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Welcome to the Travel Transformation Podcast, where we talk all things travel and all things transformation. Today is a solo episode, though I've got a lot of great interviews planned for the next few weeks, so keep tuned for those.

Also, before we get into the main episode, I just want to make an announcement because if I make an announcement here, that means I have to stick to it. So, from now on, the Travel Transformation Podcast won't just be every Tuesday; it will be every Tuesday and every Thursday. Yeah, I'm doubling my workload. I am crazy. Some will be short episodes, so some will literally just be ten-minute quickies, but there will be two a week, and a lot of them will be solo episodes as well. 

I love doing interviews – and I think you can get a lot of great information and motivation and inspiration from interviews – but that just leaves me no time to talk about my own stuff and the things I've learned, which is one of the reasons I started this podcast in the first place. So from now on, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and if I don't stick to it, you're allowed to send me an angry email because I need you to be my accountability buddies here. 

So, yeah, for my solo episodes, let me know what topics you want me to cover. Anything to do with travel or to do with transformation in general – so that could be mindset stuff, self-development stuff… it doesn't have to be super travel-related. Anything to do with solo female travel, with colivings, with being a digital nomad, with intentional travel, all that good stuff. I've got a lot of ideas already – I've got a huge list of episode titles that I want to get through – but, obviously, I want to give you what you want. So, if you have anything you would like me to talk about in particular, please let me know. You can email me at info@traveltransformationcoach.com or you can DM me on Instagram @traveltransformationcoach. 

Okay, so this episode is called My South Africa Round-up, so you can probably guess that it's going to be all about South Africa. I recently got back from my trip to SA, and I have to say, it wasn't on my immediate list of places I was planning on travelling to anytime soon, just because I have so many places I either want to visit for the first time or that I want to go back to. But that was before I went to Spain last year and met my friend Irene, who's from South Africa, Pretoria, and who was a digital nomad like me.

She often stays in a small coastal town called Kalk Bay – which is about 40 minutes or so from Cape Town – and she was telling me all about it and it just sounded so super cute. And I've never been to Africa before, I've never set foot on the continent, so it was a nice thing to do to check that off my list. 

But, yeah, I spent two weeks with her in the Basque Country and then a few weeks in Javea in Spain, and when I left, we did the usual thing, the like, ‘Oh, hope I'll see you soon.’ ‘Oh, you should come visit me in SA.’ ‘Yeah, that would be awesome.’ And then you leave and you never see that person ever again.

Well, sometimes that happens, but when you're staying in colivings with other digital nomads, actually, it is quite likely that you will see them again, because you're obviously both roaming around, so if you do find someone you want to meet again, then you absolutely can. 

So when Irene messaged me and said she was renting an Airbnb in Kalk Bay for almost two months and was gathering a group of digital nomads to live and work there – some of them I knew, some of them I didn't – I jumped at the chance.

Like I say, I've never been to South Africa before and, honestly, Cape Town would not be somewhere I would choose to go as a solo female traveller. So this was a really good way of doing it, because I was staying with someone who was local, who knew the area, and I was staying with a group of people rather than being on my own, which, in any big city, I find a little daunting, I have to say, even though I do do it. 

So, in mid-January, I escaped the English winter and hopped on a plane from Heathrow to Cape Town. And, as I was there as a digital nomad – which is very different to if you're just going on holiday somewhere as a tourist – I wanted to do a bit of a special round-up episode to tell you exactly what I did, to give you a bit of a snapshot of what it's like to be a digital nomad, if you want to be one, or if you're just interested. And the good bits and the bad bits and what I learned from the whole experience.

So, in a bit, I'm going to read out some excerpts from the notes I made while I was over there, which was just noting what I did and when. But, before that, I just want to talk about a few things that immediately come to mind when I think back on my trip. 

Okay, the first thing is load shedding. This was a huge part of my stay in South Africa, and I didn't realise before I went just how big of a thing it is and just how disruptive load shedding is. Basically, this is when the power gets shut off for a few hours a day, for a couple or a few hours at a time, to ‘shed the load’. It's all to do with the power not being able to cope with the amount of people there, and they turn it off a few hours a day. And there are different zones, different areas, and it's all very confusing. 

To start with, we didn't even have WiFi when this happened, which for a house full of digital nomads, is not ideal. But then that got sorted a few weeks after we got there, so then it was just the power we didn't have. Which means you have to keep your phones and laptops charged. Definitely keep your phone charged, because you'll need the torch light on it for when you're plunged into darkness and have to navigate around the house in the pitch-black for hours and end.

You have to schedule things like washing and drying, or straightening your hair, and this is big for me: having strategic cups of tea at times when there's not going to be any load shedding. So I don't get up early – I'm not a morning person – but I would often get up early because I knew that the load shedding would start at a certain time and I needed to get my cup of tea in before that happened because I needed to wake up. You get used to it after a while, but it's still just super weird getting plunged into darkness and, yeah, having to navigate around the house using the torch on your phone. You do get used to it, though.

Secondly, and I talked about this a bit before, but solo travel wasn't the easiest thing to do in the Cape Town area, especially as a woman. But as I said, I was kind of expecting this, and it's the reason why I wouldn't have gone there on my own in the first place. But again, not just Cape Town. There are plenty of places all over the world that I wouldn't go on my own, but I would go in as a group. So it's things like, I got told not to use the buses or the trains because there's a lot of crime. Not to go hiking alone, not to use Ubers alone at night.

And mostly it's fine, but it does make things a little trickier if you want to explore, but you don't have your own car, which we didn't. 

There was a cute little coastal train that went to a lot of the nearby towns, which would have been a great way to get around and see the really cute areas, but with people getting attacked and mugged on there, especially if they're alone, that was a no-no. It just seemed strange coming from a country and a town where I don't think twice about hopping on a bus or a train on my own at any time of day or night, really. It's just a bit weird. But again, if you lived there, you would get used to it. And better to be safe than sorry. 

There was a day when I had a kind of solo adventure day as I wanted to go and see the penguins in Simon's Town, which is amazing. It's a famous penguin colony that's featured in the Netflix show, Penguin Town. Check it out. But I didn't have anyone to go with, so I took an Uber there myself, hung around with the penguins for a couple of hours – seriously, they're so cute – then I had a walk around, did some shopping, got some lunch and ice cream, then I got an Uber to the harbour, had a look around, then had a cocktail while looking out at the water. Then I got an Uber back to Kalk Bay. I then went to a restaurant on my own, got a delicious pizza to go from one of the really cute restaurants there, had another cocktail while I was waiting for my food… well, why not?... and then walked back to the house. 

It was such a nice day, and I'm an introvert, so I don't mind my own company. So I didn't mind being alone the whole day. But when I got back to my house, my housemate and his friend was there, a lovely lady from Cape Town, and it seemed strange to me, but she asked what I'd done, and I told her all about my day, and she just seemed so shocked. She was like, ‘And you did all that on your own?’ as if it were the craziest thing she'd ever heard, because it wasn't something she would have done on her own in that area.

Well, to be honest, it might not have been something I'd have done on my own even just a few years ago. It seemed like nothing at the time, but when that woman said that and I thought about it, I was like, yeah, I might not have done that before. So it made me appreciate how far I'd come, how much confidence solo travelling has given me. Even if I don't always see it or think about it, sometimes it takes someone else pointing it out to go, ‘You're right. That is pretty cool.’

Thirdly, the world is such a small place. Irene has a friend called Martapelo, and while we were there, her friend Randi from Denmark was visiting. We all hung out as a group a couple of times, went to see a jazz band at the local bakery – yes, bakery – went for drinks… and around this time, the Sun and Co pop-up in the Basque Country, Spain, were opening their bookings, which is where I met Irene last year. And I was talking to the people I was there with before, seeing who was going back. One of those people was Bjorn from Denmark, and Irene and I were talking about who was and wasn't going. So I mentioned him. She hadn't met him, but she'd been to the pop-up too, just at a different time.

Anyway, the next day, Irene came rushing into the house saying, ‘Bjorn is Randi’s brother! Bjorn is Randi’s brother!’ It took me a while to figure out what she was talking about, but then I got it. Yes, Randi and Bjorn were brother and sister from Denmark. I had met him in the Basque Country in Spain. I had met her in a tiny coastal town in South Africa, of all places. And I think our time there overlapped each other by about a week and we still managed to meet. I then got a message from Bjorn saying, ‘So I heard you met my sister.’ 

Seriously, it's crazy. The world is just so small, and if you're a digital nomad staying in places like colivings and you're meeting digital nomads who've stayed in other colivings, it's even smaller.

Okay. Fourthly, South Africa is just so beautiful. Kalk Bay is gorgeous, especially the view we had in our Airbnb over False Bay and the houses on the opposite side. Cape Town, with its famous mountains like Table Mountain and Lion’s Head, is pretty incredible. Stellenbosch and the Winelands – one of my favourite places when I went there – are just stunning. And even though I was working a lot when I was there, I never took for granted just how stunning it is.

I remember going to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens for an outdoor concert on my very first day there. I had just flown there overnight and I'd got in at 5.00 a.m. UK time. Totally out of it, really tired. I'd met up with my friends, we'd gone to the house, I'd done a bit of unpacking, had a quick shower, and then gone to the gardens. And just seeing the view from the gardens – of the mountains and all the lush greenery – I was a bit out of it, like I said, but it just took my breath away. It's so beautiful. Actually, that's one of my regrets for my trip is that I didn't go back to the Botanical Gardens – maybe on my own, when there wasn't a concert happening – to just wander around, taking in the beauty, taking some pictures. I feel like it would be a nice place to sit – in the shade, for me – and write poetry or something.

I don't know. It's just that kind of place. It's really, really cool.

Okay, so now let's get into what I got up to day by day, which hopefully won't be too boring, but hopefully it will give you some idea of what it's like to visit a place as a digital nomad and live more like a local than a tourist – though I did do some touristy things while I was there. 

Okay. Saturday the 14th of Jan. I got a Virgin Atlantic flight from Heathrow to Cape Town. I paid a little bit more extra money to go direct because I am old and I don't like long journeys.

There was a choice with like two stopovers or a cheaper one with three stopovers, and I just know I can't deal with that. If I can get a direct flight and it's not extortionate, then I will do that every time. On the way, I watched ‘Everything, everywhere, all at once.’ If you haven't seen that film, see it. It's amazing. And I watched 50 minutes of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ before I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore – but that was nothing to do with the film, I was just very tired. 

It was actually a good flight because I got a whole row to myself, which hardly ever happens. And they accidentally gave me two breakfasts, because I was asleep when they brought the first one around. And then, yeah, they brought me another one for some reason. 

So, Sunday 15th, 5.00 a.m. UK time, 7.00 a.m. South Africa time, I got in, went through all the immigration stuff, passport control, all that lovely stuff, and I met Irene at the airport because she’d just got a flight in from Joburg. So we went and met our friend Sunny in Cape Town central. Then Alex and Ali, who were also from the pop-up. And then we got an Uber over to the house, and it was so beautiful. Then we went to the Botanical Gardens, like I said – we went to see Mango Groove, which is a sort of older, but very famous South African band. There were so many people there. We took a picnic, we took some booze. It was very nice, but I was very, very tired.

We then went to a bar in nearby Muizenberg, which is about ten minutes’ drive from Kalk Bay. We went to The Commons and they had live music and drinks, and they had a little outside bit where we sat and talked. And again, very nice, but you know, when you're just so tired and you're trying to meet people and remember their names and not sound like an idiot… it's a lot.

We also had trouble getting Ubers back. So, half of us got an Uber back, and we had to wait about half an hour for the other lot. And at that point we only had one house key. So we headed over the road to the tidal pool, had a bit of an impromptu party with some beers we had left, put some music on, looked up at the stars, it was all very nice. And then the load shedding happened and every single light along the bay went off. And it was really weird because I didn't understand at this point, really, what load shedding was, but it was kind of magical as well because then you could see the stars a lot more. But again, I was drunk and had been up for about 48 hours, so I would have thought anything was magical, probably.

Okay, I’m going to get through these a bit quicker. I'll literally just read what I put on my notes. So Monday, first day of work, I felt very tired and slightly hungover. I got up late, and eased myself into work. Tuesday 17th, I went for a hike up Echo Valley in the heat. Now, this was very beautiful, but also hard for me because I'm not very fit; it was very uphill and it was very hot and I burnt myself a lot. But that's just me, I burn all the time. One of my issues when I was over there. Then we went to the Courtyard Cafe, had really nice iced tea. Then we went to a different tidal pool. I dangled my legs in, didn't go all in, but it was very cold and I am a wuss.

Wednesday 18th: worked. Then went to the market in Noordhoek in an Uber. We had pomegranate gin and I got empanadas. Really nice vibe and so many dogs. These are my notes. Friday 20th… oh, I guess Thursday I didn't do anything, just work. Friday 20th, we went to the Bluebird Garage Market, which is another market in Muizenberg. We had great food, lots of dogs, drinks. They had clothes and jewellery and stuff as well. Then Sunny, Alex, Ali and I went to a dive bar. Then load shedding plunged us into darkness and they sort of brought out random bulbs to go on the bar, which was quite cute actually. 

Then we walked over to the Striped Horse, which had its own power because a lot of big businesses have their own generators, but a lot of places don't. We had more drinks. There was amazing music, like really random dance versions of pop songs like Dolly Parton's Jolene, Party in the USA, YMCA, and yeah, we went there for a while and then went home. 

Saturday 21st, went shopping in Kalk Bay with Sunny, the first of many shopping trips. They had so many cute boutique shops in Kalk Bay. We also had lunch at the Beach Cafe overlooking the sea. Very nice. I got a couple of things for me. Presents for other people. I collect postcards and magnets, so I got those as well.

Sunday 22nd, shopping again. Got a purple bag. Yeah, I'm addicted to buying bags, but this was a very nice bag.

Tuesday is the next one. I had a Zoom with my parents and my brother. I guess I did nothing on the Monday. And when I say nothing, I mean we literally just stay in the house and work because a lot of us have a lot of work to do and not particular hours, so we'll often work in the evenings, at weekends, if we need to catch up. So, yeah, a lot of that was just work.

Wednesday 25th, I went and worked from Bootleggers, a coffee place, with Irene during load shedding. So they had WiFi. This is at the time when we didn't have WiFi, and we did this occasionally, but I tend to get distracted in cafes when I'm trying to work there, mainly by all the food and drink. I end up spending a fortune because I feel guilty about staying there without paying for constant food. So, yeah, and then that evening, we went back to the Noordhoek Farm Village market. 

Oh, yeah. There were loads of little girls going around asking for tips for jokes. They were telling us jokes, and me and Irene were like, ‘I'm sorry, we don't have any cash.’ But they were like, ‘Oh, we'll tell you the jokes anyway.’ And they told us the one about what do you call a deer with no eyes? A no-eyed-deer. And then what do you call a deer with no eyes and no legs? Still no-eyed-deer. And it might have been the gin, but we found that hilarious. There was also a boy just going around holding out a sunglasses case – this was after the girls came by – and just went, ‘Money?’ He wasn't homeless or anything – his parents were there – but it was really funny. I was like, God, these kids know how to hustle these days! 

Thursday 26th: went to jazz night at the Olympia Bakery. A dude called Linda and his band – I can't remember what his band's called – they were very good. And yeah, it's just the back bit of the bakery where they actually do all the baking, and they put all the stuff to one side and they put the chairs out, and then it turns into a music venue. Very cool.

I put Friday to Sunday: basically slept and did some work. Yeah, I think the weekend of being up, like, all weekend when I flew over finally caught up with me and I literally just slept most of the day for like two and a half days. I've never done that before. So, yeah, make sure you get enough rest when you're travelling. 

Monday 30th: Irene and I made salad for dinner. Now, it might not sound like this is something you should make a note of, but we never cook, ever. We're so bad. Both of us bonded over our lack of cooking abilities. So even though it was just a salad, the fact that we did it for our housemates… monumental occasion.

Tuesday 31st: went shopping with Sunny again. We were just so bad. We kept egging each other on, but we were buying mostly gifts. Then we had brunch at the Ohana Beach café again. In the evening, I had dinner and drinks with Irene at Sirocco, which is a lovely outside place with, like, twinkling lights everywhere. Very nice.

Thursday 2nd of Feb. We went to Cape Town for First Thursdays, which is like an art gallery thing where lots of art galleries open for free. They let you in for free. There are lots of deals going on in like bars and restaurants, and they basically just have a massive street party. Everyone drinks and walks around and there's some outdoor shopping. And, also, I had the best sandwich ever from Crust Almighty, and I would move to Cape Town for that sandwich.

It was amazing. 

Okay. Friday the 3rd of Feb was Sunny's last full day. I worked from Lekka in the morning because the Internet was a bit crap. The 4th was when Sunny left. So when she'd packed, we went to Cape to Cuba for cocktails and food. Lovely view over the harbour. Our housemate, Mateo, joined us. He's from Italy, Sunny's from Korea. Then we went back to the house and Sunny left. Very sad.

That evening, Mateo and I went for pizza and wine at the place across the road from Sirocco, called Satori. Very nice. But yeah, at this point it was just Mateo and I left in the house because Irene was away, Sunny had left, Alex and Ali had left, and Antoine – our other housemate – hadn't yet appeared.

So, Sunday the 5th: the WiFi man came in the afternoon. Obviously, a lot of things happened. Just chilling in the house, did some work. Monday the 6th of Feb: got a takeaway from Lekka.

Having a cocktail, drinking wine back at home in the dark because of load shedding. We watched the first half of the film ‘Her’ because everyone was obsessed with AI while we were over there. But then we were too tired, so we went to bed. Rock and roll. 

Tuesday the 7th of Feb. Irene spent all day trying to get Beyonce tickets. It was a big drama in our house. Then she left for Pretoria and Joburg for the week for a wedding. Wednesday, 8th of Feb: I went to the shops I hadn't been to yet, and had lunch at the Waffle Place because it had a great view overlooking the harbour. I had a sweet potato rooibos latte. I don't know if I'm saying rooibos, right… it's the red bush one. Anyway, came back and worked. Oh, yeah. Antoine made some vodka with coffee beans, orange, and sugar. Super, super tasty.

Thursday the 8th, had lunch at Salt with Antoine. In the evening, I went with Antoine and his friend to the supper club at Muse Kitchen in Muizenberg. It's where you go and you pay like £5 or something and there's a different chef every week and it's just like a community supper club where you sit at a table with lots of other people. We met three other digital nomads from Egypt, Germany, and the Czech Republic. And they had a cute little gift shop as well. We had amazing three vegan pasta and vegan chocolate dessert. We could bring our own wine. It was really nice.

Friday. I went to Baked Shakespeare at the Olympic Bakery with Matteo and Antoine. This was really fun. Obviously, smoking weed is legal over there, and their whole thing is they perform a Shakespeare play and at the start, two actors get chosen to get baked on the stage as they go, and they smoke a few bowls and then see if they can remember all their lines and do all that stuff. So it's really funny. And they also had epic sort of modern-style, boy band-style dance routines. It was ‘As you like it’ and it was really cool. 

Then we went to Cape to Cuba for a cocktail. Seriously, there were a load of kids there who looked about twelve, out at like midnight. Crazy kids. 

Saturday, 11th of Feb. This is the day I went to Simon's Town. I tried Water's Edge Beach first, but it was really busy, though I did see a load of baboons on someone's rooftop. Then I went to Boulders Beach, which is like the touristy one where you pay to get in, but you can see all the penguins there. That's kind of where they live. Really amazing. So cute. They're just waddling around, minding their own business. A lot of them are in the middle of laying eggs and protecting eggs, but it was really hot and the penguins looked really hot, like the ones on the eggs, and felt a bit sorry for them.

And then I walked along the boardwalk to the other beach, another touristy beach, and there's a sort of foresty bit in the middle. And there were a load of penguins there, like, right next to the boardwalk, so you can get really close to them. I got an ice cream and I took an Uber to Simon’s Town Harbour. It was just for a few minutes in the car, but it was so hot, I didn't want to walk for half an hour in a place I didn't know. 

I took some photos. There were an American couple there who jumped into the water from the pier, freezing water. I then went to Berthas and had a salad and a peach daiquiri before getting an Uber back to Kalk Bay, and then I got a cocktail and a takeaway pizza from Sirocco. Came back, watched ‘Schitt's Creek’ and ‘You’ in bed. The first half of season four of You had just come out, so I was binging that and also watching Schitt's Creek for about the fourth time because I love it so much. 

So, Monday the 13th, Irene came back. I had a Zoom call with a friend, had wine, and finally finished watching ‘Her’ with Irene and Antoine. And it's crazy because it's all about AIs and that kind of stuff and all the things that people are talking about now. But it was made ten years ago, so if you haven't seen it, watch it. It's crazy. 

Okay. 14th of Feb, Valentine's Day. We went to a wine farm in Kirstenbosch. So it was me and my housemates, Irene, Antoine, Mateo, Antoine's friend Leone, and Irene's friends Chez, Josh, Tom, and Alyssa. We did a wine tasting inside. Amazing views, amazing loo with a view. I went there and was gone for like, half an hour, because I was doing a photo shoot in the toilet because it was just amazing. And then we took some more bottles of wine and drank them outside with the amazing view. 

The toilets with the amazing view… in the day it's fine, but at night, when it's all lit up, like the toilets are lit up and there are people on the lawn, like down below, drinking, it's a bit scarier. I'm like, who can see me here? Probably no one, but it's still a little like… pee quick and get out!

Wednesday the 15th of Feb. We got up early because we were going on a road trip to Stellenbosch. Well, not a road trip – it was like an hour – but we were going to Stellenbosch for a couple of days with Irene, Mateo, and Irene's friend Chez. We got a coffee and Danish from the Olympia Bakery, and then Irene drove us to Stellenbosch. 

On the way, we went past this township, which is like what you think of as a slum – but they don't use the word slum over there – and it went on forever and it was just so huge. I can't even imagine living there, with the corrugated iron huts, essentially, but they have their own little town. There are like roads and shops and barbers and bars, I think, and all kinds of things. And it just seems so strange because it's so close to Kalk Bay, which is quite an affluent area, and Stellenbosch, which is a very affluent area. 

Stellenbosch is like a super cute Hallmarky-type university town. It reminded me a lot of Pearl Street in Boulder, Colorado, when I went there for a year. It's like an outdoor mall, very nice, leafy cafes, people sitting outside, drinking and eating. Little boutique shops. Very studenty, but then also very upmarket shops and just very nice buildings, all very nice. 

So we got there, we had breakfast, we worked in a cafe for a bit and then in a wine bar for a bit. And then we got an Uber to Waterford Wine Farm, which is a beautiful wine farm. And the taste tester was lovely. We had Brett, our wine guy. He was really knowledgeable and very nice. I was there with Chez, Mateo, and Chez's friend Laura from Germany, and we were also nearly killed by a giant umbrella flying off in the wind. It was very windy and it came out of its little holder thing. But Brett, our wine guy, was amazing. He had like a bottle of wine in one hand and he caught the giant umbrella in the other and just stood there for a minute, like kind of dazed and confused about what happened, and then people helped him get it in there. But yeah, nearly got decapitated by that. But it was nice wine, nice food. The wine and chocolate pairings in particular, including the dessert wine… amazing.

Then we got back to Stellenbosch – or Stellies as it's also known – and checked into our Airbnb, which had an amazing view of the mountains and this beautiful church. We had an elevator going up to our living room. It was nice. After that, we went out for dinner, had a drink, and then I went back and went to bed early because I am that cool. 

Thursday 16th, we had breakfast, then came back to the Airbnb and did a bit of work. Then I went and had lunch with Chez and Mateo at a wine place. For some reason, there was a giant pair of legs, a big sculpture, outside in the garden. Then we walked around for a bit. Chez showed us some of the university buildings because she'd gone there to university.

And then Mateo went back to the Airbnb to work, and Chez and I went shopping. And then we went and had more drinks. And then it was time for dinner and we went somewhere for dinner. We waited for ages for service. It didn't happen. So we legged it to another place just before they closed, and it was load shedding so they had candlelight everywhere. Very nice. 

Friday the 17th of Feb. We headed back to Kalk Bay. We dropped our stuff off, then we went to lunch at Kalky’s, which is a famous fish and chip place on the harbour there, where I got the vegetarian meal. There were seals on the harbour walls. We got a bit closer to take some photos and videos; they were just chilling next to all the people. Then we came back to the house.

I had a nap and had dinner, and then me and Irene had a bit of a South Africa Netflix evening. We watched Penguin Town, because she hadn't seen it. My Octopus Teacher, which if you haven’t seen, you need to watch. And then a Trevor Noah stand-up special thing. So all those things were South Africa-related. Penguin Town and My Octopus Teacher were filmed around False Bay, where we were, so that was quite cool. 

Saturday, chilling, working in the house. Sunday, went to Woodstock to the Neighbourgoods market. Mateo and Irene went to hike Lion’s Head, and I met them there after. I had the best sandwich ever again, and lots of gin fizz, and then went back to the house. A new housemate, Alyssa, moved in, and I went to this place called Salt with Alyssa and Irene for some food and drinks. 

Monday, I didn't feel well. I think there were a lot of stomach bugs going around. There was something about load shedding making the water supply dodgy or something. I don't know if that's real, but yeah, I really didn't feel well and I didn't feel well until I came back, actually. And even after that, I felt a bit dodgy. But honestly, it could be anything. 

Mateo made a chocolate salami thing. This was my last night, and it was amazing, and I had some for breakfast the next day as well. Always ask Italians to cook for you if you ever stay with Italians. 

So the next day I got up, I finished packing, I said bye to my housemates – very sad – and then I got an Uber to Cape Town. So this was my last night. I'd booked a hotel in Cape Town so I could get up early and just head to the airport the next day. 

So I thought I'd make the most of my time in Cape Town. I dropped off my bags. I went to Rosetta bakery, because I'd seen that they had Basque Country cheesecake there, and it wasn't as nice as in the Basque Country, but it was still pretty good. And then I got an Uber to the waterfront. I sort of stumbled upon this seal platform, which is amazing. It was covered in seals – including a baby seal – and a lot of them were fighting, like actually pushing each other off the platform into the sea over and over again, which I found hilarious, but very cute.

And then I went to this place called The Watershed, which has a lot of boutique shops in. I did some shopping, got some ice cream, walked around the harbour for a bit, and then got on a harbour boat tour for 30 minutes. We saw more seals on a buoy in the middle of the bay. Great views of Table Mountain. I met this other woman who was there solo as well, so I hung out with her for a bit. Then I found the shopping mall.

Oh, dear… the big shopping mall, all the big brands in, but also some cute little boutique shops. I did some more shopping, got some food for later, and then got an Uber back to the hotel. I then sorted out my case, sorted out all the stuff I bought, did a bit of work. I'm sort of doing work most days, even if it's weekends, just to keep on top of it, because when I'm away, I don't tend to do as much as I do when I'm at home, just because there's so much to do and you don't want to have FOMO all the time. Although I do say no when I really do need to work or I really do need to just sleep, like I did that weekend when I just slept.

I watched more Schitt's Creek, it's like my comfort show, and then went to bed. And then the next day, I got an Uber from the hotel around seven, looked around the shops in the airport, did some work at the airport – and you know you're a digital nomad when you're doing work in the airport lounge – and then got on the plane. If anyone's interested, I watched Elvis on the plane, the Baz Lurhmann film, Emily the Criminal, and Jurassic World: Dominion. Then I realised I hadn't watched the Jurassic film before that, so I was a bit confused. 

And then I got back to London and my parents very kindly picked me up and I went back to their house and saw the family dog, Tilly. She went absolutely bonkers, like really, really crazy, and had a cup of tea and went to bed, exhausted.

So that's what I did as a digital nomad staying in Kalk Bay near Cape Town. Hopefully it gives you some kind of idea. Obviously, I didn't go on like, a big safari. I wasn't there doing that kind of stuff, which I might do if I was just going as a tourist. But when you've got work to do and things like that, you kind of want to live like a local. You don't want to do all the touristy things all the time. You want to get a sense of that place as if you would live there. And a lot of the time, digital nomads are going around thinking, Is this somewhere I could live? Because they actually don't have a base, but maybe they want to one day. I kind of ask myself that question whenever I go anywhere. ‘Could I live here?’

So, before the end of this podcast, I'm just going to read out a recent blog post I wrote titled Five Things I Learned from my South Africa Trip. I also sent this to my email list, the Intentional Travel Club, which you can sign up for by going to traveltransformationcoach.com

and scrolling right to the bottom or by going to traveltransformationcoach.com/freeguide. And you'll get a free guide as well on travel transformation.

Okay, so number one was: Visiting somewhere as a digital nomad is not the same as visiting somewhere purely as a tourist, and I've already talked about this, but you are basically living like a local, and you need to remind yourself that you don't have to do all the touristy things. You don't have to do things just because people say you should do them while you're there. You're there in a completely different capacity than if you were there on holiday, and that's fine.

Number two: I personally do not do well in hot climates. I already knew this. I’ve travelled extensively in places like Southeast Asia and other places in Asia and I nearly died because of the heat. And you do kind of get more used to it, but I underestimated how much it would stop me from doing things in South Africa. Like, even with the highest factor sun cream I could find and applying it all the time, I managed to get sunburned almost every time I went out, so that wasn't great. So I did end up trying to stay inside a lot of the time or run from shade to shade. 

And I've had mild sunstroke before when I was in Colorado, and that is not fun. With actual sunstroke, people actually die from it, so that's never good. Like, you should never take these things lightly. And just because other people are fine and have no issue doesn't mean you are the same. So I keep that in mind. And in the future, I'll definitely be sticking to cooler climates as much as possible. Obviously, there are still so many places I want to visit that are hotter. Maybe I'll just do it for shorter amounts next time. 

Okay. Three is: When living with others and being a digital nomad in general, you have to protect your energy and your sanity. For instance, I'm not someone who wants to go out clubbing every night. I'd rather hang out in a pub where you can actually talk or go see a movie or attend a play or go to a live music event or go on a day trip on the weekends instead of spending the whole day being hungover. And that's okay. When you're staying in a coliving type situation, you feel like you should say yes to everything. 

There’s FOMO, of course, but you also don't want to let your housemates down or appear to be boring. But saying yes to everything can lead to burnout and deathly hangovers. So just be aware of what you do and don't like doing for fun. And don't feel bad if it's not the same as what your housemates do and don't like doing. Like, everyone's different. 

And for sanity's sake, I know that I need my own room. Somewhere to retreat to when it all gets a little too much. Somewhere to hide away and watch Schitt's Creek if I need to just relax for a bit. 

Number four is: We should be grateful for everything we have. And I know this isn't exactly groundbreaking, but my time in South Africa made me grateful for so many things we often take for granted in the UK. I mean, obviously, they have amazing things like beauty and wildlife that we do not have. So I'm not saying that the UK is better at all. South Africa is truly an amazing, incredible, beautiful place that I'm so glad I went to. And if you've not had the chance to go anywhere like that, I think you should try and make it a priority in your life at some point, because it truly is an amazing, beautiful place. 

Having said that, it made me grateful for things like electricity and the fact we don't have load shedding. It's just little things like not being able to boil a cup of tea. If your power is off for like, 8/9/10 hours a day, spread out throughout the day, but it's still 8/9/10 hours a day, that means your fridge and freezers are off. If you don't have a backup generator, it means the food or your milk would go off a lot sooner. The traffic lights don't work in most places during load shedding, so you've got that to deal with. Like I say, you have to schedule things like using the washing machine and having a cup of tea. So I'm grateful that we have the access to power we do over here. 

I'm also grateful that I live in a place where I can just jump on a bus or a train, and not have to be on constant lookout for muggers or anyone else who might attack me for whatever reason. And again, I know that's not just South Africa. I've had instances in London and other places, as a lot of my friends have – even not in big cities, even in small towns, this happens. But I felt it a lot more there because people were telling me it was more dangerous. So I'm grateful to live in a place where I don't feel like I have to look out every time I get on a train or a bus. We just have so much freedom in the UK in that kind of respect, and I won't be taking that for granted from now on. 

Five: I am not a night-flight type person. If at all possible, I'll be booking day flights going forward. I just never really sleep on them. I totally screw up my body clock. It takes me a good couple of weeks for my body to catch up. And then, as happened in South Africa, I was just out for the count for like a whole weekend. And yeah, if I do a day flight like I did on the way back, it's really not as bad.

And it's crazy how just a couple of hours’ time difference can really make a difference. It's just two hours ahead – South Africa is from the UK – and yet it took me a while to get used to it. When I came back, I kept waking up super early, or early for me, like at 5 or 6.00 a.m. because I was still on Cape Town time, and even two hours can screw up your body clock. So, yeah, I have learnt that I prefer day flights as much as possible, even though you feel like you're losing a day. I think, overall, for me, it's better. 

Number six. Bonus. I learnt that traffic lights in South Africa are called robots. I did not know this. Which can result in some hilarious misunderstandings from non-Africans when asking for directions like, ‘Where's the train station, please?’ ‘Oh, just head down the street, make a left at the robot.’ ‘Sorry, what?’ Yeah, they're not called traffic robots. They're not called anything like that, just robots. I thought that was interesting.

So, yeah, I just wanted to do this episode to give you a bit of information about what it's like to be a digital nomad, to give you a bit of info on South Africa if you're considering going there. And also, I hope that it prompts you to do the same for any trips you go on. To stop afterwards and reflect back, look at your favourite parts, your not-so-favourite parts, the things you learnt and all that kind of stuff.

Whether it's a month-long digital nomad trip, a fortnight at a resort, or a weekend away camping, just stop to think about your favourite parts of the trip and the memories you'll be taking forward with you. And yeah, most importantly, pause to reflect on what you've learned during the trip, both about the place you visited and about yourself, because I bet if you dig deep, you can find out lots of stuff – and it's also a great thing to look back at in years to come – in particular, if you write it down, at which point memories of your trip might have become a little hazy.

So I hope you learned something from this podcast episode, whether it's something about South Africa, something about being a digital nomad, or just how important it is to pause and reflect at the end of each trip. I'd also love to hear if you've had your own adventure in South Africa. Email me at info@traveltransformationcoach.com or DM me on Instagram @traveltransformationcoach. 

You can also see more videos of my time in South Africa on my TikTok @traveltransformation. And if you want the name of the Airbnb we stayed at – because it really is beautiful – it's called Baytree Beach House. It's on the main road and the address is either Kalk Bay or Fish Hoek, depending on which place you look at, because it's kind of in the middle of the two, but I highly recommend it. Baytree Beach House. 

Okay, so be sure to look out for my Thursday episode this week because there will be one, because I'm going to stick to the schedule I've made for myself. I'm going to fulfil my promise to myself because that's how we grow in confidence – when we actually make a promise to ourselves and we stick to it. So I'm going to be doing Tuesdays and Thursdays every week. Again, please slap me virtually if I don't.

And this Thursday, I've got an interview with a really fun lady named Domi who has a great service for solo travellers – and a service I'm going to be taking part in soon. So make sure to give it a listen this Thursday. 

Okay, that's it for now. Thanks for listening, and I'll catch you on the flip side, bye!

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