South Africa: Summary

On Jan. 10 I made the very long trip to Johannesburg for the kickoff of the local SAP implementation. My wonderful travel companions were Natalie Browne, Sarah Henry, Veronica Rueda, Mark Carter and Nandita Manglavil. We met primarily with Antoinette Roberts and Pradeshnee Deoki from the local South Africa team. They were a wonderful group to work with and the trip was fun both professionally and personally.

The travel was LONG and I was so tired when we arrived. It was 10 hours from DFW to London, 6 hour layover in London and then 11 hours from London to Johannesburg. We stayed at the Peermont Metcourt Suites-Emperors Palace near the airport. We were so tired when we arrived at 7am local time, but our hotel rooms weren't ready! Veronica and I took advantage of the time and took a taxi to the Apartheid Museum and the rest stayed at the hotel. The Museum was nice, but there was a lot of reading and after a few hours I was seeing cross-eyed. When I finally got into my room around 3pm I crashed for a quick hour nap before getting together with the group around 5pm to prepare for our sessions the next day.

The week flew by and I was fighting a cold and cough so I focused on work and tried to rest in the evenings as much as possible. Our meetings finished Thursday evening and on Friday Pradeshnee took us on the most amazing tour!

Our group! Me, Natalie, Nandita, Sarah, Veronica and Mark.

This was the tour - as dictated by Pradeshnee;

- We drove in the peak hour morning traffic to the other side of the Joburg (colloquial for Johannesburg) to Hartebeespoort and Magaliesburg. 

- We went to the Aerial Cableway (more info at www.hartiescableway.co.za). At this vantage point you had an 360 degrees of Joburg. On a clear day, It shows Pretoria, Joburg and Botswana. 

- We then stopped at the Chameleon  Village flea market. This is where you bought your stunning African masks and other gifts. 

- Then the Lion Park.
- We had a pit stop at the Nelson Mandela Square where we took pictures at his famous or some would say infamous statue. 

- For sundowners and dinner we went to Melrose Arch. The restaurant we went to for a unique African dining experience that is inspired by the diversity of traditions is called Moyos ( more info at www.moyo.co.za).