Moved from my nice downtown hotel with huge room, full kitchen and bath, and free shuttle service anywhere in town to a more expensive colder Holiday Inn in a wealthy suburb with a smaller room and half bath – just in order to link up with my tour group. The Holiday Inn had a few advantages (namely fast wifi in the rooms), but was much more corporate and less personal than the center city hotel I was staying in earlier. Generally speaking, Holiday Inns overseas are more upscale than the ones in the U.S.
I had to get a few things done to get ready for the trip including finding a few safe ATM machines to withdraw the $630 cash we were supposed to hand in for our “kitty” that evening. The kitty is used to purchasing food and other incidental expenses along the way. There are lots of warnings about ATM scams in South Africa, so I have been trying to be extra vigilant about security.
I also wanted to get a local SIM card so I could use my phone and iPad for calls and Internet access while I was in the country. I tried getting a SIM card earlier with the assistance of my other hotel, but it never worked. They are required to be registered with a local address but even though my chauffeur offered hers it was never accepted as being registered properly.
The Holiday Inn was just around corner from Nelson Mandela Mall. Of course, that wasn’t the original name in this once white neighborhood, but it is now. I was advised by my hotel that was the place to go to get my errands done. Sure enough, I found the place to be pretty safe and full of very publicly guarded ATMs. I was also able to find a phone company that could get me fixed up with a working SIM card. I had to bring a letter from the Holiday Inn stating that I was staying there one night, and for some reason that satisfied the residency requirement.
By the end of the afternoon it was time to meet my fellow tour participants and trip leaders. The trip leaders were both black South Africans and they happened to be related. The main tour guide was about 24 and lived in Soweto and his uncle, obviously older, was the driver. Both seemed very friendly and social, although the younger spoke English a bit more clearly so he was easier to understand.
The rest of the group was smaller than their usual size and consisted of an odd collection of people in their 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s – with one in her twenties. 2 Germans, 2 Australians, 1 New Zealander, and one Canadian. They seemed to represent a mixed bag of professions and educational backgrounds, but all seemed nice and eager to make for a good trip and focus on being a good team and getting along for the duration.
