Starting in 2025, I’ve decided to try writing these recaps a little different. Instead of separating them out in “Did” and “Buy” sections I’m just going to write a general recap. But without further ado:
In January I went on a short trip to South Africa for a friend’s beautiful wedding. After which I got what I thought was Norovirus but I think it might be Giardia (or another parasite). But I have to say it was 100% worth it lol. I went with another friend that I hadn’t really spent time with, and it was really nice to catch up with her and go on adventures with.
Zurich in January
We flew from LAX to Zurich (for 12 hours) for an extended layover and that was fun. We stayed in a boutique hotel in Old Town, which was great for walking around (which is really all we had time for). We did a little window shopping (they had the cutest boutiques!), visited a couple chocolate shops (highly recommend Max Chocolatiers), and had a meal at an absurdly expensive restaurant (Le Rotisserie). We woke up the next morning for some European breakfast (mmm that crusty bread) and caught our next flight (another 12 hours now straight south) to Cape Town.
Vergelegen estate
At Cape Town we mostly stayed at Somerset West, which is about 35 minutes northwest of Cape Town. (Note: I highly recommend staying at Villa Adalbert if you ever make your way there. The accommodations, breakfast, and host was the best I’ve ever experienced). Somerset West is South Africa’s wine country and it was beyond gorgeous. Their estates are many times the size of Napa or Sonoma, and many with beautiful European gardens. Their wines were pretty meh to my California-wine-attuned taste buds, but the wine tastings (and all their food in general) was very affordable (compared to Bay Area prices). But honestly I couldn’t help thinking the grandeur of the estates and the affordability of the food were born on the backs of generations of poorly paid servitude (apartheid had just ended in 1990). There were also quite a few townships that were so vast and mind blowing. Plus every place we visited or ate at had only Black serving staff and zero Black customers. The stark economic divide was quite jarring and feels more pronounced than in the US. Trevor Noah’s autobiographical book Born a Crime explains the townships and the economic divide quite well. Ngl, there were times where everything felt a bit like an episode from White Lotus (ie being in a nearly perfect paradise but with something sinister lurking underneath). But it really was gorgeous there and I understand why many people like to go back to Cape Town time and time again.
We also squeezed in a “game drive” at the very end of our trip at Aquila Private Game Reserve. It’s about two hours from Cape Town (a momentous road trip where we passed the beautiful country side but also more townships, and almost hit some baboons on the road 😮). Honestly it’s not a real “safari” since this private reserve is quite small and they sustain the animals there, a bit like the “safari” at the San Diego Zoo (though Aquila is still larger and more legit). For a real game drive go to Kreuger National Park, but since we were only in South Africa for four days, this was our next best option. We did get to see a lot of animals up close and the guides were superb. It was definitely worth the $80 and 4 hour round trip drive.
Overall it was an amazing trip that we were able to do from Monday to Monday that may have been short but not short on awesomeness 😂.
And since this is now mostly a bag blog, here’s the two bags I took on my trip: the small Loewe Puzzle bag (honestly I’ve traveled with a Puzzle on my last 5 or so trips—it’s the perfect travel bag) and my large burgundy Celine Trio. Both purchased secondhand via eBay.