Travel
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Capetown, South Africa
DH is being transferred to Cape Town for 4 months for a work project. He wants me to come. I can't decide if I want to go or not. The pictures look amazing but I am afraid of the crime and diseases. Please share your experiences:
-Where you stayed.
-Did you eat out at restaurants? Drink the water? Etc.
-Did it seem dangerous?
-Were there a lot of tourists?
Thanks!
Re: Capetown, South Africa
DH goes for work without a problem, there are several hotels his company has on contract that are close to their office. He had no problem with restaurants/water - there is more wine consumed on these trips than water. Traffic is interesting, but manageable. He refused to move there for two years like they wanted him to do - more to do with logistics (house/pets/medical care) than things over there.
BLESSED on who had been on MM but moved over to the GBCN proboards (MM and Current Events) is currently living in Capetown while doing an internship with Grassroots soccer - she has a blog (http://optimisticjourneys.wordpress.com/ - she has the link in her siggy only reason I'm posting it here) and would be a good person to page to ask about living there.
Cancer sucks.
Cape Town is awesome. I travelled there two years ago, and my husband and I are actually moving there next January because I wanted to go back and experience the culture so badly. To answer your questions/concerns:
1. We stayed in two different places. One place was in Simon's Town. It is about 25 to 30 minutes away from the city center of Cape Town. It's a small town by the side of a bay, and couldn't be more beautiful and peaceful. The second place we stayed was the Ivydene Guest House in the Southern Suburbs (a place with lots of ex-pats). I highly recommend looking into the flats there. When we move there, we are going to stay at that house until we find more permanent housing. It's beautiful, it's gated (you need to know the passcode to get into the area) and close to the city center, but not right in the middle of the hubbub.
2. We ate out at restuarants, but we also bought food from the grocery stores there and made a lot of our own meals. Everything is cheap, and safe. We also drank the water there, no problem.
3. While crime does happen in Cape Town, it's not as bad as Johannesburg, and it's relatively similar to living in any big city like NYC or San Fran. You have to be practicing unsafe habbits (like walking alone at night, going into townships without a guide) in order to run in to trouble. If you play it safe, you will be safe. And, like I said, most places are gated so you feel secure in your home.
4. There are a lot of tourists during their summer (our winter) but none of them are really American! It's a beautiful place (and cheap) so it attracts lots of people again and again.
Overall, Cape Town is definitely worth going - especially if it means being able to be with DH for four months. I'd be more afraid at being home by myself while DH is out of country! Lots of people have compared Cape Town to San Fran; it's very laid back, easy going, cosmopolitian and eclectic. It sounds like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity! You must do it!
Not sure how soon you were planning on going if you were to go- SAA is having a 72 hour flight sale for travel through the end of November $900 RT
http://www.flysaa.com/cms/US/specials/72hours.html?utm_source=kayak&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=72hourSaleEmailOct3&mpch=ads
Cancer sucks.