Family vacation in Mpumalanga, Nelspruit
Monday, October 15, 2018
I have always wanted to travel, to explore and experience different places. It does not make sense to me to not wander and find out what other provinces or countries look like. One of my biggest goals this year was to travel whether for a day or a week, visiting a small town or flying out to the country whatever it takes to keep moving. I also wanted to create memories with my daughter, my partner, my friends and family.
Mpumalanga was the perfect place to start this "world tour". I was determined to go no matter what.
Once I settled on the dates I started planning. The first thing was booking accommodation which was quite easy thanks to bookings.com. The next step was trying to get a reasonable car hire company which wasn't easy at all. Most wanted a credit card, if you didn't have one you could use a debit card but the deposit (refundable of course) was a bit steep. I searched and searched and SEARCHED until I found a "cheap" car hire company. I booked the car.
Now traveling with a baby is a whole new dynamic that I had to wrap my head around. This particular trip gave me so much anxiety mainly because I was going to travel with uLanga. She is quite expressive, lol that is code for she cries a lot, so I was praying for a peaceful trip. I honestly didn't think I had it in me to go that far with her but I had to test my limits, I had to do it or else I'd never know.
The day finally came, I woke up early and started packing. I needed atleast 3hours to make sure I had everything for the both of us. I made a checklist prior so as to make sure I don't leave anything. I went through that checklist multiple times. I tried not to overpack which backfired because we had to stay an extra day somewhere in Mpumalanga.
My partner was running a little late in the morning of the trip , we were an hour behind schedule and I was freaking out because I didn't want to travel at night with the baby. We got to Nelspruit at half 7 at night, so much for not wanting to travel at night. We got food and went straight to our accommodation.
My partner was running a little late in the morning of the trip , we were an hour behind schedule and I was freaking out because I didn't want to travel at night with the baby. We got to Nelspruit at half 7 at night, so much for not wanting to travel at night. We got food and went straight to our accommodation.
We booked a place called Villa Laika. The place was amazing. The interior decor, the service, it was all great. We had a little patio and the first morning we had coffee there. That's when we made plans for the day.
Day 1 was our Kruger National Park day. We got there after 1 pm,which was a bad idea because you were expected to be out by 17:30. That didn't leave us with enough time to see all the animals but I saw giraffes so I was happy.
We left KNP just before closing time and caught some crocodiles just outside the gate.
Day2, which was a Sunday, was quite a let down. We had promised ourselves to wake up a bit early to make sure we had enough time for our plans but that failed dismally. We only left at half 1 and I wasn't aware that the place we were going to , casterbridge in white river, closed at 2. It took us about an hour to get there. Most of the tourist bits were closed including the gallery, wine tasting and pottery class. I made a promise right there and then to come back. We had lunch at Magnolia, a restaurant there that closed a little later than the rest of the shops. We enjoyed our time there.
Day 3 was our last day in Nelspruit. It was bitter sweet. We wanted to stay longer but we were glad we did it. We did run through a minor inconvenience but we conquered. I am already planning another trip for the family. But it has to be close by.
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