Are you ready for it?

July 30, 2024 <– date I was here

Am I in my travel era or is this just my life? I spent a bit of time (a little over a year) figuring out what I wanted to do for my 40th Birthday trip. I read Prince Harry’s book and he described his love of Botswana and Nambibia with such awe and beauty that I instantly knew I had to go. While I will never experience either country as Harry did, I will no doubt experience the beauty in my own way.

Once I had decided on heading to southern Africa, I shared with my grandma, Gloria, that I would be going. She told me I must go see the gorillas. Well, they werent EXACTLY where I was planning on going, but I will have traveled so far to get to the continent, might as well make best use of my time? So I will be heading to Rwanda to go see the endangered mountain gorillas as well!

After deciding that I also wanted to do some adventuring I settled on an overland tour from Zimbabwe to Namibia. Now, of course I didnt get my first or second or even third choice for dates, BUT my travel advisor, Bronwyn, from African Budget Safarais was AMAZING and kept at it until we could make my dates work with what was available.

Once I had the dates set for my two adventures, I reached out to my friend Chris to see if he had a recommendation between two middle eastern cities – his response was “let’s to go to Prague instead.” No one EVER has to ask me twice to go to Prague. So, my trip will also include almost a full week in my favorite city with Chris! He hasnt been back since we went about 18 years ago! We have a new list of things to do in this beautiful city, Im so excited he can join me!

In true Laura fashion, I spent time searching for cheap flights. I had saved all my American Airlines points for 8 years, my Hilton points for over 2 years and my Chase points for over 3 years. I spent about two months looking for the right flights and finally found the perfect ones…to London! So my roundtrip from Sacramento is to London. This also allowed me to save SO much money on a one way ticket out of the states AND get to spend even just a day or two in another great city. I know, for many, this will sound crazy, but you can see my cities below:

Sacramento – London – Prague – Johannesburg – Kigali – Victoria Falls – (overland tour) – Windhoek – Capetown – London – Sacramento

I used points for everything except the gorilla adventure and the overland tour, and one hotel. For some reason Chase had issues booking a hotel for me in Kigali – but my trusted Orbitz hooked me up with a nice hotel, and then I got 10% back using my Rakuten plug in. At this point in my life I have time to do this type of travel arranging and figuring out every saving opportunity. I know I may not always have this time or energy, but right now I do, so I do it. I also am still working with quanity over quality when it comes to airline seats. I choose premium economy for my flight to London, its basically domestic first class. The seats dont lay flat, but you get foot rest (unless you are in the bulkhead, which I am) decent reclining and better food. Its also a VERY small cabin – usually only 3-4 rows of 6-8 people per row. I know once I fly business I wont want to fly any other way.

Upon arrival in London (which we got in like 45 minutes early, even after circling) I headed straight to my hotel. I booked this one with Hilton points, so I’m eligible for free breakfast, which I won’t be here for either day. I also get a free drink, but I can’t imagine having enough energy to claim those either. 

My hotel room wasn’t ready for me, so they let me change in the bathroom then took my bags. Of course nothing is free so it cost £1 to hold my bags, but well worth it. 

First stop? Imperial war museum. I love this museum for many reasons. The first time I came it was because it was free. At that time I fell in love with the layout and the topic. It sounds grim, but the evolution of war in such a short period of time really is remarkable. 

Since the last time I have been here they have added two new exhibits, one for WWII and one for the Holocaust specifically. It took me longer than I thought because of the new exhibits, but I had to check them out thoroughly. It’s hard to turn something so tragic into something beautiful that people can appreciate and take in, the museum got it right. 

After a few hours in the museum I decided to head to the Tower Bridge. I had seen that there is this little staircase that takes you out right to the water and you can basically get an unobstructed view of the bridge and sometimes without anyone there! I was going to walk, but realized flip flops and a two mile walk on day one was probably not the smartest thing I could do. So I got back on a bus. 

The walk from the bus stop to the bridge wasn’t bad, right along the Thames. When I got closer I had to look up the video to see where the stairs were. When I got to the stairs, there was only a handful of people there! It was pretty fantastic. After a couple pictures I decided to head back to the hotel. I was hot and exhausted. 

Most buses and underground vehicles do not have air conditioning. They have windows they open and the wind feels great, when you are moving. At stops it’s pretty hot and humid. I have seen so many hand held fans this trip, I don’t remember seeing them like this before. 

Once back at the hotel I grabbed my bags and headed to my room. It’s a cute little room with an extremely comfortable bed!

I decided I should eat something but was far too tired to figure something out, so I ended up at the chain Italian place on the corner. It was decent, but it could have also been how tired and hot I was. 

When I got back to the hoteI, I showered and then got in bed – I watched the Olympics live and was able to see Simone Biles do her floor routing and then see the USA win gold, after that I crashed!