Our new itinerary!!!…With a few gaps…In time, we’ll fill them!…

Upcoming Itinerary – June 21, 2018, to March 1, 2021
 Marloth Park, South Africa  56 6/21/2018 – 8/16/2018
 Zambia – Chobe National Park – Chobe River  7 8/16/2018 – 8/23/2018
 Marloth Park, South Africa  89 8/23/2018 – 11/20/2018 
 Leave South Africa for visa – not booked 7  11/20/2018-11/27/2018 
 Marloth Park, South Africa  89  11/27/18 – 2/21/2019 
 Marloth Park SA to Kenya – tour booked 15  2/21/19 – 3/8/2019 
 Valparaiso, Chile- hotel stay – not booked  15  3/9/2019 – 3/24/2019 
 Cruise – San Antonio, Chile – San Diego  14  3/24/2019 – 4/8/2019 
 San Diego – fly to Minnesota – hotel stay 17  4/8/2019 – 4/25/2019 
 Cruise – Fort Lauderdale to Copenhagen  16  4/26/2019 – 5/12/2019 
 Ireland – Connemara – house rented 90  5/12/2019 – 8/9/2019 
 Amsterdam – hotel stay – not booked 2  8/9/2019 – 8/11/2019 
 Cruise – Baltic – Amsterdam to Amsterdam  12  8/11/2019 – 8/23/2019 
 England – rent countryside house – not booked 62  8/23/2019 -10/24/2019 
 Cruise – Southampton to Fort Lauderdale  15  10/24/2019-11/8/2019 
 Las Vegas, NV – Los Angeles, CA – Scottsdale, AZ  22  11/8/2019 – 12/3/2019 
 Ecuador – Galapagos – rent a vacation home – not booked 89  12/3/2019 – 3/01/2020 
 Peru – Machu Picchu – rent vacation home, visit site  30  3/01/2020 –  3/31/2020 
 The Pantanal/Amazon River Cruise – Brazil (2 cruises)  30  3/31/2020 – 4/30/2020 
 Gap – to be booked  134  4/30/2020 – 9/11/2020 
 Minnesota – family visit – not booked 14  9/11/2020 – 9/25/2020 
 Gap – to be booked  46  9/25/2020 -11/10/2020 
 Cruise – Lisbon to Cape Town  22  11/10/2020 -12/2/2020 
 Cape Town/Marloth Park   90  12/2/2020 – 3/1/2021 
 Number of days   983

 *Cruises are indicated turquoise shading

“Photo of the Day in the Bush”

At night, Little Wart Face lies down for a nap, exhausted from eating pellets and his busy day.

A few days ago, when we mentioned we’d be updating our itinerary and posting it in the next few months, we became motivated to get it updated now rather than wait. 

We attempt to post a recent itinerary every six months, but it doesn’t always work out that way when plans are still up in the air.  Although we have several gaps and un-booked events listed in the above itinerary, we aren’t concerned about booking these now, especially those out more than a year or two.

Lots of zebras in the yard after dark.

It’s possible but tricky to book anything two years out, other than a few cruises here and there, as indicated above. Most owners of holiday/vacation homes prefer not to commit to a booking so far out, mainly when we often request discounts based on two factors: one, our long term stays and…two, the frequent online exposure of their property, which may result in more bookings for them from our worldwide readers.

We fully understand the hesitancy. When we find a possible holiday/vacation home, we’re interested in renting, if the owner says, “Check back in a year,” we seldom check back. When we’re ready to book, we’re ready to book and prefer not to spend time “checking back.”

The same goes for cruises. When we find a cruise we’d like, we usually book it within 48 hours of discovering it to ensure the choice of our preferred cabin and to take advantage of any early booking promotions that may be offered at the time.

After the zebras left, female kudus and youngsters arrived.

The good thing about working with Vacations to Go is they offer the lowest possible price (with perks) up until the final payment date, which is usually 75 to 90 days before the “sail date.”

As we’ve mentioned in prior posts, Tom checks prices for any cruises we’ve already booked almost daily. If he finds a cruise we’ve booked at a lower cost and with better “perks,” he’ll contact Vacations to Go to request the price adjustments. Once completed, we’ll receive an entirely new “cruise confirmation” document with the latest pricing and perks.

Cute young kudu.  Note the bushbabies knocked over their cup of yogurt on the stand above.

This process has served us well. Over the years, we’ve saved thousands of dollars on cruises making the almost-daily extra effort worthwhile.  But many cruise passengers don’t bother to check (or their agency doesn’t offer this feature), and the cruise line will not do the checking for you.

Contact your travel agency or however you’ve booked the cruise for the price reductions. Again, many travelers don’t take the time to check frequently enough for “daily specials.” Once the special offering is gone, one may not benefit from its price changes.

This morning, baby zebra nursing.

Fortunately, price increases do not have any bearing on existing reservations. As for the six/seven cruises, as shown above, we have not yet booked the Amazon River and Pantanal cruises which we’ll book within a year.

As for the other cruises as indicated above, most will stay in place. We’ve yet to cancel a cruise we’ve booked. On a few occasions, the cruise line has canceled a cruise we’d booked, and we had to make other plans with little compensation for the change.

Cruising is an excellent option for us for many reasons. Generally, it’s a cost-effective opportunity to see more of the world, rather than flying from place to place. Plus, it’s a lot more fun to sail between countries than fly on airplanes. Often, we use cruises to get us from one country to another where we may stay for some time.

The zebras also stop by during the day, more frequently in this past week.

As for yesterday, we attended an excellent presentation at the home of friends and Marloth Park Honorary Rangers, Uschi and Evan that we’ll soon share in detail. It will take a few days to prepare the comprehensive post.

Today, we’re off to Komatipoort and Lebombo to the grocery shop. Tom always drives to Lebombo for carrots and apples for the wildlife while I shop at the Spar Supermarket and the meat market in the Spar Centre. This way, he doesn’t have to spend so much time grocery shopping with me, which isn’t fun. I’m a slow and deliberate shopper.  Can you imagine that?

We’ll be back with more tomorrow and wish all of our readers an excellent day and evening, wherever you may be, whatever you may do.

Photo from one year ago today, June 21, 2017:

Grandpa and Vincent at Cardboard Camp in Minnesota. For more photos of the cardboard camp, please click here.

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