Holiday Break in George, Western Cape, South Africa

What I appreciate about doing car media launches is that they expose you to parts of the country that you had no idea about, and George was part of my discoveries over the last few of years. Many car brands do their media launches in George, Knysna or surrounding areas because you get all types of roads and there quite a number of traffic cops or cameras unless you are in town. When we do SUV’s we always go to this mountain in George which is amazing to drive through and I can never get enough of it and also there is no cellphone signal there, so you are forced to enjoy the car.

2018 was a long year, it felt like it was two years in one and a lot happened last year. I was always tired, and I hadn’t really taken a holiday where I wasn’t working or the trip was not work-related. I did a lot of traveling last year and I made a vow that I don’t want to travel alone this year, the idea is to bring my girlfriend along to my trips. We decided to go to George in the Western Cape and we stayed at the Oubaai Hotel and Spa. I got introduced to this hotel when we did the BMW 5 Series media launch in 2016 and I fell in love with the place. Before the trip, I announced to my girlfriend that I didn’t want to make any decisions about food or our itinerary on this trip – actually I just want to show up and she could tell me what to do. So she sorted out flights and accommodation and whatever we needed to do in George which I enjoyed because making decisions gets tiring and I’m on holiday – I just want to do nothing. The people of Sketchers gave us shoes for the trip and to date these the most comfortable shoes I own. Polo South Africa gave me a summer outfit for the trip and they have the most comfortable shorts as well.

Our flight was at 11 am, if it was just me I’d have left home around 9 am to head to the airport and I’d have been there at 10 am, however, I was traveling with my girlfriend so we left the house at 8 am. Gautrain makes it easier to get the airport on time and I realized that I have an airport routine and it was interesting to watch that I had to throw it out the window now that I was not on my own. I never check in my own bag unless it’s an international flight because of my fear of losing my bag…  We arrived in George and we got a taxi to transport us to the hotel which was 15 minutes away from the airport. Our hotel room was big enough for the both of us and we slept most of the time, which was the reason for this trip; the purpose of this was not to sightsee or explore anything really, but it was a break that we both needed from Johannesburg that was not too expensive as well. We were not interested in doing anything else besides the beach, which we did and thoroughly enjoyed it – even the part where I was the photographer, I didn’t mind at all.

The people at the hotel were nice and the room service was great, I enjoyed their food and they have lovely beds as well, not forgetting the bathroom. We also spent a lot of the time at the swimming pool which had a spectacular view. I was really happy that we took this break because you could tell that we both needed it and sometimes we forget to take a break while chasing our dreams and we burn out. The food in George is affordable our bill for alcohol and food after the four nights we spent there was surprising because elsewhere it would’ve been much more money. The hotel runs an annual special where you pay for three nights and get one night for free which comes to about R4k, this includes breakfast. Flights were about R3k for the both of us return so it was not bad at all for a good four days of peace and doing nothing. It was a great investment for both of us. I know it’s not Bali or Thailand but at times you just need a short getaway outside of Johannesburg and I think this is the place to go to.