Well, I can’t say that I’m having fun yet. It’s been more of a comedy of errors, without the comedy.

I started off well enough in Baltimore. The security lines were short, and I was prepared - shoes, belt, and jacket off, laptop out of the bag. I was at the gate very early and kicked back to enjoy a coffee. That’s when the enjoyment stopped.

My first leg of the trip was to Atlanta, but before we even hit the runway, the captain came on the speaker saying that the tower had to evacuate because of a fire alarm.

Now, it was a false alarm, but we were delayed a good 45 minutes.

That meant I had to run to my gate to catch my 3:50pm flight… and wouldn’t you know, the international terminal is on the other side of the airport. I think I need to exercise more, cause I was really out of breath. And I was worried that my bag wouldn’t make it.

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Tomorrow, I leave for South Africa. I’ve got an interesting itinerary lined up, and a couple surprise “cancellations” along the way, which I’ll tell you about as I go along. Here was my general itinerary:

April 1 - Flight to Johannesburg; Arrive @ 4:40 p.m. on April 2
April 2 - Zurich Club Chapter Meeting – MoneyWeek SA, local university
April 3 - Lunch Meeting with MoneyWeek SA
April 4 - Flight to Cape Town; Arrive @ 2:10 p.m.
April 5 - Tour of Cape Town
April 6 - Flight to Port Elizabeth; Arrive @ 10:20 a.m.; Lunch with VIP Subscriber F.S.; Return to Johannesburg @ 6:55 p.m.
April 7 - Will arrange a tour through the hotel, perhaps to Pilanesberg Game Reserve (90 min. north of Johannesburg)
April 8 - Flight home; Arrive @ 11:53 a.m. on April 9

I’m having lunch with one of our very own Taipan VIP Inner Circle subscribers, F.S. He’s lived in the country for 30 years, and he had this to say in a response to one of my Taipan Insider articles…

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I’ve been writing about Central and Eastern Europe a little bit recently for Taipan Insider, and I decided to take a trip down memory lane.

As you know, on my trips, I take a lot of pictures. Sometimes it’s hard to share them all with you, so we’ve created a Flickr account to post them all… Well, most of them, anyway. I’ve still got some photos from my trip to Vietnam and Singapore, and from Spain and Morocco to post, but you can find my Eastern Europe trip and my South America trip already posted.

I’ll also be taking the video camera and digital camera to South Africa, which is my next trip early next month. Like trip South America trip I’ll be compiling an in-depth investment video for you, but don’t forget to check out any photos on the Flickr site.

And feel free to send along any comments or questions! Use the form on the blog, or email me at insider@taipanpublishinggroup.com.

I had lunch with the Taipan Publishing Group’s executive publisher, Sandy Franks, today. I collaborate with Sandy on my Taipan Insider articles that come out every Tuesday and Thursday.

We talked about my next trip… I’d been considering Australia, and contributing editor Archie Bayvel has offered to help me put together some great contacts, but he said I’d have to be nuts to come visit during “The Wet.” So I’ve pushed that trip back.

In the meantime, South Africa is on my radar.

In the past few days, I’ve seen a number of negative articles about Africa:

• Botswana Diamond Firm Shuts Mines
• South Africa Sees Economy Shrink
• Zambian Miners Hit by Copper Slump
• Wilting Flower Ecports Hit Zambia
• Economic Ill Winds Hitting Africa

So my goal will be to find out how South Africa, the economic hub and biggest market south of the Sahara, is fairing. South Africa is supposed to be hosting the World Cup in 2010. That means a lot of hotel construction and infrastructure investments. I have to say, there’s been a lot of discussion about whether or not the country will be ready in time, but tickets have already gone on sale, and there’s no turning back.

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