There is SO much written that I think you are all covered but in simple terms if ANYTHING happens on the way and you are delayed, first dont worry, we can adapt things to accommodate you.

Contact K&D in Cape Town let them know the situation. All those numbers including a 24 hour emergency number you have in your paperwork.
You can also email my office in Dallas and let them know. DO BOTH. K&D and my office will be in touch with me. Then we can do whatever we need to do to accommodate your new arrival date.

Ken and I, Debbie and Cindy will ALL have South African cell phones. We do not have those numbers yet as we are buying a local service when we get there. We will post those on LCT once we have them.

All can be arranged, private transfers to get you where you need to be, things will work and we can even change your dates at Birkenhead House if we have to do so.

All that said on all the groups we have done no one has been delayed so lets just assume that will be true for ROAR also.

And if your flight into Cape Town is delayed past the "meet and greet", a cab to the hotel is painless. That's what we did in 2006.

When we tell people where we are going, they look at us in great awe. We just accept their admiration and don't tell them that we have the best care available going along with us.

OH MY!!! 12 hours to lift off!!

Booked in and selected seats and printed off Boarding passes for Toronto and London last night...First time doing this.Have to love BA,LOL.

All packed ...2 bags...the "Cape Town hard sider" weighing in at 35 pounds and the duffle weighing in at 23 pounds.

Everyone will certainly be seeing the same clothes on us ...a lot.

Looking forward to greeting you as you arrive at the Radisson....I'll be the short blonde and Ray will be the silver haired fox.. :3smile:

Hi Pat& Ray:

This a.m. Penny and I were reminiscing about our Toronto gathering last year when we discussed our ROAR adventure with you. We're most pleased you will experience the beauty, thrills and luxury of Africa and that you'll come home muttering to yourself "Did we really do that or was it all a fantasy dream?"

We would recommend, even if you're kind of tired, doing the village tour. We found it most heartwarming and I shudder to think how close I was to not going.

May you, and all your cohorts, fill up your memory banks with all the wonderful sights and sounds of Africa.

Safe travels!!!

Cheers! Ray & Penny

Dear Ray and Penny:

Just think, if we hadn't met you we would never be on this tour. Thank you for the great recommendation of Ngaire and the LCTers.

I also lived the world tour through your eyes....who knows maybe someday we will actually go on one....all it will take is for Ray to agree on being away that long.

Notice our low luggage weight...it's all thanks to Tilleys (wish they sold shares in their company).

Again many thanks,

Have a safe trip...the first of the group to be off-you're making it real for the rest of us...I'll be the other short blonde at the Radisson eventually...other than Ngaire...

I noticed the weight you had. Is that EACH or TOGETHER. If it is together I am impressed I will have more than that. I need to go take something out.

Greetings from Heathrow,London.
After an uneventful flight through which I slept all the way, we arrived at 6:30ish to a wet cool London.
Since poo Ray didn't sleep at all,he promptly went out like a light for 5 hours.

Terminal 5 is very nice and the club lounge is awesome...I can only imagine what the first class lounge looks like...
The food actually is great with a large selection..the booze is first class and the champagne is very good.
Ngaire, that is the total weight for both of us.
I actually packed the duffle bag withall our safari clothes and the other duffle bag. I will split tisw in two in Joberg.
My carrey on (holds my computer),et el weighsw in around 15 pounds but will store that ,along with the hardsider in Joberg.
Very glad I wore a warm jacket/sweater on the plane as I find it cool here,but I bet its because we are tired.

Well it's 2pm now(9am-Toronto)and we don't leave till 7pm. A loooong day for sure.

WOOOOHOOOO really looking forward to seeing everyone in a few day.
Will try and give an update on Botswana and Victoria Falls after we get to CapTown on the 11th.

Bon Voyage all you ROARERS ...see you soon.

Joanna and Tony and all other east coasters...keep safe and may all go well.

Okay I bow to the "princess of packing".

We have one checked bag each that holds our safari clothes, duffles and Cape Town clothes. Both weigh about 35 lbs each so that is 70lbs. You have 58lbs so I am VERY impressed.

I must admit this last week has been a daze and I packed more than usual not taking the time to figure it all out. I find when I am rushed I pack more.

Ken's camera bag (carry on) probably weighs 100lbs (just kidding)

Taking one small carry on with one set of safari clothes and all the paperwork I need for the trip. It is not light the paperwork is heavy. Cant risk that in checked bags.

We leave tomorrow! Cant believe ROAR is really here.

:mecry:

ENJOY!!!

Oh how exiting, the time has come! Safe journey, Roarers!!!

Look forward to your reports Roarers! Pat glad you and Ray arrived safely and, yes, long day! But what a wonderful adventure around the corner -

Have a great time everyone--you'll love it!!!

I'm so glad your adventure is about to begin....lots of land mail please....have a wonderful time. :)

I'm in Ngaire's Camp - how the heck can you pack so light!
Ngaire was joking about ken's camera bag, but it's not so far from mine! (OK - it only weighs 13 lbs - With my laptop in there - but it FEELS like 100 lbs!!!)

8 days till we board our flight! Can't Wait! I've been looking at that safari cam all the time - even at night there, the water hole has been "background music" on my computer.

See you all in CPT!

Pat, you are a "master" packer. I'm in awe.

Can't wait for the ROAR II reports to start coming in. Have a great time everyone.

INTO AFRICA!!
Touched down at 7:10am Jobergtimw this am.
Were met by Heidi with our vouchers and walked across street to hotel.
Our room is lovely and the first thing we did was book a half day tour to Soweto also stopping at the Old Fort and the Constitution hall. ALSO WENT UP TO TOP OF The tallest building in Africa.It's called the Top of Africa.

Thenproceeded to Soweto and it was unbelievable. From exceptionaly fine homes to the ugly homes/part(our guides words not mine).
Also went to the Museum and it depicts the July 1976 so well...Very moving experience.They have a "Garden" of bricks...each one representing a child killed during the uprising. So minimul but sooo telling. Its now 710pm ...our first 12 hours.Weather is great.Fly out to Botswana at 1pm tomorrow. Not taking puter.See you all in Cape Town.

Yeah our first ROARER on the ground. Heidi is a lovely lady she has been meeting us since we first started going down there.

We leave for the airport in 4 hours, just in the office tying up some lose ends and waiting for Ken to back up all my most recent files to my laptop.

16 hours and we are off. I can't believe the time has finally come. We have never planned a trip this far out. The anticipation is half the fun. See you all in Cape Town.

Not sure where to make this post so ended up here. I am finally packed for ROAR 2. Checked bag and duffel. Will need to make some transfer from roller board to duffel at Federal Terminal before safari camps. I am sure I am taking too much stuff but can leave it in the stored bag at Federal. It is amazing how fast the weight adds up. The new Digital SLR with a couple of lens really adds to the carry on weight. Decided to go cold turkey and leave the small notebook home. Not sure if I can survive not checking the internet every few hours. It is great on Regent with the wireless access in the cabin.

Now the big task is ahead of me. Getting Carol packed. She has been going bananas about this packing thing and the weight restrictions, especially the JNB-CPT-JNB flights where it is a 17.6 lb limit on the carryon.

God willing and if LH is on time we leave on 9/10 in the late afternoon and arrive CPT after LAX-FRA-JNB-CPT on 9/12/08 in the late afternoon. Expect to be tired after two over night flights.

Our long time friends Dave and Mary Elaine Sonksen will be with us.

See all soon in CPT or during the trip. Good journey to all.

Ralph and Carol

Ralph, no notebook? I feel your pain. Not sure if I could manage that. Good luck with the rest of your packing and safe travels to you and Carol.

Ralph, Looking forward to seeing you and Carol again!!

Tell Carol she really can bring two bags on board. She can bring one carryon PLUS a personal item like a purse..so tell her to bring a big one ( I assume you are taking SAA?)

Have a great time everyone!

Thanks, Suzanne. We'll miss you. If you like, you can overnight your Tilly and we'll take it along for a ride.

Cheers, Anne

I am at work reading about all the preperations. We should of left this week if our world hadn't been turned upside down. I will be looking foreard to all the posts of every aspect of this trip. I hope Ngaire will do at least one more safari in the future. We are really excited for you all! Judy