As mentioned in the intro post, we booked our trip with miles into business class. We had flown Qatar once before on our way to Oman, so we were quite excited to fly them again, and this time try out their Q Suites. ORD > DOH > WDH Getting to Windhoek took ~36 hours and two overnight flights, first from Chicago to Doha, a layover in Doha, then Doha to Windhoek. From Chicago we had the Q Suites, which has a door that closes after takeoff (providing privacy from the aisle), plus the ... continue reading...
Namibia: Windhoek
After our last breakfast buffet of the trip we packed up the car and headed south to Windhoek, stopping briefly at a small waterhole just north of the Anderson Gate. ...450km later(!) we arrived in Windhoek. We checked in to the Protea Hotel by Marriott Windhoek Furstenhof – a bit old but comfortable, and a great use of Marriott points. After a few days of very low water pressure we were happy to have a shower with proper pressure again. More importantly, we were back on wifi networks, ... continue reading...
Namibia: Etosha National Park
Note: this post contains a small number of the photos from our three days in Etosha - to see more check those tagged with "Etosha National Park" on Flickr. Wednesday morning we hit the road by 8:45a and were at the Van Anderson gate by 10:30am. There was no line and we were asked to fill out some paperwork — which apparently I was doing too slowly because the woman impatiently sighed and printed out a sheet with my basic details on it before I was even a quarter of the way done with the form ... continue reading...
Namibia: Otjiwarongo
The drive from Omaruru to the Hadassa Guest House in Otjiwarongo was straightforward and full of warthog sightings! He was not in a hurry or his tail would be straight up! Upon arrival, we were offered a triple room in the newer, quieter part of the lodge rather then the double we had booked. The beds were a bit firm but the room was spacious and we appreciated the separate toilet area with a door and ceiling (not sure why they are so open in Namibia?). Oddly, the shower area has no ... continue reading...
Namibia: Roidina Safari Lodge
As requested in their pre-arrival email, we called the lodge from the winery to give them a heads up on our arrival time, and they said they were expecting us. From the gate it's a about a 15 minute drive to the resort on a well-maintained dirt road. A lady was waiting for us with a cool welcome drink and directed us to the covered parking area. At that point we discovered we were the only visitors to the lodge that evening - we had the whole place to ourselves! Our cabin was ... continue reading...
Namibia: Erongo Mountain Winery
On the way to our next lodging spot outside of Omaruru we stopped to taste a few wines at one of the few wineries in Namibia, Erongo Mountain Winery. The winery itself is located at the end of a dirt road (naturally) alongside the currently-dry Omaruru River. Upon arrival we were enthusiastically greeted by the four winery dogs who proceeded to entertain us for the entire visit. It was a lovely day with a nice breeze so we sat outside with view of the vines and enjoyed the canine ... continue reading...
Namibia: weekend in South Africa
In the middle of our Namibia trip we flew down to Cape Town, South Africa, for a long weekend with Leandra's aunt and uncle. Thursday Our flight from Walvis Bay was was quick and easy, arriving in Cape Town about 30 minutes early to an empty immigration counter. While we were waiting for my aunt and uncle, Eric tried one of the airport ATMs - it was working with our cards, but the bank wanted an exorbitant fee so we decided to try elsewhere in town. Veda and Doug collected us and to ... continue reading...
Namibia: Swakopmund + Walvis Bay
After our long drive through the mostly boring desert, we got into town around 2:30pm, parked the car in the secure parking area at the hotel and relaxed for a couple hours in our room (#2) at the Desert Sands Boutique B&B. Notably this was our first reliable wifi of the trip so far, so our phones went crazy backing things up. For our first night we had a one bedroom unit with a small kitchen and a good sized living space. The only thing that would have made it better was laundry ... continue reading...
Namibia: gravel roads in the desert
Most of our first week was spent on dirt/gravel roads of varying quality. On our first full day we drove from Rehoboth to Sesriem. On the way the highlight was the Spreetshoogte Pass, which has enough grade that part of the dirt road was outfitted with pavers to provide more traction on the switchbacks. Coming from the east you start at the top and work your way down, so we stopped at the first viewpoint to enjoy my free cupcake and the views. pavers for traction! Views for ... continue reading...
Namibia: Moon Mountain Lodge
By the time we returned from the Water Kloof hike our bags had been delivered to our room, so after a refreshing welcome drink of sparkling lemonade we headed over. Our tent was quite large, bigger than expected, with a huge bed plus a sitting area and small kitchenette. And, the view were amazing. The bathroom area was in second tent connected to the first by a small walkway. It was also quite large, with a closet, shower, and tub. After our hike a shower felt great, ... continue reading...
Namibia: Waterkloof Trail
Before leaving Sesriem we filled up at the petrol station, then pointed Google maps to Namib-Naukluft National Park for the Olive Trail hike... unfortunately, Google gave us bad directions and we had to turn around after about 5km because the road she wanted us to take didn’t exist! The corrected route took us past our next hotel, so we dropped off our luggage, noted our room number (#14) and told them we would be back in a few hours. Our host asked where we were planning to go and we mentioned ... continue reading...
Namibia: Sossusvlei
Sossusvlei was one of the anchor points of the trip, a destination we had built our itinerary around and had been looking forward to for months. The evening prior we talked with the gate guard and found out that for Sossusvlei you pay the park fees when you leave – not when you arrive – so our plan was to go to breakfast around 7am, then head straight to the dunes after the early crush of tour buses. We got to the park gate around 8am and registered as car #50. To beat the sun, we decide ... continue reading...
Namibia: Desert Camp
After gassing up and a quick lunch in Solitaire we completed the rest of the (very bumpy) drive to our accommodations for the next two nights — Desert Camp. We were assigned the last unit on the end, #228, which suited us fine. All the chalets include an outdoor kitchen area with a fridge and braai, and were also fairly private. We never heard any noise except chirping lizards and some occasional wild animal calls. We unpacked our bags, washed a few clothing items and relaxed in the ... continue reading...
Namibia: arrival drama + Lake Oanob Resort
Getting off the plane in Namibia was easy - we exited by stairs and walked across the tarmac into the immigration line. That process went fairly quickly as we were shuttled to a shorter ‘residents’ line. And although it took nearly a half hour for our bag to come out (even with the bright orange, clearly useless, priority tag) that became the least of our worries. Our first order of business was to buy a SIM card for my phone (GoogleFi doesn't work in Namibia) but the retailer didn't take ... continue reading...
Namibia: Hertz rental car
During the planning phases of the trip we went through lots of rental options - 4x4 vs smaller car, local vs international companies, etc. Ultimately we wanted a vehicle with some ground clearance, so at least an SUV, and the local companies I had contacted were quoting more than double some of the international companies for a Hilux 4x4. Eventually we booked with Hertz as we have had good experiences with them internationally, the price was right, and the vehicles were located at the ... continue reading...
Namibia: an evening in Doha
With a 10 hour layover in Doha we wanted to get out and stretch our legs, all the more so since the lounge was alcohol-free for Ramadan. Thankfully it was quite easy to get into Doha. There are airline-sponsored tours (no longer free) but we had read that it was fairly easy to just do it yourself, so we decided to test that out. After landing we made our way to the business class lounge. Eric found two key code lockers to store our carry-on bag and backpacks, then we took the elevator down to ... continue reading...
Namibia 2019: overview + intro
A trip to Namibia had been in our heads for a few years, as the scenery looked amazing - massive dunes, wild coastline, lots of animals. Timing was important, as we wanted to go during their winter / dry season, with May and June being good points in the 'shoulder season' before the high season of July and August. We had even started working on an itinerary for spring 2017 before we were seduced by Scotland... we finally got our act together in June 2018 and booked a two-week award miles trip on ... continue reading...
Portugal 2019: Belem sights
For our last day in Portugal we decided to explore Belem, which meant that an all day metro/bus/trolley pass would be a good option. Luckily it was really easy to buy from the self-service machines in the metro and we were on our way in two minutes. After about 30 minutes of metro and bus we arrived in Belem, and the first order of business was to find some breakfast pastries. This was a little harder than expected, but we found a small market, and took our breakfast down to the water to ... continue reading...
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