Epic KRUGER SHALATI

The Train on the Bridge in the Kruger is pure romance. Even for midsters

- VANESSA RAPHAELY

How does a middle-aged couple find romance?

You know the deal. You’ve been married forever. Your idea of sexy is him doing the dishes. Or even sexier: him vacuuming the floors. Your idea of hot is a hot flush. Your idea of a lovely dirty weekend is being left alone, in blissful peace and quiet, to get to grips with the bulbs in your garden. It can’t just be me who feels this way. A serious intervention, obviously, is required! I don’t know about you, but when I think of romance these days, I think about… escape.

I don't mean escape from my husband; let me just make that clear. He’s quite nice. I’m rather fond of him and am perfectly happy for us to hang around together for a few more hundred years. But, after approximately 3000 years of marriage, who in their right mind wants ‘same, same’ when thinking about romance?

Not me. My idea of romance, at 45-plus, is to get away: from the kids, the dogs, the daily grind, the routine, the dishes and… bloody load-shedding! But escaping together – that’s the secret. Long-married couples, every now and then (in order to not murder each other and star in their very own CSI series), need to spice it up. This is an undeniable fact of middle age.

We midsters need to think bigger than a box of Woolies chocolates and an Engenbought bouquet of flowers. And a weekend in the bush is a good place to start.