Tag: #travel

 “We do not remember days, we remember moments.” — Cesare Pavese

Bloganuary writing prompt
List five things you do for fun.
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Hello hello! Welcome back! I had to check the dictionary to ensure that my definition of fun fits the description.  Fun is defined as “enjoyment, amusement, or light-hearted pleasure.” I do pretty average stuff for fun.

1. Read

This is my favourite thing in the world to do. I love sci-fi, mysteries, spy novels and historical dramas. I have bought a few African-authored novels to read this year and am currently reading Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie as a start.  I hope to get through at 4-5 this year.

2. Visiting new places

I don’t do this often enough. It’s also the one thing that my son will most likely give his games up for. He also enjoys exploring new spaces and having new experiences. It feels like it broadens our perspective and experience of the world we live in.

3. Walking

My friend and I try to walk in her neighbourhood at least once weekly. She has the hills to challenge us and is surrounded by beautiful scenery. We are often awed by the stunning sunsets we witness every week. No two sunsets are ever the same.

a sunset
A sunset witnessed during one of our walks

4. Spending time with friends and loved ones

I find nothing more soothing for my soul than spending quality time in the company of my friends and family. I feel anchored. I feel loved, and I feel at peace when I am with them. 

5. Spending time with the cats

They entertain me with their array of personalities and the antics they get up to. They are a real blessing when my son goes away because I can focus on looking after them rather than wallow in the fact that I am missing my child.

Creator unknown

There are other things I enjoy doing as well, like playing Scrabble online, doing crosswords and sudoku, listening to and dancing to music, etc.

Do you enjoy any of these activities?

Thanks for stopping by. Be blessed.

Travelling Over God’s Country Part II

Bloganuary writing prompt
Think back on your most memorable road trip.
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Hi There. Last year I wrote about some of my favourite road trip experiences which included a drip between Connect and Weehawken as well from Durban to Johannesburg and back. You can read about and see pics of the smallest church in Southern Africa here.

Another trip that comes to mind is an overnight bus trip from Durban to Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) that my son and I took when he was about three or four years old.  The new name is an IsiXhosa word, and the pronunciation of it might take some practice. You can learn how to pronounce it here. Anyway, I digress. I was a bit apprehensive about travelling overnight on a bus with him. Lucky for me, he was an excellent traveller as a kid, so on that front, all went well. It had snowed the previous day on the Drakensberg mountains, so I was hoping that my son would get his first glimpse of it and even get to touch it when we got to Kokstad, which is near the southern Drakensberg. It was not to be. Most of it had melted, and all we saw was the last dregs on the side of the road as we neared Kokstad. By the way, Oprah’s school for girls is just outside of Kokstad.

Images of Grahamstown – source: Canva

The trip was going well until the bus broke down about 20 minutes outside of Grahamstown (Now Makhanda. Thankfully, there are no tricks to pronouncing that name 😅). It was about 5 am, and it was freezing cold. The temperature was closer to zero degrees Celsius than it was to ten. Thankfully, after about thirty minutes, they got the bus going again, and we limped off to Grahamstown, where it died. I felt so sorry for those who needed to get to Cape Town. They now had to wait for a new bus to arrive to take them the rest of the way. I have no idea what time they eventually reached their destination. Luckily for my son and I, the friend we were visiting drove through to fetch us. It’s just under an hour and a half’s drive, so we were very grateful. It was freezing in Grahamstown. We were so fascinated by the town. The architecture is an interesting mix of Cape Dutch and modern buildings. It’s a modern town, but we also saw a donkey cart making its way down the road. It’s part dorp (an Afrikaans word for a small town or village) and part modern town. It was very interesting. 

Image of Gqeberha: Canva

Anyway, we did eventually get to Gqeberha. It took us a while longer than planned, but we reached our destination safely. Thank goodness I had booked us flights home so we didn’t have to go through that experience again. My son wasn’t feeling well either, so it worked out perfectly. Needless to say, we will not be doing a bus trip again in a hurry.

An update on my plan to go on a cruise as I mentioned in part 1. It is booked and happening this year! We are super excited! I will definitely tell you all about it when we get back!

Well, that’s it from me. Thanks for popping by. Be blessed!

“One who takes the road less traveled earns the rewards most missed.”― Matshona Dhliwayo

Daily writing prompt
What could you do differently?
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Phew! Where does one start…lol! There is so much I could do differently and should, but for this post, I will focus on one. 

Image: Canva

I could make better use of the loyalty programmes I belong to!

It probably seems odd, but the reality is that those loyalty benefits can extend your salary if you use them as intended. There are two loyalty programmes that I could be making the best use of.

My Banking Loyalty Programme

I love my bank. It is digitally savvy. I earn loyalty points every time I swipe my card. I will shop anyway, so why not earn points just for shopping? I earn extra points for filling up at the specified Petrol (Gas) station brand, shopping at specified stores, and, of course, having certain banking products. So earning them is relatively easy, although every year they make it a little more difficult :(. How does this stretch my salary? Well, I can

  • Pay for petrol
  • Shop at a popular Health and Beauty Store that is in every mall
  • Pay for my online shopping at the most popular online stores
  • Pay my monthly banking fees.
  • Pay for flights and car hire
  • Pay a fraction of the cost for certain courses on Udemy

The list of benefits is pretty long, and I usually allow the points to accumulate so that I have a backup for those months when I need to make an unexpected trip that knocks my petrol budget off. If I need to free up extra cash, I pay for my banking fees using points that month. I also use it for emergency pharmacy purchases.

My Medical Aid Loyalty Programme

The thing i like about the this loyalty programme is that is designed to encourage you to live a healthy lifestyle. 

  • Exercising and meeting your fitness goals earns points
  • Buying healthy food earns points, although I disagree with a few items on their list. The vast majority are fruits, veggies, complex carbs, proteins, and healthy fats.
  • having Health numbers checked and staying with health guidelines
  • getting your preventative check-ups done like mammograms and pap smears etc

And, of course, I get to use them for most of the same things as my banking loyalty programme.  I can convert the points to cash to pay my linked credit card. I also get excellent discounts on sportswear and equipment. 

I guess that’s what I will be doing tomorrow. I will be going through the programmes and playing how I will be maximising my points this year.

Do you belong to loyalty programmes? Do you make good use of them?

Thanks for popping by. Be blessed!