Let the adventure begin… or so we thought!  I left you all with the impression that Dan and I would be waiting at Frankfurt airport for a 12-14 hour layover only to board our second overnight flight taking us to Namibia in southern Africa.  Well, that’s not quite what happened.  We indeed waited at Frankfurt Airport for the requisite time – enjoying a stay in the Lufthansa Lounge being both well fed and watered.  Then came the time to leave the lounge (it would be closing in 20 minutes anyway) and head off to our gate which was immediately beneath us. 

I took a pic of our plane, and the excitement was building.  When we got to the gate, they took a long time to begin the preboard… then they announced they would begin preboarding, only to renege with a, “sorry ladies and gentlemen but it will be another 2 to 5 minutes”.  Well, 10-15 minutes later they announced that the flight was delayed until the next morning and that they would put us up in a hotel…you don’t want to ever see a full jumbo jet of irate people scrambling to get their voucher…Not Pretty!  Luckily Dan and I were near the front, got our voucher and met a lovely young couple from the Netherlands with whom we shared a cab to and from the hotel.  The best news of the evening was that I could actually lay down to sleep!!!

At 11:20 am on the morning of the 6^th we boarded the Discovery flight to Windhoek. 

The flight was delightful, and got us to our destination airport at around 9:30 pm.  Joseph was there to pick us up and he drove us the hour into town to our hotel.  After a reasonable night’s sleep we got up to meet with Joseph and his partner Carlos from Salty Travel.  Carlos gave us an incredibly detailed review of our 12 day itinerary (we were doing a self drive, so here more is more!).  Next Jospeh took us to our Toyota 4Runner and showed us the ropes, including how to change a tire (there are 2 spares with the rental). 

We were all set to hit the road for our 6 hour drive to our lodge near Sossusvlei in the Nambib desert, home of the tallest sand dunes in the world!  First stop was at a SPAR grocery store to buy some water, fruit and beer.  Then onto to the highway out of town. 

Instead of taking the more direct route (4 hour drive), we opted to do a scenic route (6 hour drive) that would take us over the Spreetshoogte Pass. It was a wonderful drive, although most of it was on dirt road!

We arrived at our Lodging, the Desert Homestead Lodge, where we would stay for the next 2 nights and received the full tour.  Our lodging is in a private cabin with the main lodge serving meals, bar service and pool.

We are currently sitting back in our private glamping cabin sipping a beer and contemplating an early dinner.  Tomorrow would be a very early wake up as we get ready for a sunrise balloon ride over the desert followed by a champagne breakfast.  Have a great day, looking  forward to chatting tomorrow!