MIMI'S SOUTH AFRICAN ADVENTURE - BUMPER BLOGPOST - Part 1

Above: Mimi and me at the airport

One of the biggest privileges and blessings in life is to be part of making someone else's life-time dream come true. It is even more awesome when you hardly know that person.

I met Mimi in cyberspace in 2005 - during the 'Maxdog' era. She ran a blog called 'Loving for a Living'. We hit it off like old friends and have continued to support one another over the past 9 years. Mimi's dream has always been to visit my home country,SOUTH AFRICA and two weeks ago, we met at the airport for the very first time ever.

The past two weeks, although hectic, have been remarkable. It's as if God himself has put his hand of blessing on this adventure - providing experiences that will last a life-time for both of us. I'm not even going to attempt to explain it all, but rather to put up a few bumper blogposts of pictures which will record this amazing event.

So let's begin...

MIMI GETS SETTLED...

Special treats for the dogs - all the way from Michigan.

Meeting family and friends

DAY 2:

A visit to Montecasino Bird gardens for the show 'Flight of Fantasy' and an opportunity to meet some colourful characters.

DAY 3:

Our next stop was the famous 'Elephant Sanctuary' at Hartebeespoort Dam where one is able to interact with the elephants one-on-one

Receiving an elephant-education talk

 Mimi feeding the elephant

 Receiving a special 'Kiss'

 Me: Walking 'hand-in-trunk'

Mimi, Robyn and I

Our next stop was Hartebeespoort Dam Cable-way and a view over the Magaliesberg mountains:

DAY 4:

On the first Monday we took a trip to the Lion Park - just outside Johannesburg with friends:

DAY 5:

 
A visit to the 'geode' and precious rocks store

 A visit to the theatre to see 'A handful of keys'

---xXx--

My special thanks to Mimi's family and friends for encouraging her to take this courageous adventure - crossing the seas (a 16-hour journey), to an unknown country - in an act of trust, to meet someone she had only met in cyberspace. (me)

And to my sweet friend Mimi; may God bless you abundantly as you take home all these special memories.

With all my love

Look out for my next blogpost (soon!) where I will share 'Part 2' - our trip to the KRUGER NATIONAL PARK and the beautiful IMBALI SAFARI LODGE.

WELCOME TO SOUTH AFRICA, MIMI!

In 48 hours, I finally meet my long-standing blogging friend - Mimi!

This has been an adventure - years in the making.

WELCOME TO SOUTH AFRICA, MIMI!!!

MIMI's SOUTH AFRICAN DREAM

There are only 25 days to go before the great adventure begins!!! My long-standing blogging-buddy - "MIMI" - is about to make her SOUTH AFRICAN DREAM come true. I can hardly believe that it is finally happening.

I first "met" Mimi in 2008. Who would have thought that two people living worlds apart would strike up such a long-standing friendship? Yet it happened. Both of us were dog-bloggers and shared similar interests. Mimi was an icon of strength (from a distance) during the writing and publication of my book MAXDOG, and became part of my support group during my struggle with depression. Over the years, I have been sharing my country on this blog in the hope that perhaps ONE of my cyber-friends might make the long journey to our country.  Well, Mimi has finally decided to do this.  And now the big count-down starts.  

ONLY 25 DAYS TO GO!!!

I admire my friend for taking this plunge.  If I was her, I'd be quite nervous - travelling to a strange country to stay with a family she's never met.  In addition, she's never travelled such a great distance in her life – even the aeroplane trip will be a novelty. She has worked hard, saved hard and trusted that I will look after her when she gets here. I feel truly blessed that she has chosen me and my family to help her achieve her dream. And I thank her family too for encouraging her to make her dream a reality.

Mimi will be spending 17 fun-filled days with us. We plan to spoil her rotten! … And to make every effort for her ‘SOUTH AFRICAN DREAM’ to come true.

Mimi arrives on the 12^th September.  It’s a LONG flight from Atlanta (USA) and she will land at OR Tambo airport in the early evening. Being a Friday, with the typical pre-weekend traffic in a large city, I suspect that she will experience a ‘baptism of fire’.  Johannesburg traffic is not fun at the best of times, and we will be hitting it full on. It may take us well over an hour to get home. Nevertheless, our small welcoming party will be there to take her under our wings.

Our first destination will be HOME! 

Here, Mimi will meet my family, my furry-friends and eventually sleep off the cobwebs of the long flight.  By Saturday afternoon (hopefully) she’ll be ready for the adventure ahead…

Amongst many outings, our adventure will include three days in the glorious Kruger National park; one day in the scenic splendour of the mountains of Mpumalanga and three days in the beautiful mother-city of Cape Town.  In between we’ll be visiting a number of touristy sites in Johannesburg – the Lion Park, the Elephant Sanctuary, the Apartheid museum, the Cradle of Human-kind, etc   And I will also be showing her the life of an average South African. Not to mention SHOPPING!

Mimi… we are counting the days.  We are ready for you.  The world around us is priming itself for the glory of Spring – new buds and blossoms everywhere.  

The rain over the past weekend has helped urge the buds along too.  Hopefully everything will be in full celebratory mode by the time you arrive.

I thank God for the gift of friends and for the joy of finally meeting such a long-standing cyber-buddy.

It is thanks to the fun world of blogging that we are able to make beautiful friends around the world.  Soon, I’ll be saying:

"WELCOME TO SOUTH AFRICA, MIMI!"