Greetings
from Africa, everybody! I’m writing this post from my bed at Atlantic Point
Backpackers in Cape Town! The past 26 hours or so have been pretty insane.
Going through every little detail would take all night, so here’s the short
version: the flight from San Antonio to Atlanta was a breeze. I got through
security without any problems at all. At first I was worried that my flight
might be delayed since it was raining, but we took off right on time! There was
a bit of turbulence right after takeoff, but after we climbed over it the
flight was smooth almost the whole way. Then came the real fun…
The Atlanta
airport is huge, but thanks to the train they have going through it, I made it
all the way across the place in about fifteen minutes. After getting a snack
and making a few last calls to friends and family, I boarded the fifteen-hour
flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg. It was by far the biggest plane I’ve ever
been on. Each row had a total of nine seats, and there had to be close to sixty
rows total. It looked like the plane was full too I sat between two guys, one
that was about my age and was from North Carolina. He said it was his first
time flying internationally too. The guy on the other side of me was older than
us, and said he traveled all the time- He went to South Africa alone about six
times a year, and also regularly traveled to Southeast Asia, Australia and New
Zealand, and more. Thankfully, he knew getting up to walk around and stretch
pretty regularly was the best way to deal with being on these long flights, and
we followed his lead. I think I got a total of maybe two hours of sleep, at the
most, the entire time we were on the plane. After what seemed like forever, we
finally landed in Johannesburg. Being at that airport was another part of the
trip that I was a bit worried about, since I didn’t know my way around, I knew
it was big, and I needed to print out my boarding pass for the flight to Cape
Town and pick up my checked suitcase to move from one airline to the other. I
also hoped I could find some time to exchange some US cash for South African
rand, which I was able to do quite easily (South African money is beautiful, by
the way). When I got my checked bag I walked out to the main area of the
airport, not really sure exactly where to go next. Thanks to a very helpful
porter that stepped in to assist, though, I got my boarding pass printed out,
got through customs, got my bag checked, and found my gate for the Cape Town
flight in less than half an hour. While waiting at the gate I started talking
to a nice older couple, who said they were originally from Manchester, but had
retired to Cape Town a few years ago. We ended up sitting next to each other on
the plane. The two-hour plane ride from Johannesburg to Cape Town felt
incredibly easy compared to the previous one. The couple asked me if I had
transportation from the airport to my hostel, and even when I told them that
I’d already planned an airport transfer, they made sure that I found the guy
that was transferring me over to the hostel before saying goodbye to me. One
thing I’ve learned today that’s a benefit of traveling by yourself- people tend
to be more willing to help you.
So, here I
am, finally in a comfortable place, at my hostel here in Cape Town. I get
picked up here early tomorrow morning by the shark project, which will bring me
through to Gansbaai to begin working with them. I could definitely make this
post longer and more detailed if I wanted to, but I haven’t had a really restful
sleep in over 30 hours, so I’m going to call it a night (even though it’s still
only mid afternoon San Antonio time). This post’s food for thought: “There is
no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.”- Charles
Dudley Warner
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