wanderlust Archives - Living Our Sunshine with Susann Deysel

February 19, 2019 3 Mins Read

Big world, big adventure – how much have you seen?

I recently chatted to one of my very best friends from high school and it turns out that she never left home, never went anywhere… because of anxiety.

If I hadn’t left and we kept on partying maybe her life could’ve been different too. Maybe I should’ve insisted she join me in the city. Maybe she wouldn’t have pulled back into her shell and maybe we would’ve moved to the city together and both gone places. Maybe… (Yes, I know we are all responsible for our own futures, but friends help friends…)

Madrid: Es famosa la estatua de Julia en la calle del Pez (the famous Julia statue on Pez street in Madrid)

I never looked back. I went on to squeeze every last drop from every day. I went places, collected memories and passport stamps, fell in love, got married, traveled more, had kids and kept on going places.

I even plan what my youngest’s first passport stamp would be – just like I planned her sister’s to coincide with her namesake grandmother’s first overseas trip. Yes, I am that awesome.

My wanderlust I definitely owe to my parents. Before it was cool to go to our neighbouring countries we we’re there in an old baby blue Landrover my parents lovingly restored. We had setting up and packing up a camp down to less than an hour.

Some things I will never forget… There were the 2 nights at Nata Bird Sanctuary and pink flamingoes in the salt pans. Seeing Victoria Falls for the first time and a boat ride on the mighty Zambezi. Elephants crossing the main road in Zim. The night of the hyenas around our tent in Hwange National Park. That time my sister got bumped on the head by a warthog at Mlibizi. That time my dad had to fill up the Landrover in Zim and the pump was “hand driven”… and the Lannie had double tanks. Oh wait… that time we almost ran out of petrol in the middle of nowhere on our way to the Cape and we freed downhill. That same holiday my parents made us visit a bazillion museums!

Jip, my parents were pretty awesome back then too. Give them half a chance now and they will run off somewhere.

Mozambique with my parents and godmother

I’m glad I got great family holidays as a kid that didn’t involve hotels. I’m glad I got to see beyond Africa on my own and with hubby.

January 18, 2019 2 Mins Read

When I go back to Zanzibar…

I miss travel. It has been 6 months since our last big trip. The struggle in my head and heart is real.

Photos from our first visit to Zanzibar

If you want to see more from my Zanzibar Travels..

When you have a friend in paradise 🙁

I see all these amazing pictures of what she sees and does on a daily basis and my heart just aches to live on a tropical beach somewhere. I know she works hard, but she gets to live a life that I want.

I want to go back to Zanzibar one day. I know I’ve been there, but it was literally in and out because of a family tragedy.

What I would do if I was in Zanzibar right now…

Obviously I would be in the water, taking photos, drinking cocktails, eating, going on tours – but… there is something else I want to do. It is out of my comfort zone, it is in the air and it scares me.

I have been wanting to do parasailing and fly boarding for some time now – however, I want to do it in paradise! Plus now that I have a friend with the inside scoop as a local, I wasn’t shy to ask who she would recommend…

Zanzibar Parasailing (www.zanzibarparasailing.com), which also offers diving, jet skis and what not, is owned by a South African and they have a great safety record. They are in Kendwa/Nungwi and their prices seem reasonable to me.

January 16, 2019 2 Mins Read

10 things I learnt while wanderlusting

Plage is French for beach – thanks to our self-drive family holiday on Reunion Island. In Afrikaans, Dutch, German, Danish, Hungarian, Norwegian and Swedish it is strand.
Taking a kid (toddler) on an international self-drive holiday isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Plus one day she will have amazing photos of her very first international trip that I can tell stories about.
Knowing how to say please, thank you, hello and do you speak English in the local language is a lifesaver. Add a smile and even the French won’t give you a hard time.
I can survive in Germany and the Netherlands without speaking the language – thanks to being Afrikaans. Plus the Dutch really love hearing Die Taal.
Sometimes you have to ignore the third world argument from your husband – because he’ll love going to that destination in the end. There are no mistakes…
Getting lost is not the end of the world, but not carrying spare batteries is.
Driving in the south of Ireland is an adventure I would never say no to. I did it once on my own and got my new husband behind the wheel the second time round. We will never forget the single lane road that was actually a double lane… and the bus!
When you visit a place a second time around with the love of your life it’s even better than the first time! Plus you get to be the tour guide and human GPS. It’s weird, but you can send me back to any place I’ve been and a map just switches on in my head – just don’t ask me to drive around in Pretoria.
You learn a lot about life and yourself. You change with all the new experiences.
The world is wonderful, but home is always Africa.

October 19, 2017 2 Mins Read

Slap me with a feather and call me the luckiest girl in the world… because I am going to an island – with – my – whole – family!

This is the story… I wanted to go on a 2 week trip to Cape Town with my parents next year. Then the drought persisted and well, it’s ugly when drought has you in its grip. I then suggested that maybe we go to Mapungubwe National Park in Limpopo as I know they haven’t been there before.

My mom has never been on a plane… has your jaw dropped again? She also has never been off this continent – other than a 4 day cruise. Totally ridiculous when I have traveled so much, right?

When I broke the news to my parents that my mom won a ticket and that I would pay for my dad’s flight I wasn’t sure if I would be able to convince them to come along… My dad I knew would want to, but my mom is a difficult old lady sometimes.

3 hours after breaking the news my mom said she will definitely be joining us – but my dad will just check his leave and depending when we can go… but he really wants to go!

Then we waited for the email from Reunion Island Tourism… and some good news, we could travel until next year sometime! I was on that booking email, paid the airport taxes and now I have to plan a holiday with my parents, hubby and the kid on Reunion Island! Super excited!

Luckily I have made an appointment to get Lexa’s passport done – for next week. So she will have her first passport stamp before she turns 2 or has a sibling!

Now the planning for a holiday on Reunion Island starts… well, it will after the mad holiday rush to get a bunch of work done.

August 8, 2017 2 Mins Read

Bucket list item ticked off – met a Maasai #INSTAX

I didn’t expect to see Maasai in Zanzibar, so it was a bonus. I first spotted a Maasai walking on our trip from the airport and then at the hotel.

The Maasai people, as you know, are known as brave warriors that would go as far as take a kill from lions. They are born hunters and learn to use quite primitive (but effective) weapons. Their traditional clothing always include red, but also some blue – and consists of 2 sarongs, a belt to hang their weapon from and sandals.

The first full day on the island, after we received the news of my father-in-law’s passing, I spent my time taking photos and chatting to the beach walkers. Then I met Ngulele, one of the Maasai. He noticed that I walked around on my own with 2 cameras and he stopped to ask if all was OK. I briefly chatted to him and expressed my wish to take photos of the Maasai at the resort – and asked if he could organize this. He quickly agreed.

That night I was sitting outside watching the sunset when he stopped to chat with me. He told me that he goes home once a year depending on when the low season is at the hotel. He usually only goes home for a month at a time. He said that most of the guys did the same and that we can take the photo the following night.

The following night they all arrived. The excitedly chatted to each other and loved that I specially asked to take photos of them. However, next moment one of the Maasai was snapping pictures while I got to be in the picture holding a traditional weapon. These pictures were taken after the sun set… so I’m super chuffed they came out so well!

That photo session with the Maasai, was the most memorable moment of the trip to Zanzibar.

After that I took photos of some of the Maasai (as I found them in daylight) with my Instax. A thank you that they could give to someone special at home.

July 11, 2017 3 Mins Read

Into the blue in Zanzibar

There are so many day trips to choose from when you are on holiday in Zanzibar. There is Stone Town, snorkeling off Mneba Island, visiting a local town where they build Dhows and many more. However, there is one that everyone talks about…

Safari Blue!

Every tour operator will tell you that his Safari Blue tour is the original one, but most probably they are all the same. It is a full day excursion on a dhow or boat to a sandbank, snorkeling and then eating your heart out.

Some tour operators have their own snorkeling gear ready to go and others you have to stop at a local guy that has the gear. We take our own snorkels and masks… just saying, because some of the people that went on the trip struggled with the gear.

…and off we go!

We arrived at the boats around 10-ish (low tide) and had to wade through the water – and over sea urchins. Some of the women complained, but I thought it was awesome because I got to take this photo 🙂

…out in the big blue sea

I still think it is amazing that sandbanks appear at low tide in the middle of nowhere in the ocean – and I’ve seen it a few times. You can literally see the sandbank being swallowed by the sea as the tide rises…and it is amazing.

You never have to invite me twice to jump off on a sandbank for a swim and a fruit picnic. When I did all that I was in the water taking pictures of dhows sailing by.

…snorkel

I can snorkel, but don’t drop me off in the sea… I want to be close to sand. I have nightmares when I’m in the sea and can’t stand (thanks to a near drowning incident in Thailand).

Hubby dived off the dhow and snorkeled while I sat in the boat feeling a little green with camera in hand. I will still load the images on Instagram under the #ZanzibarGoddess tag.

400 years and a crayfish craving

Next up we saw the 400 year old Boabab tree on an island.I’ve seen some big baobabs, but this one, even fallen over, is HUGE! It even has a little dam in the middle.

Then we went off for our seafood lunch (on the same island). This was hubby’s only thing he wanted to do on the whole trip, eat crayfish. He ate 4 whole crayfish by himself!

The island life is for me

While everyone was shopping around and swimming I wandered around with my camera as per usual and snapped this image of fish hanging on one of the empty shops.

Gone shopping on the beach….

Look at the oar! Using materials that would’ve ended up on a landfill somewhere.

…and this is how a dhow looks with its sails down.

At the end of the day, as the sun barely punched through the clouds, we sailed to Zanzibar’s shore and made the hour’s drive to the hotel.

April 20, 2017 2 Mins Read

Getting your travel insurance sorted – quick and easy

So we all know bags go missing and accidents and life happens – well, this is where travel insurance comes in. You don’t want to go on your dream holiday and end up in debt for the rest of your life because you didn’t think travel insurance is necessary.

If you are with FNB and you pay for your holiday with a qualifying card, you could get your travel insurance for free (if you are younger than 70). Plus you can do it online – no more calling and listening to elevator music. I have used the FNB/TIC travel insurance for every trip since 2008!

Usually your travel insurance covers the following:

Death and disability cover
Luggage cover
Medical emergencies

I usually just take the free option as it covers quite a bit. You can upgrade to a paid higher level of cover. I’m attaching the screenshot from FNB’s travel insurance – but if you are with another bank, just enquire if they offer you the same benefits.

If you need to shop around for travel insurance you can use these handy links to get quotes from:

My best advice when traveling is to rather be safe than sorry – and just get the travel insurance sorted before you go. It takes a few minutes and you are covered.

January 10, 2017 1 Min Read

Top 20 island escapes on my bucket list

I have a travel bucket list so long and varied that I cannot possibly do 1 post with all the places. Obviously, I have a list of islands that I would love to visit – because I’m one of those beach people. In no particular order here are my top 20 island destinations I would still like to visit:

Reunion Island
Madagascar
Mauritius
The Comoros
Seychelles
Bora Bora
Santorini
Crete
Saint Martin
Milos
Cook Islands – Rarotonga
Canary Islands – Gran Canaria
Tahiti
Moorea
US Virgin Islands – St Thomas
Hvar (Croatia)
Antigua
Fiji
Cayman Islands
Capri

Since I’ve been to the Aran Islands (Ireland), Phuket, Koh Phi Phi & the Maldives, they are not on the list. I would however never say no to go back to the Maldives – it was spectacular. Don’t think this is the end of my list either – it is so much longer than 20 islands.

Which islands do you want to visit?