San Antonio River Walk

San Antonio was placed second in Budget Travel's list of best budget places to travel to in 2016.
(What is the odds that I had my first overseas travel experience to a place that gets second best for this year?)

We visited my brother in San Antonio last year, and it was an unforgettable experience. San Antonio is a vibrant, beautiful and very friendly city soaked in history.

The San Antonio River Walk is one of the well-known city features with a 15 mile long river path alongside city restaurants and buildings and historical sights!

The well-know Texan accent of the guide was a real treat to us during the cruise.

San Antonio sightseeing near the River Walk

Walking in San Antonio city streets

The Student, Little Miss and my brother on the cruise

Statue of the patron Saint Anthony

This year marks the 180th anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo and the 125th anniversary of the arts-and-culture celebration Fiesta! San Antonio, and with those come a slew of free music festivals and parades!

This is definitely a city worth placing on your bucket list!

Read more: Budget Travel

I would LOVE to go again, and this time spent even more time at the River walk, as we did not cruise the whole route, or explored more of the sights on the route!


Related posts:

- Initial thoughts about America

- Things we love about America - tourist  insights about San Antonio

- A birthday at Hard Rock Cafe in San Antonio

A birthday at Hard Rock Cafe in San Antonio

The Student celebrated her birthday in San Antonio. She knew what she wanted. To have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, and to buy herself and a friend Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts.
The Hard Rock Cafe in San Antonio is situated on the River walk.
Each Hard Rock Cafe the world over has their own t-shirts with the name of the city printed on it!
It is a a thing: To collect Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts from all over!

Inside Hard Rock Cafe San Antonio

In the Janis Joplin booth

Little Miss got a whole booklet with colouring pencils to keep her busy

And a kiddies meal in a guitar (guess what she brought home?)

The birthday girl with her drink.
She also got the Hard Rock Cafe glass as a souvenir.

Little Miss was not impress with this birthday celebration. She thinks each birthday should be like the 21st birthday party we celebrated the previous year. We could not convince her otherwise!

Little Hoots

Next time we want to check out the Hard Rock Cafe in Sandton.
(Why have we not been there yet?)

Things we love about America - tourist insights about San Antonio

San Antonio residential suburbs from the air

We are still jet-lagged after we arrived back in South Africa from our two week holiday in San Antonio. We visited my brother who is staying and working there.

It has been a fantastic holiday and we had so many great experiences!

I feel the same way about America after I have watched Avatar and walked out of the movie theater. Earth did not look as great as the planet portrayed in the movie...
South Africa looks a lot less inviting now...


10 Things we love about America

1. Everything is BIG. The houses, the cars, the shops, the products, the food...

2. There are no fences and no security gates. It is safe there! We could walk in the middle of the city without eyeing every passersby with suspicion that they are going to grab our bags.

3. The streets are clean. They even had a campaign "Don't mess with Texas!", which are still reflected in badges and t-shirts and advertisements.

4. The people are extreme friendly, and a "Thank you!" is always met with a "You're welcome!" (No, we are not as friendly as they are, although we think we are!)

5.  The weather is HOT in summer, but there are air-con everywhere! (It's a hot humid temperature!) The sun also sets at about 9 pm in the evenings, which gives them a very long summer's day each day!

6. Everything works there. There is wifi in every restaurant, shop and even the cars have wifi. We stayed connected the whole time!
Online orders get delivered the next day, and you pick it up on your porch.

7. The shops have a huge variety to choose from. The biggest sizes imaginable are available!

8. The highways are going everywhere, and they are big! (No signs of tolls there!)

9. It is green everywhere in summer, and it feels like bush veld when you drive out of the city.

10. There are restaurants everywhere, and it seems the locals like frequenting them. We even had to wait early on a Monday morning to get a table at a favourite breakfast spot, The Pancake House!


They really have a great lifestyle going on there!



Related posts:

- Initial thoughts about America

- Wordless Wednesday #274 - NASA in Houston

Things that are not so nice about America - travel insights from San Antonio

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- The heat in summer. You can't spend too much time outside. With temperatures of over 30 degrees it gets very uncomfortable! A braai (barbecue) outside for the whole day is not possible! The heat and the mosquitos make it impossible!

- As much as there is the most wonderful food options available, I found myself saying "disgusting" many many times to all the processed and packaged options that are available! Where have you heard of a hamburger with a waffle on top with syrup accompanying it?

- Most of the coffee in the restaurants are not good! They also don't do cappuccinos very well. Starbucks gets my best vote!

- There were fireworks each and every night. The poor animals...

- The president did not deliver on his promises (say the locals).

- Although they celebrated their independence there were a lot of discussion going on in the blogosphere about the fact that they are not free!

- The education system is also not of the greatest. Teachers are not paid decent salaries, and home schooling and private education seem to be the way to go!

- They are still debating gay rights, although gay marriages are allowed since only very recently!

- The air con in all the buildings is a necessity, but it detaches from the outside world.


This is the best negative list I can come up with. The positives of America that we experienced in San Antonio still far outweigh the negatives.

It looks like a great lifestyle to be living!

Birthday at Hard Rock Cafe in Johannesburg - Such a treat!

We celebrated The Eldest's birthday two years back at Hard Rock Café in San Antonio. We have never been to Hard Rock Cafe in South Africa, and this year we decided it was time! It's a thing to buy a t-shirt in a Hard Rock Cafes whenever you visit a city worlwide. The Eldest has a nice collection already, and she is planning to get some more... (*Thumbs!*)

We love the vibe and the food! It's an experience. They have a kiddies menu as well.

The poses!

Happy birthday with a cocktail!

Hard Rock Cafe interior! Such a treat with all the musical legends and paraphernalia

We had the Paul McCartney booth

Paul McCartney signature

And of course, the obligatory selfie with the great man, Madiba, on Sandton Square!

Nelson Mandela statue on Sandton Square

Related post: A birthday at Hard Rock Cafe in San Antonio

Initial thoughts about America

We are visiting my brother in San Antonio, Texas. It is such a treat!

It is an one-in-a-lifetime experience, and Little Miss keeps on saying, while hitting her head: "Word wakker! Word wakker!" (Wake up! Wake up!)

It feels like a dream...

The Riverwalk in San Antonio. 

With my brother at the Statue of the patron Saint Anthony. 

1. The Americans are very friendly! You always get a "You're welcome!" When saying "Thank you!"

You do not feel as if you are doing them a favour while visiting their establishments. Exactly the opposite!

2. The Texan accent is a bit difficult to get used to. I only caught half of what our River Guide told us yesterday. 

2. The food is definitely bigger here! It is lovely and delicious as well! We are sharing our orders at restaurants. 

I am surprised that the Americans are not bigger because of this! I don't know how they eat that much and stay as thin! 

A lovely quacomole that was prepared in front of us.

3. Pancakes here are what we call flapjacks. Rusks are scones. They don't have Ouma Rusks. 

3. It is hot in the summer here! But there's luckily aircon everywhere! It is especially great since we left a cold South Africa coming here.

4. You drive on highways whenever you are going anywhere. (We tend to avoid our highways because of the e-tolls.)

5. The houses are big, without being fenced in.

6. The cars are big.

7. Everybody is walking around with an iPhone 6.

 8. There's wi-fi everywhere, and it works! Fast! It's the first time I am seeing videos playing automatically on my Facebook feed. I was not aware it was supposed to be doing it! 

9. The cosmopolitan nature of the people here makes us feel very welcome. 

10. The sun sets at half past eight in the evenings in summer! 

We love it here! 

Happy holidays! The 4th of July is coming up!

iOS 10 Memories - Great for Throwback Thursday

St Fredericksburg in Texas
San Antonio visit 2015

How great is the new iOS 10 Memories with the new update on iOS? It comes with the most recent update on iPhones, iPad and the Mac. It opens up great memories.

I am only discovering it now, and loving it!

I am able to see group photos, place photos, "Best of the last 3 months",  as well as certain dates on my photo album.

The throwback Thursday is from last year's visit to San Antonio in America.
Good times, and good memories!

Wordless Wednesday #296 - Goodbye, San Antonio

The time we needed a personal loan badly - some good advice

Don't we all consider a personal loan one time or another? Or maybe it's just us?
But this year has been one of those years...

We first tried to get a student loan, but were caught in the catch-22 of a student loan. You first have to show your registration form from university before the student loan can be approved. We wanted to get the loan to be able to afford that first hefty registration fee...

We also had the wonderful holiday in San Antonio earlier, and we were really worried that we would not be able to afford everything that goes with a holiday with our Rand/Dollar exchange rates! I also shared this scenario before we went on our trip, and that we were seriously considering taking a personal loan...

I am glad to say that both times we were able to get by without going the route of a personal loan!
Because it is still the best way to go! Not getting that personal loan!


But if there are no other options available, there are 5 ways to use personal loans wisely that is worth exploring!

Big Bug Expo

Big Bugs metal art by David Huni

The Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens has a Big Bug Expo currently on show in the gardens. It's been on for awhile, but we went exploring yesterday on the public holiday.
It will still be on until 6 January.

Looking to spot those bugs

It helped to get the Toddler to run from one "bug" to another, and it was big excitement when she spotted one that we missed earlier.

There is so much to do and explore in the Gardens. 

I plan to go there this holiday again, because we found new pathways that we did not see on earlier visits. 

It is not only the route straight to the waterfall that makes you feel like you got out in nature!

The play area stays a winner!

The Toddler Fashionista ensemble of yesterday: Her Madagascar dress she got passed on from her sister that was bought by Debbie many moons ago, and the UGG winter boots she got as a present from Wynand from San Antonio.

It does not help to tell her the clothes are going to be uncomfortable for a day out in the sun!
"Resistance is futile!"

Related posts:

"Mountain climbing" at the Botanical Gardens

Wordless Wednesday #139 - Tunnels at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens

A 3-year old Princess


(I see I am blogging quite regularly about the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens! It really is a nice place to go with children! :D )