The day before recording Whitney ran from Santa Monica to Las Vegas. 350 miles!!
Whitney Powell is the owner/producer/filmer/and sometimes host over at IronWill Productions. A company she started to combine her passions and bring her vision to the world.
If it’s fun and adventurous, Whitney’s in. Today she joins me to chat about her experiences filming around the world, how she got into the business, and what you can do to get started if you’re interested in adventure travel.
What adventurous things do you do on your trips? Let me know @ExtraPackofPeanuts!!
Today’s episode has been sponsored by our friends at Tortuga Backpacks!
Definitely opt for 20 minutes vs. 15 as this allows you to go behind Table Mountain.
Also, negotiate! We were able to get it down to $80 per person. Plenty of options all right next to each other, so just go around and ask their best price.
Sunset boat cruise.
Sunset cruise costs about 220 rands per person ($16). Bring a jacket or sweatshirt because it’ll get cold when the sun goes down.
Certainly not the best fish and chips like everyone claims – they were average at best – but a neat spot if you are passing through right on the water.
Day 6 – Downtown Cape Town then Wine Country (Stellenbosch)
Went to Truth Coffee downtown.
Hot chocolate was just ok, not near as good as Origin, but Heather LOVES the coffee!
Dropped one rental car off at the airport, picked up another one (don’t ask).
Drove to Vredenburg Manor in Stellenbosch/Somerset West to stay for a few nights.
Incredible place with amazing hosts, Leon and Luke. We paid 1050 rand ($75) total for 3 people in one of their cottages and a fabulous breakfast was included.
Went to Delheim for our first wine tasting of the day.
They have wine and cupcake pairing (woohoo!) but you have to set it up beforehand (boo!) so I didn’t get to do it. You should. And tell me how it goes.
Headed to Jordan for our second wine tasting of the day.
Prettiest winery we went to with decent wines. Overpriced but pretty good food.
They have khao soi, my favorite dish in the whole world, which was very surprising. Unfortunately, it was just average, as was the rest of the food. I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat here.
After 5 hours of hiking, anything would have tasted good, but this was an awesome meal. Definitely eat here – but call for reservations, they get busy.
We loved this BnB so much we went back for our last night and so we could have a great breakfast in the morning.
Went out to Thirsty Scarecrow to meet up with EPoP reader Bryan Teare.
Day 18 – Wine Country (Stellenbosch)
Awesome breakfast (included) at Vredenburg Manor…for the last time.
Drove to Cape Town airport.
One thing that is great about Cape Town airport is that it’s so easy to get to from both downtown and the wine region – 30 minutes max on the highway.
Shot intro/outro videos in the airport.
Got on the plane and headed off to New York via Abu Dhabi.
Cried because we were leaving the amazing city of Cape Town.
So there you have our exact itinerary for 18 days in the Cape Town area. But here are our suggestions for people with more or less time in Cape Town.
If You Have More Time in Cape Town:
Hit up Cape Town attractions we missed such as Robben Island, District Six Museum, and Castle of Good Hope.
If you’re adventurous, dive with great white sharks (I’m definitely doing this when I come back).
Spend a night or two at towns along the Garden Route. I’d recommend Hermanus and Knysna.
Check out even more wineries around Cape Town by heading to Franschoek or Paarl (or both!).
If You Have Less Time in Cape Town:
Out of the three regions – Cape Town, wine country, and the Garden Route – I’d cut out the Garden Route.
The drive is boring and far (and you may end up with speeding tickets!) and you can get the same feel by going to coastal towns much closer like Hout Bay.
Pick up the pace.
We did things slower because we had more time and had to film stuff. Cape Town is easily navigable, so you can fit a lot of the stuff we did in downtown Cape Town in a few days.
Take a day tour out to wine country.
If you’re really pressed for time, you can do a wine tour in one day (like EPoP reader Nate). We loved staying out there and spending time in Stellenbosch, but a day tour will allow you to at least see it.
And since I have no idea how many days you have or your travel style, here is an ordered list of what I think are the things you can’t miss in Cape Town.
It always helps to know the “best of the best”.
Things I Wouldn’t Miss (starting with the most important)
Hiking Table Mountain – if hiking is too hard, you can take the cable car up and down.
Cape of Good Hope – stop to see the penguins at Boulders Beach!
A trip to wine country – whether that be one day or a week, get out there. And if you’re in Stellenbosch, go to Annandale, our favorite winery.
Old Biscuit Mill Saturday market.
Helicopter ride over Cape Town.
V&A waterfront – wander around, take a boat cruise, eat at the market.
Truth Coffee in District Six for coffee lovers and Devil’s Peak Taproom for beer lovers.
Drive-up Signal Hill.
Drive out to Milnerton/Big Bay for views of Cape Town.
If you do drive the Garden Route, hike Robberg Trail in Plettenberg Bay.
Have you been to Cape Town? If so, what are some of your favorite recommendations? What did you love?
The kindness of complete strangers can turn around even the most awful days.
Leon Logothetis is well aware of the power of kindness on the road and has spent more than one crazy trip relying on the kindness of strangers to get him through.
Today he joins us to talk about his decision to begin traveling, the logistics of taking (and finding) kindness all around the world, and the power of gratitude.
Have you ever wanted the backpacker experience but more organized, and with, perhaps, better accommodation?
Bruce did, and he figured there had to be other people like him out there.
So he started a tour company for them.
Bruce Poon Tip, the found of G Adventures, joins us today to talk about the evolution of the travel business, how exporting tourism works, where your dollars do the most good, and why group travel is really awesome.
Bruce started G-Adventures in the early nineties and has since grown it into a company that runs over 15,000 tours a year with 2,000 employees worldwide. He shares some great business advice for those of us who are entrepreneurs and lays out what it takes to run such a huge company.
Bruce has some great insights about what it is that causes companies to stagnate and how to get out of that rut, along with some advice on having a strong purpose for your business.
We also chat a lot about how travel changes you, why you’re never “done” with a country, and a crazy story of travel mishap (it involves tear gas, helicopters, and exercise, you won’t want to miss it!).
What are some of your best experiences from finding a group while traveling? Either while you were on a group tour, or just hanging out with people you met along your journey.
For the first time on the Extra Pack of Peanuts Podcast, I’m joined by TWO people on the other side, Dave and Deb of the wildly popular travel blog, ThePlanetD.com.
Billed as “Canada’s Adventure Couple”, Dave and Deb discuss what adventure travel really is, and how two normal people like themselves are able to do some pretty abnormal travel quests (and all along, I thought I was interviewing super athletes)!
In addition to telling some amazing stories, like how they drove across two continents or biked the entire length of Africa, they’ll also provide logistical advice on how you can begin an adventure travel experience.
What tour companies might work for you.
How to pick your first adventure travel trip.
What health insurance you should have (and why you shouldn’t be scared of hospitals in other countries).
And even how to do bring adventure to your home if you can’t travel
And what I really love about this interview is that Dave and Deb then both open up about what travel means to them, and talk candidly about how it saved their marriage and the joys (and obstacles) of traveling as a couple.
Dave and Deb are two of the most energetic and passionate people I’ve met, so you can imagine what it’s like having them both on at once.
Positivity and enthusiasm radiate from the podcast!
If you’ve dreamed of doing travel that is a little less ordinary, go have a listen…and be bouncing off the walls the rest of the day!
