Visas

Even if you are not staying in the US, but are in transit in a US airport on the way to the Windies, it appears as though you will need a US visa.
In SA, you need to make an appointment to apply for your visa (call the Visa information Centre on (011) 275 6300). To make this appointment you need:

• a PIN number which you an either buy from any Pick 'n Pay Supermarket or by credit card over the phone (R86)
• your passport number

You need to take the following to your appointment:

• passport
• 1 colour photo (5cm x 5cm)
• deposit slip for R740 which you have deposited in cash at any FNB branch
• application form DS156 (to be filled out online at http://evisaforms.state.gov/ and printed out)
• guys only - application form DS157 (to be filled out online at http://travel.state.gov and printed out)
• letter from your employer stating how long you have been employed and how long you will be away for
• 3 months bank statements AND 3 months payslips
• if you own a house, title deeds or bond statements
• details of hotel where you are staying (if staying in US)/itinerary
• R60 cash for DHL to deliver your visa

I have a detailed document setting out all of this info, which I will email to everyone, and they also tell you what you need when you phone the Visa Information Centre.

The debut of Murray and Lara

Friday night saw the debut of Murray and Lara via a dinner with TtW and Cheese at a Greek restaurant.
Much fun and many, many shooters were had, and the evening also involved a great deal of good old-fashioned plate breaking (not only on the floor).
Check out the pics here.

Tour Admin

Hey all,

I have sent out an email re the payment required for the Tour.
Please have a look and make payment as soon as possible.

Also, they have confirmed the room allocations as follows:
Double beds:
1. Willow and Cheese
2. TtB and TtF
3. Laz and David Kerr
4. Bwymie and Sal
5. Dodge and Lee
6. Murray and Lara

Twin rooms:
7. Woody and Robin
8. Dawn

I trust this meets with everybody's approval?

TtW

East... West - Left.... Right, who knew

Ok, so it was a long day... if you look "east" over the "atlantic" from the UK, you've done as badly as I have. But if you do look east, and keep looking... past Indo, past California, and you eventually hit the Caribbean, you'll know what I mean about the weather.

But at the end of the day, go west... I hear life is peacful there!

Laz - Online

My first attempt at a blog... so far so good. Incidentally, the title of this post is going to hopefully be the url for my own website when I eventually get around to setting one up. So copyright (C) or patent pending or whatever, dibs on the name. Thanks.

Well, I write this from my third floor penthouse in the square mile of London, most commonly referred to as 'The City'. No, it's unfortunately not my own swanky apartment, it is my floor at work, where I sit and listen to bulletins about how almost all public transport home has been cancelled because it seems trains, overland and underground cannot run in a little wind.

Ok, so that may not be entirely true, the wind is definitely gale force. Nothing a 20-ton train can't handle, its all the junk blowing onto the tracks that must be causing these disruptions.... although don't quote me on that.

So, with this terrific weather in mind, I decide to look east over the Atlantic. Low and behold, lows and highs of 22 and 28 degrees in Barbados, with gentle see breezes rolling in to cool thirsty beach cricketers. I think they may serve rum there too.

Till next time....

Profile - Toby the Beast

Known by his parents and close family members as Guy Laister, Toby the Beast (TtB) is a Durbanite by birth but is currently encouraging climate change to bring warmer weather to the United Kingdom. A hard hitting, yet technically gifted, middle ordered batsman in his time, TtB chaired and captained the worlds greatest cricket team ever to grace the world's fields, the one-and-one-halves. Whilst not blogging and gardening, TtB dedicates a small proportion of his waking hours managing flood risk. 2007 brings a new chapter in TtB's life as the big three 'O' looms large on the horizon. As far as the tor is concerned, he is most looking forward to drinking a life threatening amount of rum in the West Indies. And his claim to fame: He is the real James Bond - 007.

SA names hopefuls for Cricket World Cup

The 30-man provisional South African world cup squad was announced in the newspaper today, with the only surprises being Titans left-arm spinner Paul Harris, who has not played a one-day game for his franchise this season and Cape Cobras all-rounder Vernon Philander.

The selected provisional squad is as follows:
Loots Bosman, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, Boeta Dippenaar, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Paul Harris, Jacques Kallis, Justin Kemp, Garnett Kruger, Charl Langeveldt, Albie Morkel, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Justin Ontong, Alviro Petersen, Robin Peterson, Vernon Philander, Shaun Pollock, Ashwell Prince, Jacques Rudolph, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn, Roger Telemachus, Alfonso Thomas, Thandi Tshabalala, Johan van der Wath, Ross Williams, Morne van Wyk.

Captain Graeme Smith said the team was pretty confident of doing well at the World Cup. “We’re ranked number two in the world and we’ve closed the gap between us and Australia. We’re pretty confident of our ability to do well, but we are realistic.” He said South Africa would not be affected by the disappointments of the last two World Cups in 1999 and 2003, but would be motivated by them.

Click here to read the full article.

BEAUTIFUL!

Love your work ladies, fully fledged bloggers in a matter of minutes! With Dawn joining the game, the ladies are threatening to take control of the site, come on lads, time to pull some finger! Either way, keep the posts flowing.

More info on Friendship Rose Schooner

In addition to my article earlier , I just thought I would give you my thoughts on these sailing cruises in Bequia...

Different options:

1. Slow sailing option is the Friendship Rose Schooner - as you may have seen they have 3 different trips, one to St. Vincent, one to Mistique and last one to the Tobago Cays. My thoughts are if we're going to spead our time cruising on the yacht we should go to the Tobago Cays, which is made of uninhabited islands and awesome snorkeling and the experience is mainly to enjoy the day sailing...i've booked on Sunday 22nd April for the Tobago Cays trip so let me know if you're keen and i'll book you a spot!!

2. Fast speedboat/ferry option - my thoughts would be to use this method to get to the islands where we can see and experience more things on the island such as St. Vincent and Mistique.

3. Catamaran option - not sure if this is fast or slow option but its also worth a look it...as mentioned in my article below that this might be a good option with a group our size!!

Ok, so use it...don't use it these are just my thoughts and once again if you're keen let me know :)

Team Windies photo gallery

So that you know what you are in for in terms of travelling companions, we are putting together a photo gallery of the Windies team members.

I made a good start on boxing day (when everyone was at their best!) - click here to see the team photos so far. For those who still need to add their "portraits", you can either send them to me and I will add them in, or contact Guy for login details and instructions for the flickr site (I am also new to this, so best to consult with the expert!).

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations to Guy and Sarah on their engagement on 23 December! We were very excited to hear the news and wish you two all the best! Good luck with all the wedding planning :)

Sail Away....

Greetings fellow Windies Tor members...

It is with great excitement that I introduce to you what we're "really" heading to the caribbean for....sipping rum punches whilest sailing to unhabited islands, snorkeling in crystal clear waters and sipping more rum punch and and....

for those who have not done any searching about sailing trips in Bequia here's some info i've got to wet those taste buds. I have been in contact with the friendship rose saliing schooner, who have indicated that there are spaces availible for the time we are in bequia so let me know who is keen and i'll book you spots!!

Here goes...



More info on various trips you can do on this yacht...



(if you can't see this...please let me know and i'll e-mail all the info)

For information on other land and sea activities visit: www.SailRelaxExplore.com

The fast method with Fantasea Tours www.fantaseatours.com i.e. fast speedboat, takes about 18, rum punch etc. Lots of snorkelling in the Tobago Cays (fantastic coral reef in Southern Grenadines) and lunch (extra but not expensive) afterwards at Salt Whistle Bay on Mayreau. Although based in St Vincent, they will pick you up from Port Elizabeth and will take about 1.5 hours to get down to the Cays. Cost about US $ 80 per person at the last count. Need to be flexible on times so you can choose a day when there is a nice smooth passage (calm).

Or with Sail Relax and Explore... Catamaran Cruises, this could work well with our group size, they could tailor a private cruise from Bequia to one of the small surrounding islands, to Mustique, or St Vincent!! This would normally have a minimum number of passengers requirement. Website said about $60US...

Other websites of interest are:

www.caribbeanfunours.com
www.barbados.org

Ok so that's all my info for now....should give you enough reading and get you VERY VERY VERY excited!!! Cause I sure am :)

And this is my 1st blog...so i is also very excited for that :)

So much of excitement everywhere...

Warm up to the Windies

The traditional boxing day test in Durban turned out to be a bit of a warm up session for the Windies, with 9 of the team members in attendance. Replace the draft with rum, put on some suntan cream, add a few more team members and off we go!!! To have a look at some photos of the boxing day festivities, click here

Baggage restrictions

Whilst online, thought I'd add about baggage restrictions (courtesy of TtW):

I have heard back from the Charter Company and they say to allow a maximum of 20kilos per person. You have a very small margin to go over but it is not advised. The plane normally seats 18 but your party is 16.

They will accept very small sensible hand luggage items, this is because there is not overhead storage and the space under the seats is limited.

So I guess the message to all is to pack light!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I almost forgot! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year West Indies Tor members!!! The year of 2007 has finally arrived and by the vibe I got back home, everyone is well up for the tour!! I like. Can't wait. Move away the freezing cold, driving sleet and bring on the sun and sand.

Photo's up!

Its been too long since I posted! Apologies, but 2006 ended with quite a bang, and quite frankly, I had some other stuff to do...... :)

I have uploaded two photo's from the Boxing day test. Click here to check them out!

I have opened a Flickr account for all to use, so if you have photo's of the 'tor' party, or cricket stuff, then let me know and I will forward the login details. Hopefully, we can get plenty photo's up. Also, if anyone is keen to blog on the website, then let me know and I'll send you login details for this site as well. The more the merrier!! Sally, I thinking specifically of that article you scanned.....