Getting Ready

It has been around 15 (LONG) months since our last vacation and we can't WAIT to leave for South Africa. Well, if we're being honest, we did escape to Bordessono in Yountville, CA (Napa Valley) for a weekend in Spring but I'm not counting that trip because I (Jess) had just finished cancer treatments. A really shitty couple of months balanced with a really great couple of days restores some sanity but doesn't constitute a vacation. Even though it's been such a wait, the trip kind of snuck up on us. We've been spending most of our time renovating the townhouse we bought in Whistler and slowly sorting wedding 'business' out. Things were kind of ho-hum until we got this email from British Airways... go ahead... click on it.

Wheeeee! You sure don't get reminders like this when you're flying coach! We saved our BA points for about 6 years and are flying all the way to Cape Town and back First Class. Not Business Class... FIRST. Just for fun, we went online to buy the tickets to see what they would cost. For the two round-trip tickets we would have had to shell out $47,000 (well, there would be no 'shelling' because there isn't $47K to spend). Can you believe that?! Seriously, what the hell? The best part is, BA has been in the process of renovating all of their First Class cabins. We found a blog that did a review of the new seats. Amazing. I'm sure we won't get the upgraded cabins on all of the legs but even one would be great.

We spent this past weekend at Walter's babysitter's house (Ryan's mom). We felt extremely guilty leaving him there but he's in the best of hands. In fact, Ry's mom sent a picture of him looking through her living room window to reassure us he's in heaven. Here's a picture of Walter 'hunting' through the window. Just to be clear, I promise this will be the last picture we post of him. Ryan has ordered his mother to send a new picture of Walter every day we're away. Yes, we're THOSE people.

The next few days will be spent buying last minute items like malaria pills, new underwear, and currency converters. We've been packing for awhile but so far we've just focused on the essentials... you know, like wedding socks and a bottle of 2001 Chateau Rauzan-Segla that we bought in Bordeaux, France which we plan on drinking the day of our wedding; we bought it there, where we were engaged there two years ago.

We are, however, making progress in the packing department. Our second bedroom has turned into 'The Packing Room' which is a good sign.

I also picked up our South African Rand (ZAR) this afternoon, too. I'm not sure if they gave me small bills but I feel like we're dealing with Monopoly money if they haven't. That, or we bought WAY too much. Can't say I've ever been handed banded wads of cash before.

Now all we need to do is get through 3 more days of work. Damn near impossible if you ask me.