It’s been awhile since I’ve written a blogpost; my summer was filled with travel, and fall is always busy for me. I went on TWO trips this summer, one to Africa and Portugal, with a quick stop in Beirut, AND Peru to see my son!

Let’s start with Africa…I was able to use my American Airline miles to book business class on British Airways.  The only problem was that BA bumped me on my flight from Chicago to London, and I didn’t know until I arrived in Chicago.  It all worked out; I got money from BA via a debit card (which I used during the trip), my flight to Africa was in business class, AND I got miles and money refunded from AA.  Lesson learned: ALWAYS ask for compensation!  All I did was email AA, explained the circumstances, and voila!  It ended up costing $238 and 52,000 miles from my home airport to Johannesburg. I had a long layover in London, so stored my luggage at the airport, took the tube to see some sights, and had lunch with a friend!

I booked a paid flight to Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia, where we were picked up and started our desert safari. Here’s some pictures of our hotel near the desert, where we stayed two nights.

Namibia is a country where royalty go, and it has the oldest and highest sand dunes in the world.  We wanted to experience the iconic red sands, so we booked a tour to the Namib Naukluft National Park to see the ancient Sossusvlei.  It’s quite a drive, but those magnificent red sands made it worthwhile, see for yourself! (No filter nor photoshop)!

I love what our guide told us when we were climbing the dunes, “Walk in the footsteps ahead of you.”  It made the climb so much easier – it’s hard to walk in sand!

We went to watch the sunset one evening and stopped at a canyon on the way back to the city.

After the safari, we stayed at the Hilton in Windhoek.  This property was just lovely…

After Namibia, we flew to Malawi, aka, the “Warm Heart of Africa.” More about that next.