Day 1 - London

As promised, here is the first post on my recent (okay, 8 months ago isn’t all that recent) Contiki Tour. For a bit of background, we chose to do the European Discovery (Winter), partly because that was when the money was available, and because Adi would have holidays then, and also because we’re completely used to summer holidays, and wanted to experience something completely different to what we’re used to – hence Europe in the middle of freezing winter. We chose to leave on Christmas day – this meant we would have Boxing Day in Amsterdam, Venice on New Year’s (a significant factor, though unbeknownst to Adi at this point), and would also have time to catch Liverpool game on the 9^th of January.

So, after all the planning was done and Christmas had, it was time to make our way to the airport. Adi and I were on different flights – she gets a freebie business class ticket thanks to her dad flying with SAA (incidentally, he was flying her plane there), and I got the cheapest ticket I could find: Virgin. Since Adi and I would be going through customs together, I didn’t want the scanner to pick up the engagement ring, so I gave it to her dad to take with. We would then arrange to exchange it in London somewhere. Cool spy stuff!

So, the flight was actually not bad, the Virgin airhostesses were pretty hot, and I watched some cool movies on board. Landed in London round about the same time as Adi, even though she left an hour earlier, that was quite cool. Apart from leaving my snuggy snoozer on the plane, everything about the flight was fine. After a bit of searching, Adi and I met up, and then got on the underground to get to Russel Square. A most uncomfortable 45 minutes later (that train was packed) we arrived in Russel Square, and fought through the masses to get out and into the lift to get to street level.

The first thing I noticed when I got to ground level ready to go find our hotel – London is COLD at 8:30am on the 26^th of December. After finding the hotel, we then found the Contiki Basement to go check in. Unfortunately, the CB doesn’t open until 11, so we left our bags in storage and went exploring Russel Square. The Russel Hotel is an awesome building, and otherwise Russel Square / Camden is quite a cool little area. After walking around we met up with Adi’s dad for some breakfast (and to exchange the package while Adi went to the bathroom), and then went back to the CB to check in. This time, we were told check-in was only at 2pm, so we opted for another walk, this time to Oxford Street for the Boxing Day sales.

We missed Oxford Street, however, and carried on walking till we hit the Thames. We saw the sights, took tons of photos, and then finally made our way back for check-in. We stayed in the Royal National Hotel, which is the standard Contiki option in London. Point of information – do NOT stay in this hotel, it is absolutely horrible, and is the worst hotel I have ever had the misfortune of staying in. The beds are terrible (we got 2 singles, instead of a double), they have big wheels on them which means even when rolling over the bed rolls around, they squeak when you breathe, and they are thin and uncomfortable and horrible. The hotel itself is not much better than the quality of the beds. Given the option – rather sleep on a bench in some park.

After our nap we went to a pub nearby and met some people going on our Contiki Tour, had a beer and some chips, and then went to our pre-tour meeting where we met our tour manager, driver and some other tour mates. There were lots of South Africans and Australians, and then a fair sprinkling of other kinds too. The pre-tour meeting was helpful, so I would suggest not missing this when going on your Contiki Tour.

After the meeting, we decided London wasn’t that cold and went off to Fulham to meet Adi’s dad and a friend at a pub, leaving our jacket outers, gloves, scarves and beanies behind. We missed our stop, and discovered that our bus didn’t go back, so we walked for 30 mins in the rain to get to the pub, freezing our arses off. Note: even when you think you’re warm enough, bring a jacket in London. After that ordeal, we had a beer and made our way back to the hotel for the worst night’s sleep in living memory.

Wow, it's been a while!

So, the last post I wrote was back in December all about VISAs. Well, a lot has happened since then. I've got engaged, I'm buying a house, planning a wedding, and - well, it's been six months so you can guess!

I shall start posting soon - starting with my Contiki holiday and how that went, and hopefully any prospective Contiki clients can check it out and see that it is absolutely 100% worth it. Look out for the posts soon.

Schengen Visa

Today I collected my Schengen visa from the Italian consulate in Cape Town. That too was pretty simple, and I'll post how I got mine. Though we'll be staying in many Schengen states on our trip, we're in Italy the longest (4 days, 2 in Rome, 1 in Venice and 1 in Florence) so that's the consulate we had to go to.

The documents required are the same as the UK visa and the fee is slightly cheaper, at R709 per person. The process is pretty much exactly the same, except that you have to fill out a form by hand rather than online. You can download the form here, and book your appointment here. You'll need your passport for the last few digits as your reference. You get to choose your appointment time and date as well. When selecting your date, a separate window pops up with the times available. You need to click on the save button on this window, and once done, click the "Make Appointment" button on the first window. I forgot to do this first time round, and my appointment wasn't made, so when I showed up at the consulate for my appointment they looked at me like I was stupid.

Once you click the "Make Appointment" button, an email is sent to you confirming the time. You then go for your interview on the day. The consulate building is here:


And it's a fairly painless process. Make sure you have all your documents, and make sure you have copies of everything. The consulate doesn't make copies, so you need to provide. Also, they don't return any documents, so if you give originals in, you won't get them back. Another thing to note: they only accept cash, so make sure you draw enough cash before hand.

As a timeline - after I discovered I hadn't clicked the "Make Appointment" button first time round, I went straight to work and went online and booked another appointment for the next day, Wednesday, at 11:10. I made the appointment for 2 people, so we both went in and gave our docs in and paid. I collected our passports with visas in this morning, Friday, at 10:00. So it took 2 days, nice and easy.

Next step: buying train tickets to get to Liverpool and back.

UK Visa

So, as a South Africa, you now need a visa to get into the UK. It's a fairly simple and painless task, if you have all the documents and a valid passport. Here's how to get a UK visa in Cape Town:

1. Go to the VFS website: http://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk/ and click the "Apply for a UK visa now" button
2. Click the "I have read the above information and the relevant guidance notes" checkbox and then click "Continue"
3. A new window will pop up, which is the application form. Enter all your info in here.
4. If at any point you don't have any info, you can just click the "pause" button, that looks like so:
5. Once you've entered in all the information, choose your appointment date and save.

You can also pay online with a credit card, which is what I did. Make sure you have all the necessary documents with you when you go for your visa appointment, as you don't want to be in a situation where you are missing something. Also, make copies of everything, just in case - that's what I did. They should send back the originals with your passport, but be safe.

I had the following documents:

• flight ticket
• travel itinerary, with names, contact details and addresses of hotels
• travel insurance
• latest payslip
• proof of address (I had a copy of my lease)
• letter from my company stating that I work there and will be required to return to work at some date after my trip
• latest bank statement (I simply printed a statement for my credit card from my internet banking)
• passport
• passport photo

The visa costs R938 (or did, at the time, it's dependent on the exchange rate I believe) and I paid an extra R120 at the consulate for sms notifications and courier services. The consulate / VFS place is in Cape Town on Riebeeck street, at the Absa building. Map here:



I think it's on the 23rd floor. I arrived about 10 minutes early, and once the place opened the security at the building gave me an access card and I went up to the place. They searched my bag, told me turn off my cellphone, and in I went. There is a ticket machine at the entrance where you press a button and it issues you a ticket with a number on. I was number 004, and my number was called pretty quickly by the electronic woman.

At the counter, I just handed in all my documents and paid for the courier and sms service (card only, no cash). I was then directed to the biometrics queue, where I waited for about 3 minutes before being called. They took my photo, and fingerprints (electronically) and then I was done.

That was all on Thursday morning. On Friday I got an sms telling me my application had been processed, and was being couriered to me, and on Monday morning my passport, documents and visa arrive. Nice and easy!

The Killers

We arrived at Val de Vie Wine and Polo Estate at roughly 14:00. We went and queued in the golden circle queue shortly thereafter, buying overpriced cool drinks and biltong, and sat in the sun for 2 hours until they opened the gates at 16:00. We then made a headline for the beer tent where we purchased some much needed cold alcohol, and grabbed some waters from the coca cola tent, and then squeezed through the masses at the golden circle entrance and parked ourselves about 10 rows from the front of the stage. We made alternating trips to and from the coca cola tent and Spur tent (Spur burgers - ingenious idea!) whilst waiting in the baking hot sun, listening to crap spewed out over the loudspeakers while Zebra and Giraffe and The Killers either sat in traffic with the masses, or sat in the shade drinking cold beverages (not sure which is more truthful).

At roughly 19:00, Z&G graced the crowd with their presence, and played a good opening to the show. At this point, the sun stroke ridden and boozed up crowd proceeded to crush ever closer to the stage, throw rubbish around, sweat on their very close neighbors, and be generally discourteous and unmindful of those around them. Some clever pricks near the front decided it would be a good idea to make a massive beer-cup stack, and so hundreds of helpful folk threw their mostly empty beer cups at the stack makers, pelting nearby crowd-members with cups and splattering sticky beer on those in between.

At roughly 20:30 The Killers made their entrance, played their show, did the encore, and left. At 22:45, we had purchased our Killers and Z&G merchandise from the stand, and made our way to the car (being some of the lucky few to actually remember where the car was at this stage) . By 02:00 this morning, majority of the cars in our parking lot had not yet moved. At all. A whole host of people had slept in their cars, us included, to wait for the crazy traffic. Eventually, by 02:30, we started our car and began the trek home, through much traffic still on the dirt road providing access to Val de Vie Wine and Polo Estate. We collapsed into bed at 04:00, exhausted.

All in all, we payed R1052 for 2 tickets to watch the Killers, spent over 12 hours at the venue doing mostly nothing, 5 of those hours being in the achingly hot sun, and a further 4 of those hours waiting for cars to move, and the remaining few spent being crushed and sweated on and bumped and elbowed and groped. And you know what? It was TOTALLY worth it. The Killers absolutely kicked arse, rocked out, and drove the masses wild. Brandon Flowers is one hell of a front man, a great performer, and knew exactly what we wanted and how best to give it to us (I never thought I'd take such pleasure in a man asking me if I was ready to receive it as hard as I can). The stage setup was phenomenal, and their use of lighting amazed me. I've never seen anything like it, and I'm guessing that the hordes of screaming fans around me felt the same way. The Killers absolutely blew me away, and that day is one I will never forget, thanks only to a few hours of sheer awesomeness.

Killers - you guys rocked hard. Thank you!

FIFA 10 Review

In the weeks and days leading up to FIFA 10's release, my waking moments were gradually taken over by the usual build up of excitement. I had read every preview, watched every trailer and tutorial and preview video, and wolfed down any offering EA Sports had in the way of glimpses of the game to come. Imagine my disappointment, then, when I stuck the disc into my Xbox 360, and found the gameplay to be chunky and uninspiring at first attempt.

I had read all about the 360 degree movement, and could not wait to get started. I had glazed over at the mention of more physicality and improved manager mode - all I wanted was the 360 degree movement. At first play, the 360 degree movement is hardly noticeable. I did notice that smaller players are easily pushed off the ball, and if you are not particularly quick when in possession, it can lead to you losing the ball easily to thick bodied oafs with lots of strength and little skill. The game was a little frustrating at first, and I was secretly disappointed.

I had been talking about this for weeks, my girlfriend had already expected not to see me for a week or two as I immersed myself in the world of FIFA 10, and here I sat, feeling like I should play The Sims 3 instead. However, I had also read that one should play FIFA 09 to get a real feel for the difference in FIFA 10. I didn't do that, but I took it to mean that the improvements are subtle and take some time to surface. So, I stuck to it, and played another game. And another game. And another. By the 5th game, I was rooted to my chair, that wild, childish look of glee plastered to my face, and my absolute joy and love for FIFA 10 was founded.

It takes a while to get into FIFA 10, but once you start playing, you begin to realize that this is without doubt the best football game to have ever existed, ever. When you get the hang of it, and play enough to see its subtle uses, 360 degree control is a godsend. Dribbling is much better, you keep the ball more often, and gameplay with the ball at players' feet is incredibly realistic. Slide tackles and challenges are realistic, the animations are excellent, and the physical side of play is a welcome relief to FIFA 09's inability to cope with speedy attackers - in FIFA 10, Fernando Torres is required to beat the defender to the ball using his pace as well as his strength, whereas in FIFA 09, his pace alone left defenders for dead, and many long ball goals could be scored that way.

The passing is much improved as well - lofted passes no longer hang in the air like golf chips, rather they move accurately depending on how the pass was played. If struck with the inside of the boot, the ball curves naturally as it would on the real pitch. If struck more solidly, the flight is flatter and the ball zips across field to make a 40 yard, Xabi Alonso-esque pass a viable and realistic option. It is much easier to play passes over obstructing defenders than previously, and with the improved ball control, it feels far more natural and realistic than ever before.

The goalkeepers are better, and react quicker, the commentary is much better and varied, and the graphics are awesome, with most players represented accurately (Jamie Carragher looks like himself, for once, and some shots of Pepe Reina are scarily lifelike). The soundtrack is a good mix, as always, and I could happily leave the game spinning and the speakers on in the house for some good musical ambience.

I am mostly a manager mode man, so I don't usually wander too far afield of this mode. It has been greatly improved, and the main point for me is the player growth system. Previously, you could assign points for your players individually if you wanted. If you simple made all your players incredibly fast, the game became far too easy. It was never really realistic to have a team full of superstars. In FIFA 10, player form plays a large part in their growth. In form players will show green arrows next to their name in the squad view, out of form players will show red arrows. Respectively, in form players will have a rating higher than their usual rating if they are in form, and out of form players will have a lower rating. A nice addition to the commentary has been added - Martin Tyler and Andy Gray will make mention of a player's current form as well.

Fitness of your players plays a much bigger part as well, if you have not upgraded your fitness coach to max - and there is a welcome assistant manager option. The assistant manager will pick your weekly squad and automatically rotate players for you - keeping your players fit and raring to go at all times. Bare in mind, however, that he may not be 100% aware of the calendar at all times, and so you may need to tweak his selection here and there to ensure that you have your best squad fit and available for the big games.

I do have some irks, as with any game. Notably, I was sacked from my job as Liverpool manager quite unjustly. I had been playing on the professional difficulty to start with, to get a feel for the game and get the goals flowing. Once I became bored of hammering sides 6-0 every game, I changed up to World Class difficulty. Leading the table late into the season, I found myself facing two weeks of cup semi-finals - an FA Cup semi against Aston Villa, followed immediately by a League Cup semi against Chelsea, both now on my new World Class difficulty. The manager mode in FIFA 10 now has a screen that shows your reputation, and the board's assessment of you. Winning games will gain reputation and improve the board's assessment (and job security) and losing games will do the opposite. At the time of semi-finals, I had gained reputation to require one more win to move onto the next star rating. The board were in love with me, and, leading the table, I was the man of the hour. I lost my first World Class game against Aston Villa 2-1, and found that my reputation had dropped by 9 points, and the board were dangerously close to giving me the boot. I drew the game against Chelsea 1-1, not bad at Stamford Bridge, and found myself immediately without employment.

I found that a bit unrealistic, but I guess it's something I could live with. On the plus side, rather than having to start the manager mode again (as would have been required in FIFA 09), I was offered a job with Hereford in League 2 (appropriate to my reputation) which was quite nice.

The other major change is the virtual pro. In FIFA 09, you could create a player and then use him in the be-a-pro mode and assign points to his skills based on the experience points gained in matches. In FIFA 10, your virtual pro goes with you wherever you are. He followed me from Liverpool to Hereford, and he is also available in all other modes. Instead of assigning points to his skills based on experience, points automatically go to his skills upon completion of certain tasks. There is a sticker book of sorts with "challenges" to complete - for example, juggle the ball 5 times in the Arena and unlock some skills. Score a volley and get some points to the volley attribute. Score with your weaker foot and gain some points to weak foot ability. It's a welcome change, and gives you reason to play with your virtual pro across all the modes.

All in all, once I got into it, FIFA 10 was a revelation. 360 degree control makes life so much easier, fluid and more realistic. The physicality is great, and the graphics and gameplay overall are awesome. FIFA 10 is without doubt the best football game, ever, hands down. If you don't own it, then I suggest you get to a store and buy it, because it will rock your world.

Hermanus

So, I went to Hermanus for the first time this past weekend, and let me tell you - it is awesome. I definitely recommend it!

We stayed in a guest house called Walker Bay Manor. The host, Desire, is an artist, and so her paintings adorn all the walls. It's very cool, the breakfast was great, and the views from the windows we stayed in were excellent. I managed to spot a whale from one of them, which was great!

The highlight of the weekend, though, was the sea kayak adventure we went on. A group of 14 people all signed up, 4 from our group that went along. Our 4 got the single kayaks, and the rest got doubles. If you've ever kayaked before, the sea kayaks were plastic, brightly coloured, and quite long and incredibly stable - they had holes in to allow water to seep in and that makes it more stable. If someone were to tip one of those over I'd be highly impressed.

We went out of the old harbour, past some rocks into a bay. The sea was calm but there were some waves, and it was quite cool to feel the difference between kayaking on a river or dam and on the sea. We headed out and saw some whales a distance a way, very cool. As we came into the bay around the corner, we spotted a baby whale quite close to the shore. We all stopped and watched.

At this point, it's worth pointing out that 14 people were at the mouth of the bay, watching a baby whale inside the bay, closer to the shore than us, with our backs turned to the open sea. Quite a scary thought! Anyway, whilest watching this baby whale that was about 100-150m away from us, another, definitely adult whale popped up and did it's blowhole thingy about 35m away from us! It was magnificent! Of course, most people reacted in terror, and Vernon the Kayak Man yelled "LEFT! LEFT! PADDLE LEFT!", at which point we all obeyed (excepting the annoying foreign tourists, naturally, who paddled closer to get some good photos).

We saw several more whales throughout the 2 hour trip, and when we got back to land, as we were packing our kayaks away, a whale started breaching just beyond where we had been kayaking. It was awesome, and the crowd on the cliffs all around cheered. It was a superb weekend.

All in all, I'd definitely recommend a trip to Hermanus if you haven't been, especially during the whale season. You won't regret it!