Greetings from Johannesburg, South Africa. Our flight from Atlanta to Jo'burg was uneventful (a very good thing). Delta offered a great selection of movies and I finally saw The King's Speech. I believe Michael and I were the only ones who had yet to see this Oscar grabbing film. I started to watch the Social Network but I realized I wouldn't stay awake for the whole thing. I switched to what Delta calls Spa music (restful New Age, to the rest of us) and fell blissfully asleep. Flight time (tires to ground and not gate-to-gate) from Atlanta to Jo'burg is 14 hours 45 minutes. The difference in actual time from Jo'burg to our home in Kansas City is 7 hours.. My watch tells me it's 9:15 PM Wednesday, March 23, and at home it's 2:15 PM. We get up tomorrow at 7:00 AM---which is Midnight at home.

We're staying 2 nights at Tintswalo at Waterfall. Don't let the hotel's description of the property fool you. It is purposelly built like a "barn" they brag. Sounds a little ominous to me, but they quickly assure you that the rooms are all luxury----and so they are! We have a large junior suites with a very comfy king-sized bed, 2 sueded leather chairs, an armoire with all things electronic and snackable, a large bath with separate tub and large rainfall-style shower and, as we all joke in the travel industry, it is wall and floor "marble." That's kind of an inside joke from several years ago at Virtuoso's annual Travel Mart. Every hotelier that we met showed up pictures of their properties and always , yes ALWAYS, included a snap or two of the "marble bath".

Tomorrow we're going to an elephant orphanage in the morning, indulging in tranquil spa experiences in the afternoon and a dinner prepared by Tintswalo's gourmet chefs. On Friday we fly to Maun, Botswana and then on to Duba Plains (where the famous National Geographic docmuentary of the lions versus the buffalo was filmed).

One interesting incident: in Atlanta before boarding the plane, the captain addressed the passengers waiting to board. It's never a good sign when you see the captain reach for the microphone in the waiting area. Michael rushed forward to better hear what we expected to be very bad news---a delay, a mechanical issue, yada, yada, yada; but, no, it was just a friendly captain welcoming us, explaining that 2 complete crews are aboard because of the length of the flight, and thanked us for flying Delta. Has Delta revamped their policy of customer scare to customer care? Seems so, doesn't it?

......to be continued....