I used my new favorite travel booking app, Momundo, to book a flight out of Namibia following the tour. The best part about this app (and it’s close runner-up, SkyScanner) is that you can enter your originating airport and date of travel and leave the “To” airport blank. You can then see how much a one-way ticket costs to pretty much anywhere and it highlights the bargain fares. I had about a week to kill before I had to be in Turkey (gobble, gobble) for a tour so figured I’d hang out somewhere in the general vicinity. So many options!
Let me provide a bit of background: something that has been on my must-do list is hiking the Dolomite mountains in northern Italy. This has been on my radar since I was hiking in beautiful Cinque Terra last year and met a lovely couple from Pennsylvania (Andrea and Tim) who regaled me with stories of their many travel adventures (their philosophy has always been to prioritize experiences over things and they’ve had many of them- mostly the outdoor kind). At the time, I thought we were at the most spectacular place imaginable but A & T were ooooozing with praise for hiking in the Dolomite mountains. They described the Dolomites as a less built-up and more beautiful version of the Swiss Alps and raved about the town named where they stayed, Ortesei. A few months later I was back in the States for a brief spell and was catching my therapist up on my adventures. I got excited talking about hiking in Italy and he said if I liked Cinque Terre I HAD to go to the Dolomites. He looked up the name of the most amazing town where he had stayed… sure enough, Ortesei it was! Is THAT is sign or what? And it was now pretty much doctor’s orders, so of course I had to look into it! Sadly, it was approaching October by then and too late in the season for hiking. Well, dang! I back-burnered the trip… on a burner not very far back. Fast forward to now, when Mommondo recommended Venice as a bargain flight option from Namibia, AND I had a week to kill, AND it was lovely Springtime, AND there was even a cheap flight to Istanbul afterwards… could there even be more signs than this?? After all the frustration with my water-logged phone, I felt like my luck was turning!
The next question was how to get there. I’m not a big fan of driving and had never rented a car outside of the States (partially bc I’m embarrassed to admit that I don’t know how to drive a stick-shift… my Dad blames himself for not teaching me when I was young and as an adult I’ve yet to find a friend willing to teach me using their car. Any volunteers??). Because of this, I looked into public transport options and saw there’s a bus from Venice to THE DOLOMITES, specifically the town of Cortina. I planned to spend two nights there, and then make my way to the Promised Land… Ortesei! How great to have a plan!! Hmm… what’s that saying about “the best laid plans….?”
My first sign of trouble was upon landing in Frankfurt where I had a connection to Venice. I checked the screen… flight cancelled. Well, that’s rather inconvenient! Despite having no flight I still had to go through security as if I was on my way to a connecting flight. This was my first time in Germany (if the airport counts?) and those Germans do not fool around with security. Their elaborate screening process requires you to stand in a very specific position- wide-legged with your arms dangling, elbows slightly bent, and your palms facing backwards. Kind of like an orangutang. Also, it’s an open-air screening (so all in plain view) and I have to admit it was hilarious watching passengers trying to “strike a pose” and be corrected multiple times by the scary officers before getting it right. The novelty wore off, though, and an hour later I was finally on my way to Lufthansa ticket services. They rebooked me on a flight via Munich the next day that arrived just before the next day’s bus to THE DOLOMITES. Looked like I was spending the night in Frankfurt, although this is the extent of what I saw of the city: 
At least they put me up in the Sheraton which is located just a tunnel away from the terminal. There I joined a room full of other Lufthansa passengers in a large conference room for our comp’d dinner of turkey and mashed potatoes. Kind of like Thanksgiving, and many people looked about as happy to be there as they would at their disfunctional family’s holiday dinner tables. Unfortunately I was faced with another snafu the next morning as we were delayed leaving Frankfurt and I missed my connection in Munich. Argh!!! I had a five hour wait for the next flight and took out the trusty old iPad to troubleshoot how I would get to THE DOLOMITES, having missed the one bus of the day. I mean, I could always rent a car. But I hate driving. But… it’s THE DOLOMITES!! And your options are veeeerrrry limited. Here’s what I saw of Munich- it looks lovely and I’ll have to go back under different circumstances. 
I FINALLY landed and set out to claim my rental car, dragging a lil’ bit from my 36+ hour journey at this point. The kind woman at Thrifty must have noticed I wasn’t exactly in the jolliest of moods and upgraded me from Bare Bones Fiat to Pimped Out Audi (to be referred to as POA from this point forward). Here she is: 
My mood buoyed slightly… I was off with a sweet ride! The two-hour drive to Cortina was beautiful, despite increasing patches of fog and rain as I got deeper into the mountains (on mostly winding two-lane roads). 
I checked into my accommodation and the proprietor pointed out the four restaurants I could choose from. He said they all close at 9pm as it’s a “sleepy mountain town” this time of year. Hmmm… based on Trip Advisor, I’d thought Cortina had more going on than this? And where were those mountains I was supposed to be able to see from my window?
The rain was really coming down now and it was already 8 p.m. so I motored to the closest restaurant, a pizzeria next door. There were only a few tables occupied and I was seated at a table next to another solo diner, a gent who looked about my age. I wasn’t sure how to sit as I thought facing him directly would be kind of awkward, almost like were at the same table, but with my back to him seemed rude. I compromised and sat at kind of an angle, half-facing him (which in hindsight was probably more awkward than either of the alternatives). I got bored pretty quickly sitting there by myself (and with no phone decoy) and soon we made eye contact and a conversation naturally commenced. Okay, okay I’ll be honest, chances are that I was the one who struck up the conversation… I don’t exactly have a healthy fear of chatting with strangers (as reported in the British rag, The Daily Mail, where I’ve been cited as an expert on the topic). Anyways, soon enough my new friend (Christoph from Germany, living in Austria), were sharing both a table and a bottle of wine. Christoph had been in Cortina for 9 days and also came to hike THE DOLOMITES. He gave me the BLUF, which I appreciated despite the information it conveyed, “Everything is closed. The hiking season doesn’t start until June and no trails are open, nor are the gondolas that take you to the trails. In fact, there’s still a lot of snow in the mountains. No snow this week, though, just rain. Every day, with no end in sight.” I looked at him, incredulous. Was this some type of German humor that I didn’t know about? If so, hilarious! Alas, (while I learned later that he is very funny), Christoph was not pulling my leg. I have to say I did feel slightly less silly given that someone else had made the same mistake as I had….and COME ON Trip Advisor! Both of us had done research (albiet his likely more extensive than mine) and this “Dolomites are closed until June” thing never came up. Anyways, the no-hiking scenario was probably for the best given that it poured TORENTIALLY for the ENTIRE next day. The mountains being open would not have helped. 
I caught up on some correspondence and other life administrivia that has fallen by the way-side and thank goodness for my Cortina boyfriend, as I would have really gone bonkers without Christoph (both for his company and validation that I’m not a total idiot for making this mistake). He had scoped out the adorable ski town during his time there, and toured me to his favorite spots (of the handful that were open). 
Gotta love an iPad selfie attempt! Christoph also speaks ‘nerd’ so we geeked out discussing things like China’s advances in the innovation arena and how this impacts their global positioning. The next morning brought some sunlight (!!!) and I could actually see the mountains that I would not be hiking. 
No matter, I hopped in my POA and headed to my ultimate destination- the mythical Ortesei. I spent the next 2.5 hours driving through winding mountain passes…it was INCREDIBLE! And included some extremely variable (and equally beautiful) scenery.
For the first time in my life I LOVED driving… a LOT. I think I figured out that my problem with driving in the past is that I’ve been operating average-to-below-average cars and have had average-to-below-average-views, AND have had to deal with pesky things…like stoplights and speed limits. Driving POA through THE DOLOMITES is a different experience entirely. 
It also occurred to me that when I’d booked my hotel in Ortesei I’d assumed there were only a few available because they were all full of hikers like myself, but I now suspected it was prolly because they were also still closed. And… I was correct. It was just salt in the wound when I learned that the mountains in Ortesei were opening for hiking the VERY day I was leaving. Of course they were! Regardless, I loved the family owned mountain lodge where I stayed. The views were totes amaze and they even had some footpaths where I could fake-hike. I was a happy camper.
It was pretty spectacular as far as fake hiking goes and I zoomed off for hours, happy to be moving after days of sitting (something I do not handle well). More views: 
After fake-hiking for much of the day, I took POA out for a spin in the mountains. That’s right… a drive just to drive, with no destination. Driver’s ed was the last time I did that! Then I was off to the airport, not sad it was 3.5 hours away and I savored my final moments with POA. As I drove I reflected on how my Dolomites experience had not been what I’d envisioned at the outset but it had definitely been an adventure and, all in all, one I really enjoyed! I got to make a few new friends, take in some incredible beauty, and, of course, there’s my new love affair with driving. I was glad the many snafus throughout the course of the journey hadn’t kept me from maintaining a (mostly) positive outlook and being open to whatever experiences presented themselves, as they were pretty cool ones! Next up… gobble, gobble!
And my tour group crew stuck around for the late night showing that evening, to be rewarded with the elephant act.
When we left the next morning the only animal we hadn’t seen at Etosha was the lions, who (being the teases that they are) had made their presence known with some seeeeerious, and slightly disconcerting, roaring throughout the night. Jeff and Barry worked their magic, though, and as our bus rolled out we saw some safari vehicles pulled over to the side of the road…. sure enough Mr. Lion was out for a morning stroll in the woods walking exactly parallel to road. We followed along for a good 10 minutes and he didn’t seem to notice or care about our rumbling coach bus. It was the perfect end to our Etosha experience!
And, I’m sure they’ll all have a grand time on the second leg… I just don’t want to hear about it! (#earmuffs) Where I’m headed next is still a smidge of a mystery, even to me, so there’s a lot to stay tuned for!
I admit I was a smidge embarrassed showing up to the camping trip with my rollerboard suitcase and not a smidge of camping gear but the group kindly outfitted me with anything I might need. There was so much gear that we barely fit! 
And, not being the most experienced camper, even some things I didn’t know that I needed- such as the stake you put in the ground to hold your wine glass while sitting in your camping chair. What a novel idea! 
I learned quickly that Jamie and her friends are the consummate camping hosts – they are not fooling around. Jamie’s boyfriend Eric and his friend, Hennie, met in the Navy years ago and you can tell by the military precision they bring to the camping experience. They really think of everything! Hennie even had a kitchen gazebo that includes a solar powered refrigerator. I’ll be honest that I thought of camping food as either those freeze dried meals they sell at REI or spearing a hot dog with a stick and roasting it over a fire, so I wasn’t really sure what the kitchen would be used for. Little did I know what culinary delights my consummate camping hosts had in store for me! You may recall that on my South Africa tour we were treated to a traditional South African “braai,” which is their version of a BBQ (or ‘cook-out’ as we say in Massachusetts) and it’s also a verb for the act of grilling as well as the name of the grill device. 
Btw, there are no propane tanks involved in this process and the food is cooked over flame. Eric was Braai Master and was in charge of seasoning and cooking delicious meat items at every meal. I swear the chicken he made one night is the best chicken I have EVER had in my life. My mom is always up for a cooking challenge so I’m thinking of passing along the recipe to see if she can even come close. Sans braai I’m pretty sure it’s impossible, though, and I hate to set her up for failure. Here’s Braai Master in action: 
Eric’s skills did not stop with the chicken- we had pork, beef, sausages, crawfish (same as lobster but with no claws), BACON, and even sides such as cous cous. 
It occurred to me how much more of an adventurous eater my travels had made me (the Mopane worm included!) and I remembered that when I embarked on my first Flash Pack tour (last July) I listed in my profile that I didn’t eat red meat. Now the guides of my tours look confused when they see that notation on their spreadsheet as I’m gnawing on a rib right in front of them. Hennie also brought a cooking tool called a potjie, which is essentially a Dutch oven on three legs that is used as an outdoor crockpot, and made a delicious beef stew (called potjiekos) that included dumplings he’d made from scratch in the kitchen gazebo. I kid you not. 
Now I had also envisioned camping as taking place in the woods and was soooo pleasantly surprised that our accommodations overlooked the beautiful, rocky coastline of the Western Cape (as they call it.) It was absolutely stunning, and was punctuated by breathing in the fresh sea air and lulling to sleep to the sound of the waves crashing. 
So, I’m a big fan of having ambient noise in the background while sleeping and have an old fashioned “sound machine” at home that I’ve had since I was a little (don’t mock me, that’s been done already). When traveling I discovered the White Noise app on my phone and I have worked hard to find the perfectly pitched noise among the options (it’s called “brown noise,” if you’re interested). Nothing will ever compare to nature’s white noise, though.
You may have noticed that I did not list fish as one of our many braai delicacies and this was not for lack of trying. Jamie and Eric have pretty official-like fishing rods and we tried our luck from the rocks, using fresh mussels as bait. Jamie caught a rockfish right away (that we threw back) …and THEN (after catching a few rocks and thinking I had snared “the big one”) I reeled in a real-live fish! 
Some kiddos and their dad’s (our campsite neighbors) had joined us to view the fishing at this point. We all watched in anticipation as I reeled in what would hopefully be dinner. 
And then we all looked (with a combination of intrigue and horror) at the most ghastly Creature of the Sea any of us have ever seen! We agreed it was actually the ugliest fish alive- some kind of bottom feeder with creepy teeth. 
Back to the sea you go! We’ll stick with meat, thanks very much.
My favorite part of the camping trip, though, was sitting around the fire talking with the group and new friends we met at the campground. 
It was fascinating to learn more about South Africa and the locals’ perspectives on their history, the current political climate and the culture in general. From what I gathered the government can be summed up in one word- corrupt. All the South Africans I met agreed that it was a very good thing that Jacob Zuma was finally forced out as President (having remained in power through countless charges of crimes including corruption and rape, and nine votes of no confidence by Parliament… it was finally his own party who drove him out.) And while people don’t seem totally psyched about the new guy (Cyril Ramaphosa) their relief is palpable that at least Zuma is gone and there is a glimmer of hope for the future. For his part, Ramaphosa has vowed to tackle the government’s corruption issues, so that’s something, in as at least it’s admitting the issues exist. And with the nation’s economy in the tanker and a 30% unemployment rate the stakes are high as the nation seeks to project stability and encourage investment dollars. Interesting times here in South Africa and a lot of questions about what the future will bring.
We honed in on a mother and son leopard duo during our first game drive and were lucky to be able to follow them in the subsequent drives. We even saw them on “a killing spree” that included a rabbit the mama leopard offed just inches away from us, and we then watched her take it up a tree to store it! Minutes later a dead impala (kind of like a smaller deer) was discovered stored in another tree! Then an antelope corpse was found… all the work of the leopards. You could tell by looking at them that their bellies were very full. 
We had a scare on one game drive as we were observing our leopard friends hanging out in the impala-storage tree, munching on their kill, when out of nowhere a mean male leopard pounced into the tree!! The more experienced mother took that as her cue to exit the tree but the cub freaked out and ran out to the end of a limb, where he perched nervously- not knowing what to do. The poor little guy was so scared he defecated from out on the limb! The male leopard proceeded to go at it, gnawing away at the impala, and in the process attracted several feisty hyenas who stood below seeking scraps (they even eat the bones– apparently hyenas eat anything.) Meanwhile, the mother leopard crouched in the tall grass observing the scene. The game drive ended before we could see the outcome of the scary scene but Geoff said the cub would “probably be okay” if he chilled out on his limb for a bit and waited for mean male leopard to leave. We were DYING to know what had happened and were extremely relieved on the next morning’s drive when we saw mother and son cruising around together, seemingly unscathed. Phew! We’d definitely grown attached.
I was very lucky to have Katy as my safari-mate as (in addition to being a lot of fun) she has a real camera and takes great pictures AND she has insane animal tracking skills. I swear the lodge wanted to hire her. To be fair, they seemed to think the two of us had brought crazy-luck to their game drives as every one we were on was phenomenal! We were also told our game drives had unusual and unprecedented sightings- such as the leopard serial killing spree. Katy, though, is a human pair of binoculars. She could spot anything, no matter how far away AND correctly ID the animal. It was uncanny. Of course, at times the animals were so scarily close that a legally blind person could probably have made them out. 
We said good-bye to our new friends (the amazing staff) at the Safari Lodge- Geoff, Tanya, Jade, and Johann and moved onward to our next destination… Zimbabwe! Specifically, Victoria Falls which is the largest waterfall in the world and one of the seven natural wonders. As background, the Falls border the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe and apparently views are great on both sides…but we were headed to the larger viewing area in Zim. So, my first inkling that something was ‘administratively awry ‘ was when going through immigration to leave South Africa. As the officer stamped my passport she commented something about not having any blank pages. Hmmm… was this possible?? I checked. Indeed it was. How did that happen?? Katy informed me that we needed to get a visa in Zambia, a joint visa that would allow us out of Zambia and then into Zimbabwe. Hmmm… I wondered where they would stick the visa?
Then the gravity of the situation sunk in and I did something I rarely do… I started to cry. The officer seemed pleased to see that I was appropriately concerned and told me he was going to break the law and could get fired and added that he has a family support. No guilt trip there. He then proceeded to slap the visa on top of a full page of passport stamps. Our driver seemed as relieved (as was I) and he informed me about 15 times that I’m the ‘luckiest girl on the planet.’ And, I honestly did feel that way!
Our chopper also cruised over the surrounding savannah where we (thanks to Katy Hawk Eyes) saw groups of giraffes, elephants, zebra, and even a buffalo. 
Next we headed to the gorge area of the falls, which is also stunning. We zip-lined across the gorge, to make sure we were taking in the views from all angles. 
Our Falls viewing trifecta concluded with a tour on foot. Our guide, Musa, led us through the rain forest to 14 look-out points while explaining the history of the falls and sharing other fun facts. Here’s one for you: the water that goes over the falls in 3.5 days is the amount of water New York City uses in a year. Mucho agua! Our safari luck extended to Falls viewing and we had a beautiful rainbow backdrop for almost the entire hike. You can’t photoshop this stuff! That night we went to “the Boma” drum show for a dinner experience, where we were adorned in sarongs and given drums to participate in the show. 
Among the buffet food options was a station serving Mopani worms, which are a thing people eat in Southern Africa apparently. We also learned they give you a certificate if you eat one…so that decided it! (at what age does a certificate stop working as an incentive to do something?) It actually wasn’t bad and tasted sort of like chicken. It was a fantastic last night, punctuating a fantastic five days. Many thanks to Katy for planning such a fun trip!
A few hours later Katy and I had to say a hasty goodbye in the airport, as I was led to another back office after being denied check-in to our flight… for not having enough blank pages in my passport. Huuuuge bummer. In the back office it became clear that South African Air was not going to bend the rules, even a smidge. I was also informed that South Africa immigration had started imposing fines of $2,500 when someone arrives without two blank pages on their passport (unclear why you need two blank pages for one stamp)…. and that the fines went to the individual gate agents who checked you in, so it was personal. At that point, I stopped asking nicely for them to bend the rules. I was told my options were to buy a ticket to the U.S. (no thanks) or fly to Zimbabwe’s capitol city, Harare, to see what the U.S. embassy could do to help. I figured I’d first try another airline and hoped that maybe British Airways wouldn’t be such sticklers, so I purchased another (thankfully refundable) ticket to Cape Town… and was denied access once again. At least they’re consistent! To Harare I go… I guess. For a split second I wondered if I’d be in Zimbabwe for life. 
I landed in Harare and realized I had a few problems. The first being that my phone did not work on their network and there was no WiFi in the airport. I had called the embassy from the ticket office before my flight and they’d told me to call back when I landed. The second issue was transport… Zimbabwe is having a currency crisis and they only accept either U.S. dollars or their black market money, neither of which I had to pay for a cab. Big sigh. Talk about feeling stuck! I wandered into a random airline office in the tiny airport and asked if I could use their phone to call the embassy. Unfortunately their landline phone only allows calls to cell phones. Random. Lucky for me there were two gents in the office buying a ticket and one of them offered me his cell phone. He even purchased more data so I could make the call! After several attempts I got through to the embassy and was told they were closing and to come in at 8 am the next day for a temporary emergency passport. I felt a little bit better having a plan. Upon hearing my transport quandary the two guys offered to drive me to my hotel. They were THE NICEST men and I learned on the drive they are both pastors. 
The pastors were supposed to travel that day but their trip had been cancelled at the last minute. They told me they thought the reason it was cancelled was so that they could be there to meet me and help me out. I was not arguing with this logic and was extremely grateful. They asked me my thoughts on Trump (as most people do when I meet them during my travels.) They then informed me that Zimbabweans are big Trump supporters- which surprised me. The reason is purely religious, as Trump has been vocal about being a Christian and with his anti-Islam sentiments. Since Hilary was not vocal about these things, it’s assumed she is not a Christian and supports the spread of radical Islam (they also believe Obama is Muslim.) The pastors said that before the election there were entire church sermons devoted to praying that Trump win the election. Go figure.