South Africa Long Distance Driving

-

I don’t know about you, but I never drive in foreign cities.  City driving in both Johannesburg and Durban is not recommended.  You will however enjoy long distance driving on the major highways and remember that South Africans drive on the right hand side.  Please note that rental cars are manual/stick shift and not automatic transmission.  Sweetness the novel concentrates on two provinces:  Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).  If you want to see Sweetness country, you will therefore either touch down at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg or Durban International Airport in KZN. 

From Johannesburg to Durban

·        Distance approximately 557 km

·        Leave Johannesburg early you don’t want to be caught in the afternoon rush hour

·        Call the hotel in Durban for the nearest highway exit

·        Keep hotel telephone in your pocket or programmed in your cell-phone/mobile

·        Keep money in the glove compartment for toll gate fees

·        Ask the Johannesburg hotel staff for directions to the N3

·        You won’t turn anywhere, just follow the blue route marker signs

·        You can’t miss filling/gas/petrol stations.  They are marked in brown, the tourism colour

·        Such stations are quite far apart so please fill up at the next gas/petrol station

·        Speed limit is 120km per hour

·        Try and adhere to it because speed cops hide behind bushes and bridges

·        Take a break at Montrose filling station and enjoy the picnic basket the hotel prepared for you

·        Don’t do anything you don’t do at home for example. pick up strangers

·        Stay on the slow lane (left lane) and let locals whizz by

·        It will take you 4 hours if you drive outside the law, which is 120km per hour

·        It will take you 5 hours if you drive within the law and take toilet/loo breaks

·        It will take you six hours if you stop for picnics under the trees next to major garages

From Durban to Johannesburg

·        Distance approximately 557 km

·        Call the hotel in Johannesburg for the highway exit nearer the hotel

·        Ask the Durban hotel staff for directions to the N3

·        Leave Durban early because you don’t want to be caught in the Johannesburg rush hour

·        Everything same as above, you don’t turn anywhere

·        Ask garage/filling station attendants if lost

There are daily flights between Durban and Johannesburg (check airline websites) if you don’t enjoy long distance driving.

Nonqaba waka Msimang is the author of Sweetness the novel.

www.dorrancebooks.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Elections And Political Bullies

-
Image
Forget democracy.   It should be called political bullying. We are watching it in the prelude to the Canadian election on the 19 th of October, 2015.   Americans have also started their political bullying for the looming presidential election next year. So many trees wasted on books about democracy.   Some countries have big budgets for invading other countries ‘ to defend democracy’ but it is seldom practised in campaigning for elections.   Calling opponents names and printing flyers attacking each other is behaviour that will not be tolerated in kindergarten, but it is all legal, in campaigning.   It is irritating and such a let-down to the whole notion of democracy.   Grown-up men and women behaving like Grade One kids. It is also misleading because many voters believe it is real hatred.   Don’t let that fool you.   These politicians play golf together, attend the same dinner parties, eat and drink at the same social events, share jokes and cut deals in parliament.   They
Read more

Comfort Food As Regret Food

-
Image
Chicken curry. Comfort food is good for the soul, which usually bleeds in winter from icy roads, bad drivers that want to annihilate pedestrians, frozen fingers and toes that take a sabbatical.   What happened to my toes?   I thought I was wearing special socks for boots? We therefore have a right to comfort food which throws doctors’ orders out of the window and has no loyalty to calories.   No calculator on the table, thanks very much.   Piece of bread 5 calories, half a banana 10 calories, sugar-free cheesecake 2,000 calories.   Ah! Ah!  We only live once. Naw!   Comfort food is old school food with its compulsory second helping.   It involves licking fingers and giving a big sigh, about the good life, which is shelter, food, love and debt.   The problem is the zip.   The jeans remind you that comfort food can also be called you will regret food .   Home sweet home is even sweeter in winter after surviving blowing snow and bumper to bumper traffic. What is more welcoming th
Read more

No Air Miles

-
Image
I don’t have Air Miles.   I’m considering putting that on a T-Shirt because I cannot go to the drugstore (chemist) or coffee shop without the cashier asking me if I have air miles. We waited for about two minutes the other day, while this guy looked for his Air Miles card in his overweight wallet.   For what?   For a few points. I don’t have air miles because Mathematics is a foreign language.   I was never good in numbers. That is why I squashed the idea of being an investment banker very early in life.   I understand you can invest in cornfields before the soil is turned up or pork bellies even before a baby pig is born. That is how I view air miles, investing in tomorrow or the unknown.   I’m the dumb one.   Some people understand this air miles’ thing so well, I overheard one customer saying: I can even convert my points into cash. Points and air miles are the same thing in Canada and the U.S.   Drugstores or clothing stores even give you a card to collect point
Read more