October 30th: Now I have seen some things in my time, but coming to Africa it’s generally accepted that certain luxuries were going to be off the agenda or shopping list for a while, and coming overlanding you’re definitely going to get stuck in with the chores and rough it just like everyone else.
Now 6 weeks into this ADVENTURE (not a luxury all inclusive beach resort holiday) I have been forced to use the word princess and everyday amuse me with the mis-adventures of some of my fellow travelers. Now no names or identities will be revealed in the writing of this blog but if you do appear, just smile and never do it again!!
I am going to provide my highlights of what Steph and I have observed and made us shake our heads or just laugh. First off we have the princesses who stood and stared at the drop toilets on there first encounter with them, watching them search for a normal toilet was very funny. This is conjunction with the Bush Pee (See Steph’s blog) is always a source of amusement. Princess
Next we have the princess who would not accept dirty money, that’s right she would request ‘clean’ notes, now to be fare some of the currency does look like someone has wiped there arse on it, but really, it goes in your wallet and you spend it! Princess
Next we have the princess who would look at stare at things hoping her plates would get washed and just go away, she would also never bend down to pick up things, she dropped a pen near me once, she looked at me expecting me to pick it up…I just walked off. Although my favourite from this princess was when you asked her to do her only job on the truck, in fact the easiest task, she could kill armies with her look! Princess
One of my favourite princesses was the one who clearly had no idea of the holiday she was going on and had definitely not read the trip notes. First off smiling was not a bodily function, secondly she did not know she had to ‘work’ on the truck, and by work I mean pitch a tent, lay out your sleeping bag, do a bit of washing up and help cook twice in two weeks and most of that is peeling and chopping. But my favourite is the fact she opted to leave the trip and go home, she spent 1 week sorting out, $400 to rebooks flights and about 30hrs to get back home 5 days before she would have if she stayed on the truck! Did I tell you that all the work to rebook her flights was done by her parents, shame on them! Princess
Finally, Princess of Princesses, where to start… When we had down time after dinner she would make sure her toenails were kept painted, when the rest of the group were mucking in and washing up she would stand back, chain smoking watching her subjects work. She was a chain smoker, at the Zimbabwe border at dark she decided to wander on her own to a group of men to buy some cigarettes in which she subsequently got ripped off for $12 as she gave the money to the wrong person for the smokes! (Did I mention she was blonde?). I caught her once, trying to do some work, picture this, a cigarette in one hand and a scourer in the other trying to scrub a dirty frying pan on top of a rubbish bin! Princess
But I have saved the best for last; remember my blog about the 200 elephants in Hwange National Park! Think about it you’re in Africa, in the middle of amazing scenery and wild animals on a once in a life time trip that people who kill to be on, while the rest of the jeep are scouring the landscape for animals, what does she do……
PRINCESS
*Note no Princesses were harmed in the writing of this blog or ill will meant towards the Princesses of the world, you make me laugh!