the Lord!