What A Surprise! Our Sneaky Night Away In Cape Town

You’d think after being together for about 13 years that I’d know when Seth was up to something.

Turns out that I don’t.  Like not even a little bit.

I think what threw me off is that he has never – in the history of our lives together – done anything like this.  Like never ever.  So even when his Mom accidentally slipped up and mentioned that the kids were sleeping over that night, I just assumed that we were going on a date night.  But one that I didn’t have to plan.

So when I got this…

Oh. MY. Gersh! You guys. Seth just surprised me with the best thing ever!! A night away at the Taj in Cape Town with a full body massage and who even knows what’s next! The surpises just keep coming. (Swipe left to see more pixs) (More as it happens on twitter @cindyalfino)

A post shared by Cindy Alfino (@cindyalfino) on Feb 24, 2017 at 9:35am PST

All I can say is that the shrill scream of delight that escaped my lips caused the dogs and the children to come running.  They were heavily concerned.  And so was I.  I mean, was this really my husband?  Had someone smashed him on the head and he was momentarily confused about life?  Or was it something more sinister – had he been body snatched by a morantic alien?!  The options were literally endless.

But as it turns out, Seth was of sound mind and had planned a brilliant surprise for me.  Completely unusual but absolutely freaking wonderful indeed.  The reasons are varied – a belated Valentine’s (which we never really celebrate), our upcoming 10 year wedding anniversary in March (the 21st) and a few successes at work.  But who needs a reason?!

It was a bit of a crazy afternoon.  Making sure that I backed, I mean packed everything and then also having Knox’s teacher pop in for a home visit.  I had to basically push her out the door so that I could drop the kids at Ga before getting back in time for my driver to fetch me.  Which as it turns out was in a fancy Uber Black Merc.  He picked me up at 3.30pm sharp (I JUST made it back in time) and we headed to Seth’s office in town.

This is how happy I was:

I’m never surprised.  Never.  But I was today because as we were driving around Town we ended up in front of The Taj in Cape Town.  I couldn’t believe it.  But we got out and had our vehicle parked in their parking for us before going up to our room.  Which was massive.  It had a kitchen and a lounge and a king size bed.  It was so big that it was bigger than our first apartment when we got married 10 years ago (our very “sweet” little 36m2 bachelor flat).

Guys, the TV even said welcome Mr Alfino.  Like what the what?  Is this how rich people live?  I don’t think I could ever get used to this.

Anyway, we had a squiz around the hotel before heading for a couples massage in their spa area.  Yup, that’s right!  A couples full body massage for an hour, followed by Champagne (yes, like the real stuff – probably the cheapest bottle but still) and a rose petal bath.  It was so indulgent, relaxing and just freaking wonderful.  I’m sorry to harp on about this, but really.  Wow.

Then we went for supper at the resident fancy Indian restaurant.  Because we were at the Taj and when at the Taj, one must have Indian food.  There were pre-starters (a potato and spiced yoghurt ball thing), followed by our real starter (lamb, kingklip, prawns and chicken), a smoking palette cleanser (mango sorbet) and then we had the lamb breyani and chicken masala with garlic naan.  Wow.  Just wow.  It’s easily the best Indian food that we have ever had.  Easily.  It was so full of flavour and just delicious.

But also wow…

That Indian food we had last night was easily the best we’ve ever had. But flip, it’s not letting us forget it… if you know what I mean ??

— Cindy Alfino (@CindyAlfino) February 25, 2017

The next morning we were woken up with our breakfast being delivered to our room.  An what a breakfast it was.  You could literally order anything you wanted.  I’m sure of it.

But then it was time to leave.  Which was sad.  There an hour to spare before we had to fetch the kids, so we went to Honest Chocolate which I have been dying to go to for like, ever.  They do real dark chocolate without the dairy and the sugar!  Sounds too good to be enjoyable right?  Nope.  It was amazing!  In the spirit of over-indulgence we tried the gluten and dairy free banana cake which is topped with vegan ice cream and melted chocolate and served with nuts.

Oh.  My.  Goodness…

We also bought a few truffles which we’ve hidden away to enjoy this evening.  I’m already looking forward to it!

So that my friends, is that.

I’m sorry if this has made you hate me in any way.  You know that this is obviously not my intention right?  I’m still laughing at one comment about how Seth had ruined the entire weekend for every other husband.  I did think about not sharing it, but I want to be able to look back on this in 10 years from now and remember what’s possible.

Also, Seth if you’re reading this – you’ve set yourself a precedent now.  Next year is a hotel IN India m’kay?!

For those of y’all who aren’t on Twitter – this is the thread of the evening as it happened.  (You have to click on the image and then it will open in Twitter and you can read all the tweets in the order as you scroll down)  

(Or better yet, you can just follow me on Twitter so that you don’t miss out next time

When your husband sends you a message like this and he has never, ever done anything like this before… ? pic.twitter.com/1NH4okKfjL

— Cindy Alfino (@CindyAlfino) February 24, 2017