Last time, the magic country was “Armenia.”
This time the magic country is “South Africa” and its neighbors.
I have one nibble already, is anybody else interested?
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Trip Alert: Southern AfricaLast time, the magic country was “Armenia.” This time the magic country is “South Africa” and its neighbors. I have one nibble already, is anybody else interested? 12 comments to Trip Alert: Southern Africa |
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Too bad you weren’t interested in going somewhere in South America. I might be able to afford that. The cheapest airfare I can find from Nashville to South Africa is $1,200.
By the way, that’s from Nashville to Chicago to Frankfurt to South Africa.
Wow, you should really check into the Delta flight that goes Atlanta-Dakar-Johannesburg. I also think South African Airways does the same thing. They are all SkyTeam, which means you could accumulate Northwest miles!
I don’t know about South Africa, but I AM glad that we went to Budapest last year.I just read in the paper about the riot they just had, and we wouldn’t have missed it by much if we had gone this year instead. Also, I have to save up my $$$ since I am taking a trip to Hawaii with my family, though South Africa does sound intriguing!!!
I tried Delta. It’s close to $1,400 — and it’s a 27 hour trip thanks to the 8 hour layover in Atlanta. Ack!
Question: How much do you think hotels and food would cost once you got there? And when you are talking neighbors, what do you mean? And when did you think you would book your flights? (as in, both when would you be going and when would you buy the tix?) Do US citizens need a visa to get into South Africa? And do we have to have shots?
I am thinking about it. If the cost once on land was inexpensive, I could see spending the airfare. Of course, I need to think about this a little more.
Are you sure you don’t want to go to South America instead?
MT: I was thinking about the beginning of April, but if you are interested, I can be talked into waiting until May, but I wouldn’t want to wait much beyond that since that would be getting into winter, and I don’t have the strong urge to experience blizzard season twice in a year. I don’t plan on settling dates and buying tickets until after New Year’s. I am still investigating options.
In terms of South African visa requirements, at the moment the sole requirement for US citizens is to have at least two blank (unstamped) visa pages for entry; so four would be best for us since there is the possibility of doing a double entry.
The neighboring countries in question are Zambia and Zimbabwe–so that we can visit Victoria Falls. Zambia requires a visa, but it can be issued at the point of entry (US$25), plus there is a US$20 airport departure tax that you pay at the airport. Entry to Zimbabwe (US$30) also looks relatively straight forward. I read somewhere that it is possible to visit both sides of Victoria Falls and only need a visa for one of the two countries, as long as you stay within the park.
Chris: FYI, South African Airways is a Star Alliance member, not SkySteam, and has no relationship with NWA, nor, as far as I can tell, with Delta right now. I know that they used to be partners with Delta though.
Mateo: ditto–I was watching some of the riot footage last month and realized that we would have been right in the middle of some of it!
I would absolutely want to go!! Problem is the money–I’m quite poor and I’m trying to save up some money to go visit my family first. Though…i should be getting a nice tax refund in a few months! woot. perhaps it’s possible? i’d have to see how much money i could save up by then…
keep me updated.
Let me look at my finances after the beginning of the year. If we could go in May (not March, when my spring break is), I might be able to swing it.
{The sound of MT whipping out her Visa card while waiting for her tax return to come.}
That sounds exciting! I am thinking of going to Africa since Odd wants to go back there and see the sight and sounds
I’d definitely enjoy a visit to Cape Town and some of the more remote parts of South Africa.
[…] into the local Thalia and headed up to the travel section of the store. I was looking for a map of South Africa (maps are one of those things where the language really does not matter), and because the maps were […]