8 March, Knysna

Today is Tom’s last day in Knysna. We bring him to Dysselsdorp where he wants to spend a few days. We will follow him on Sunday!

The day before yesterday we finally visited Tsitsikamma and the mouth of the Storms River. Tsitsikamma is a national park that contains the southernmost tropical rainforest which is located directly on the sea. It’s hot, moist but very nice. Well known is the suspension bridge over the Stormsrivier, see also the pictures. We also visited the bridge where one can make the highest bungee jumps, 211 m.

We will leave here on Sunday and then go for two days to Dysselsdorp. Tuesday we go to Cape Town where I have been tempted to rent a penthouse near the Waterfront. Here we stay until March 23rd and we will leave for the last part of the holiday together with Farrah and Niels.

Yesterday there was new development on the ING Bank front. In previous posts I already mentioned that the bank had blocked 2 of our three ATM passes, unsolicited and without notice, for foreign countries. That was a surprise to us because, due to our regular travelling, we always keep our ATM passes active for payments abroad. Anyway, this problem was relatively easily solved by what calling and email. More problematic was a, sudden, notice in November that Lisa was unknown to the bank and that therefore her ATM pass, of our joint account, was blocked. Strangely, since she had an account for 29 years with, yes, the ING bank. After some intensive contact it turned out that one had made a mistake but the ATM pass remained invalid. We can apply for a new one in the Netherlands….

Yesterday, Lisa’s ATM pass proved to be no longer working, that one of her own account. Indeed, the ING bank had sent a new ATM pass to our home address to replace this one because it was old. The old would be invalid in April. Well, and they think it is April now on March 7, right?

Contact with the bank can only be through Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter. Complaints may also be submitted by telephone.

I think they, after almost 40 years, loose a customer. A sincere advice for anyone who is travelling for a long time, take extra ATM passes with you. and double this number!