On Coming Home

This most recent travel tale begins at the end.

On the Other Side of Bad

It was five years ago, on an insignificant day in November, that I experienced my anecdotal revelation. At the time I was heading towards the tail end of a student stereotype: a backpacking trip through Europe.

Hello 26: Gliding Over Cape Town

Terror. Pure terror was the over-riding emotion that enveloped my body and soul when it was announced that I would be launching myself off the side of a mountain on the morning of my 26th birthday.

Surprise! We were going paragliding. What a way to celebrate turning another year older, eh?

Rooftops, mountain hikes, helicopters, airplanes, really steep staircases; I can handle those kind of heights (albeit breathlessly for the more active ones). I’ve even managed my fair share of roller coasters.

But being suspended over the city of Cape Town while hanging from a parachute? One big, fat, huge, bold, underlined, italicized NO from me.

Or so I thought.

Snapshot: Ponta da Piedade Lagos Cliffwalk

One full day of sun was all Portugal would give us. And what a day it was.

Snapshot: At rest in Cape Town

Hello is this thing on?

A thousand apologies for the four month radio silence. I’ve been busy adulting in Cape Town.

Snapshot: Mzinyathi Falls

Mzinyathi Falls, Inanda, Kwa-Zulu Natal. Initially seen on Africa Geographic’s 5 cool places in Durban you didn’t know existed article. Eventually found 2km along a dirt road in Inanda.

Czeching out the local cuisine

(Sorry not sorry about the title)

If someone had asked me where I thought I would be on a sunny autumn afternoon in Prague “sitting in a restaurant I can’t pronounce the name of while burly, tattooed Czech men in shorts serve me pickled cheese and deep fried potato pancakes” would not have been my answer.

But that’s where I ended up.