The Westcliff Hotel Johannesburg

South African Airways did OK by us. Even though it was 24 hours door-to-door, adequate leg room, 3 meals (even if they all were kosher chicken meals) and a screen behind every seat made the flight tolerable. We each dealt with the long flight in our own way. I made it through Frommer's and the first half of Nelson Mandela's biography. "A Long Walk to Freedom", Becca slept for most of the 17-hour leg from Washington to Johannesburg, Marcia watched three feature films and Jessica watched 19 epi...

Dad: It's hard to believe it's Thursday afternoon. We left Detroit Tuesday night at 7 p.m and arrived in Johannesburgh's airport Weds night around 9 p.m. The first flight on Air France was to Paris and took about 7 hours. We have an 80 minute layover and then we took another Air France flight to Johannesburg which took 10 hours. All in all, a brutal 19 hour stretch... We got dropped off at the airport around 4:30 pm and got through security without any kind of big deal. Following tradition, w...

Alyssa: Well, it's Thursday night already. Basically, today was just our day to catch up on some rest after a long day of travelling. After I finally woke up, we got on our hiking shoes and walked all around the hotel. Keep in mind, this is not like a normal hotel where each floor is just one straight hallway after another...the Westcliff was actually built into the mountainside. It weaves back and forth just as if you're driving up a mountain. This place is amazing. Everywhere you look, ther...

Dad: What a day. We both slept in until 10:30 am this morning before heading over to the Polo Room restuarant in our hotel for lunch. What a great view! It looks out over Johannesburg and makes the entire area seem very peaceful. Alyssa had a chicken caesar salad (of course) and I had an incredible fish and potato dish that was very tasty. We ate kind of fast because we had to be down at the reception area at 12:30 to meet our tour guide for the day. Our guide's name was Sollo Moreba (but he ...

Dad: After visiting Soweto we came back to the room to clean up a bit before heading out to Moyo, a local African restaurant recommended by the front desk. It was part of a small 2-block area that looked a bit like Birmingham. The restaurant was 3 levels deep and we had a table in the very, very bottom level...which was dark and mysterious. Alyssa ordered Ox-Tail soup and a big Filet... and devoured most of her meal! I was proud of her for trying new foods! I had Peanut and Shrimp soup and so...

Hi all - I am now in Johannesburg, staying in a wonderful 5-star hotel called The Westcliff. (Oprah Winfrey has booked out this entire property in the past!). It is built into the side of a hill (or so it seems) and the road from the bottom of the property (where reception is located) to the top (where the restaurants and spa are located) is very steep. I'm halfway up and the walk from my room to the top has me stopping at the top to catch my breath. They use golf carts primarily to get up an...

Looks like we finally made it back to civilization (unfortunately)... The past few days we have been without computer access, internet, phone, blackberry or television. In short we spent the past few days in "the bush" at Singita Boulders tracking the big 5 (lions, leopard, rhino, buffalo, elephant), eating fabulous meals from our private chef (ryan), hangin out with our butler (moses), and just enjoying "nature" (never thought id say that). After finally arriving into Capetown and spending s...

A Friday morning in Randsburg, a middle-class suburb of Johannesburg. The maid, who earlier was surprised to find a white man sleeping in the guestroom, washes laundry, still a little unsure of my presence. My friend and host, Zeng, is at work. Some people keep normal hours. At a strip mall up the street from her apartment I find an ATM, Marlboros and a SIM card. Cash, smokes and phone. I feel like a man made new. But things are different in Joburg. The Afrikaner woman at the cell phone shop ...

We're back in Jo'berg for 1 more night at the Westcliff Hotel. Even though we've only been gone a week, we feel like it's been a month since we were last here! We packed so much into the past week in Botswana. This is really a short visit to Jo'berg - some 12 hours as we are on a morning flight to Gaborone, where I will be working next week.

And finally.... Lecker Frühstücken - auf die besondere Art. Im Westcliff Hotel - Johannesburg's 5-star Luxus Hotel. Einfach nur YUMMY :-)