We left the house early – as Sally would say, in the middle of the night – to begin our journey. We’ll meet the kids at JFK’s for the first air leg to London. My guess is that we will need 25 hours or so door to door.

I’m amazed that we fit everything we need for almost two weeks in Cape Town and the safari camps into these small bags. And that I fit the camera gear needed to get good pictures into an 11” square box (plus lots of accessories).

But we did.

Part of the reason, of course, is that we don’t want to check any luggage on the long flights. But we are also taking a small charter flight for one in-country leg, and they don’t allow larger bags because they can’t fit through the hatch into the “trunk”. While we’re not sure exactly what “larger” means, we believe these bags will fit.

Anyway, our entire group is at the airport and we are ready to leave in a little while. With seven roll-a-boards and seven backpacks. Next update after we get to Cape Town!