Jeremy Cloete from the Helderberg in the Western Cape shares with iafrica.com readers six of his most memorable holidays, spent in both Africa and abroad. His story begins in heavenly Mauritius and continues to a crash course and an unexpected visit to London. Enjoy!

Mauritius: 1978
I went with an old school buddy and four female friends to Mauritius. Once there, we met up with another couple from Johannesburg. We were told they were newly-weds, but it turned out they were just cousins sharing a room. We had a great holiday ? at that time, 10 days cost us R568 including airfares, DB&B? and as of February 27, 2004, Kim and I have been married for 23 years! (The Best).

Zimbabwe: June/July 1998
We drove to Zimbabwe for three weeks with our entire family via Botswana and spending time at Bulawayo, Victoria Falls, in a fishing lodge at Msuna mouth. We also did an overnighter on the ferry on Kariba and spent a week on a farm in the highlands. We then spent a week in the Vumba Mountains at a small family hotel. To date, the kids say it was one of the best holidays they have ever experienced ? and we agree.

London: September 1998
This was an unplanned trip. My sister was getting married in Amersham just outside London. We had just spent three weeks in Zimbabwe and felt we could not get away for her wedding. However, my dad was diagnosed with cancer and asked me to please try and make the wedding to walk my sister down the aisle. We flew over for 10 days, the first four of which were spent driving around the UK.

London

We went from London to Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, Bristol, Newquay in Cornwall and then to Woodgreen, a very quaint village on the edge of the New Forest. We stayed in B&B?s on farms in the countryside (booked on the internet)which never cost us more than #20 per night ? the most outstanding value for money! Then back to Amersham for her wedding and then four days spent seeing London for the first time. We saw 'Phantom of the Opera' and 'Cats' and did all the other touristy things, including eating meals in some amazing pubs and meeting fantastic people.

UK: September 2000
Whilst on our trip to my sister?s wedding in the UK in September 1998 we passed through Stratford-upon-Avon. On the river Avon we saw some longboat barges and were quite impressed. So we flew over in Sept 2000 with our three children aged three, nine and ten along with my mother-in-law. We landed at Heathrow, caught the tube into London, changed trains three times ? all with three kids, luggage and granny in tow.

London cab
We picked up our barge at Broxbourne and spent the next 10 days seeing the countryside and finally berthed at Little Venice on the outskirts of London. The underground was two blocks away and we took the family into London for four days to do the tourist thing ? Hamley?s toy store, saw 'The Lion King' stage show, Covent Garden, London Eye and let the 'girls? ? wife, granny and two daughters ? shop till they dropped. The kids? highlight was a trip in a 'black taxi? ? a London cab to the more sophisticated.

Garden Route: every year!
Each year we camp at the Keurbooms Lagoon caravan park in Plettenberg Bay. The lagoon is a safe environment for the kids, the beaches are close by and the fishing is good. We meet up with five families who we only sometimes see once a year as they live overseas. We have travelled to other campsites in the Western Cape such as Bontebok Park at Swellendam, Algeria and Sandrift in the Cedarberg and Storms River mouth in the Eastern Cape ? but Keurbooms is still a sure bet for a great holiday and good value for money.

Victoria Falls: 2001
I tried for nine months to use Voyager miles to fly my wife and I to Victoria Falls for our 20th wedding anniversary. Eventually we secured flights on September 13, 2001 ? 2 days after 9/11! The flight left an hour late due to security and we had to circle Johannesburg International due to a thunderstorm, and we eventually boarded our Zimbabwe flight five minutes before actual departure time.

We then had to wait another half hour for other late arrivals. We landed at Victoria Falls at 4.30pm and waited for our luggage, which never materialised. We had booked into the five-star Royal Livingstone Hotel on the Zambian side and I arrived in denims and a golf shirt with my wife in similar attire. We had to purchase clothing in US dollars which at the time was at R14/$. Royal Livingstone treated us like VIP?s whilst SAA denied all responsibility. I wrote to Andre Viljoen and thanked him for messing up a belated 20th wedding anniversary, eventually after eight months we received a cheque with a letter again denying any responsibility. (The Worst).