Greetings from Cape Town!

            Hello from South Africa everybody! I’m writing this blog post from my bunk here at Atlantic Point, the same hostel I stayed at last time I was in Cape Town. I got in at about ten o’clock last night, after traveling for more than 24 straight hours from San Antonio. The first flight, to Atlanta, was a breeze as it usually is. I’ve flown through the Atlanta airport multiple times in the last few years, but I always forget how huge that airport is. Thankfully, with the help of the rail that runs through the place, I got to my gate with time to spare. Then the real fun began!

            The last time I flew from Atlanta to Johannesburg, I’m pretty sure the flight was completely booked up. This one definitely wasn’t. Thankfully, there was an empty seat right next to me. I was in the aisle seat, which I had wanted, so the girl at the window seat and I shared the extra space in between us. Because I was able to spread out a bit more, I think I did get a little bit of sleep on that fifteen and a half hour flight. That, plus Delta’s in flight entertainment options, helped those hours pass bearably. The only issue was the flight actually ended up being about twenty minutes late getting to Johannesburg. My layover was already only an hour and a half, so I was cutting it close! I’ve never missed a flight in my life, but last night I came pretty close. I found myself literally running through the Johannesburg airport, unsure if I would get to my gate in time. Thankfully, with the help of a porter, I made it just in time.

            When I got seated on the last flight, I noticed something- the smell. I hadn’t noticed it on my first trip here, but South Africa has a smell! I’ve heard that smell is the sense most closely related to memory, and as I breathed in the South African air, a million memories rushed back to me.

            That last flight was also really easy, and shortly after nine o’ clock last night, I touched down in Cape Town. I had no trouble meeting up with the airport transfer I set up, and soon enough, I was coasting down Nelson Mandela Boulevard (I think every city in South Africa has one of those), headed to my hostel. After checking in, getting a quick tour around, dropping my bags, and taking a quick shower, I was ready to go to bed. Ten at night South Africa time is two in the afternoon San Antonio time, but after getting very little sleep the previous night, I was ready to pass out! When I woke up this morning, my body was on South Africa time.

            So far this morning I’ve had the complimentary breakfast here at Atlantic Point (while chatting with two other travelers from Holland), and explored the hostel a bit more. I’m heading out in a bit to catch my tour of Robben Island, but wanted to type up this blog post first. I’m sure I’ll make another post about this tour tomorrow, or maybe even later today- two blog posts in a day, think of that! I’m so happy to be back in Africa! This post’s food for thought: “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.”- Freya Stark

Leaving on a Jet Plane

            Today is my last full day in the US for nearly two months. It’s been a very busy week full of making sure I have everything I need, doing some last minute planning, and seeing friends and family before heading out. Everything I’m bringing to Africa with me is spread out on the extra bed in my house, and I’ll be looking over it one more time before actually putting it all into my bag. I think I have enough experience travelling now that I’ve officially mastered the art of not overpacking. Elizabeth in 2013 would bring seven shirts and six pairs of shorts for a five day long trip, while 2017 Elizabeth feels like five shirts and four pairs of shorts should be just fine for seven weeks. One thing I love about travel is that it makes you quite a minimalist- there’s something very freeing about knowing that nearly two months of your life can be carried on your back quite easily! At the same time, I’ll be leaving for this trip in less than 24 hours, and I haven’t actually packed up my stuff yet. I’m not sure if traveling more makes me more experienced, or more of a rookie!

            I’m trying to think back on how I felt the day before I left for my first trip to Africa and comparing it to how I feel today. I just read over the blog post I made before I left in 2015, and it reminded me how little experience I’d had traveling solo up to that point. Before that trip, I’d been on two flights by myself. Now I’ve been on twelve. That was my first trip out of the country. This is my third. At that time, I had no stamps in my passport. Now I have eight, plus my Bolivia tourist visa. Needless to say, I’ve experienced a lot between May 2015 and February 2017. On one side of things, I think that no matter how much someone travels, there’s probably no trip quite like the first one. At the same time, it’s nice that I now know things that I didn’t know on that first trip; I’ve become a lot wiser. It’s nice that I already have some South African money in my wallet that I preordered from my bank, where I got a much better exchange rate than I would’ve if I’d used an exchange booth at the airport, like I did last time. It’s also nice to know what to expect of the sixteen-hour flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, and I’m glad that I now know little tricks to make those hours more bearable. I know which type of porter to use in the Johannesburg airport and how much to tip them, I know where in the Cape Town airport to find my airport transfer to the hostel, I now have a better understanding of Afrikaans and the South African accent. These are mostly little things, but they still make me feel more relaxed and confident than I probably did before my first trip to Africa. After months of working, saving, and planning, I’m so ready to get out of the US and board that flight back to the beautiful country of South Africa, even if it means being stuck in a tube up in the air over the ocean for sixteen hours.

            Tonight I’ll enjoy my last real American meal, followed by my last night with my own bedroom (and bathroom) for nearly two months. I’ve been dreaming of this trip ever since I left Africa about eighteen months ago, and tomorrow it’s finally happening. The next blog post I make will probably be from my hostel in Cape Town. Bye for now, US. See you very soon, South Africa! This post’s food for thought: “One does not discover new lands without consenting to lost sight of the shore for a very long time.”-Andre Gide

My South African Itinerary!

Cape Town! 

            Well, seeing as how I’m leaving for Africa in less than a week now, I figured it was time to write up a blog post of my itinerary! As someone with a serious case of the travel bug, staying in one place for a long time makes me pretty crazy, and I’m ready to satisfy my itchy feet and jump on that flight back to Cape Town! So here’s a rough outline of what my next couple of months will look like:

            Next Wednesday, February 22nd, I’ll be flying from San Antonio to Atlanta. After about a two and a half hour layover, I’ll be boarding another plane at 7:15 pm Atlanta time (6:15 San Antonio time). That flight is the roughest of the three, lasting fifteen and a half hours. I’ll arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa, on February 23rd at 5:30 pm their time (9:30 am San Antonio time- South Africa is eight hours ahead). After another two-hour layover, I’ll board the final flight, from Johannesburg to the beautiful city of Cape Town. I’m due to arrive there at 9:15 the night of the 23rd, and I’ve already arranged an airport transfer to take me from the airport to my hostel. Finally, after pretty much a full 24 hours of traveling, I’ll be spending the night of the 23rd at Atlantic Point, the same hostel I stayed at the last time I was in Cape Town.

            I purposely arranged this trip so I could have a few days to hang out in Cape Town before starting at White Shark Projects since there’s so much to do in that city. On the morning of the 24th, my first full day there, I’ve planned a tour of Robben Island, which I did briefly visit on my last trip, but I don’t think I really did it justice. I won’t go into too much detail on it here, since that’s a blog post in and of itself, but basically, Robben Island is the location of the prison that Nelson Mandela was kept in for the majority of his sentence. They’ve since turned it into a museum, and it’s a pretty humbling place to visit.

            That tour is the only thing I have set in stone so far for those four free days that I’ll have in Cape Town. I have ideas of what to do on the other days, but I think I’ll wait to say exactly what I have in mind- don’t want to spoil anything!

            On February 28th, I’ll be picked up by White Shark Projects from Atlantic Point and driven down to Kleinbaai, where I’ll be living and working for the next six weeks with the project. My final day with the project will be April 14^th, when I’ll be driven back up to Cape Town. The following day I’ll fly out and, after another 24 hours of travel, I’ll arrive back home in San Antonio on April 16th- just in time to spend my 24th birthday recovering from jet lag!

            The next few days will be very busy getting everything packed and sorted out, and saying bye to friends and family, but I’m sure I’ll find time for at least one more blog post before I fly out on Wednesday. This post’s food for thought: “There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.”- Charles Dudley Warner

Travel Myths

            In the past few years, since I’ve discovered my passion for travel, I’ve heard a lot of people’s different opinions of travel. It seems that I’ve especially heard opinions about my type of travel- I travel solo, for weeks or even months at a time, sometimes in the third world, sometimes in countries that have a native language that I don’t speak, etc. As I’ve heard more and more people tell me what they think about that kind of travel, I’ve learned that there are a lot of myths and misconceptions out there. So, since a lot of those myths are rather annoying, and since I like doing these list-style blog posts, I’m going to try to bust a few travel myths. Here we go:

            Myth 1: You have to be rich to travel

            I very regularly hear people tell me that they can’t travel like me because they don’t have enough money. Let me say, the very large majority of the cost of this upcoming trip was paid for by me. And I haven’t won the lottery, nor have I just inherited a large sum of money. I paid off this trip simply by working and prioritizing travel. What I mean by that last part is simple: for example, I have a friend at work whom I swear goes to the movies at least once a week. It seems like every time I get on Facebook, I see a post that he’s at the movies. I recently said to him, “you know, if you waited until movies were out on Redbox for a dollar instead of spending twenty dollars to see them in the theater, you could end up saving a lot of money to take a vacation!” His response was that he really hadn’t thought of that before. That’s just how my mind works. I’m certainly not rich, but I prioritize travel in the decisions that I make because travel is one of my favorite things in the world.

            Myth 2: You have to be fearless to travel solo

            When I explain my travels to people, I very regularly get told that I’m fearless in response. Sometimes I’ll hear the word brave instead, which I like a lot more. Let me say loud and clear, brave and fearless are two different things. In the words of Nelson Mandela, “Courage isn’t the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” Trust me, I have just as many fears as the next person (don’t even get me started on the terrors that are clowns and dolls). Getting on that plane to the other side of the world, leaving home behind for months, being thousands of miles from anyone I know, can all be scary feelings. But going out and doing something that scares you is one of the most satisfying, fulfilling things that you can do. So I follow the advice of Eleanor Roosevelt: “Do one thing every day that scares you.”

            Myth 3: Traveling solo means you’ll be alone most of the time

            News flash everyone: there are people all over the world! Just because I’m not going with anyone I know on this trip doesn’t mean I’ll actually be alone. I stay in hostels, which are great places to meet people, occasionally I take group tours, and I volunteer abroad, which definitely helps me meet people- I can’t wait to be reunited with my fellow White Shark Projects volunteers! We only knew each other for a few weeks, but we became best friends in that time! I’m so happy that some of us are coming back to work together again. In fact, solo travel is a great experience for introverted, shy people, because it almost forces you to go out and talk to people. That’s one reason I like staying in hostels, because they provide the kind of environment where it’s okay to just go sit next to a stranger at breakfast and strike up a conversation.

            Myth 4: Solo travel is too risky (especially for girls)

            I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard someone say to me, “girls shouldn’t travel alone”, or something to that effect. This is the biggest travel myth that I’ve ever heard. So, time for some real talk everyone. My response to everyone that’s ever said that to me: your comments didn’t discourage me. They didn’t scare me. They didn’t make me question traveling solo. Traveling alone is one of the most empowering, eye-opening, fun things I’ve ever done in my life. Your ignorant, rude comments simply made me feel sad. Not sad for myself, not sad for you. Your comments made me feel sad for all the other girls you have and will encounter in your life. All the girls who might not be as brave, strong, or flat-out stubborn as I am. When those girls encounter your narrow-minded, misogynistic opinions, they might not see them as a challenge, as something to be proven wrong, like I do. Instead, they might see your opinions as instructions, as advice that they should actually follow. Your comments made me sad for the girls with big dreams that would let incredible, life-changing opportunities pass them by, instead of reaching out and grabbing them because you told them girls shouldn’t.

            There are certainly other travel myths out there, but these were the first few that popped into my mind, and I think this post is plenty long enough. I absolutely loved writing this blog post! See you in 24 days, South Africa! This post’s food for thought: “Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart you were meant to do.” H Jackson Brown, Jr.  

Booking Flights, Hostels, and Tours (oh my?)

            In the few weeks since my last blog post, I’ve done a lot more planning and booking of my trip to South Africa, which is coming up in less than a month now! I’m so happy to finally have my flights booked and paid for! That was the main thing that was still hanging over my head ever since I finished paying my costs of White Shark Projects, which was back in October. A couple of weeks ago I used the assistance of a travel agent for the time in my life and got my round trip flights to Africa booked and paid off. Thankfully, I was able to use the same route with the same airline that I used in 2015. The 24 hours of travel time between here and Cape Town is always rough (especially the 16 hour flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg), but I’ve survived it twice already, so I think I can handle it again. Thankfully at this point I’ve had enough experience maneuvering airports by myself that I don’t feel nervous about missing connections, nor do I feel the need to give myself four-hour layovers. I also like flying with Delta- the super long flight is never pleasant of course, but I feel like Delta, in my experience, has done a pretty good job of making it at least bearable. South African Airways, with which I’ve booked the flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town, I’ve also never had trouble with- not to mention the porters in the Johannesburg airport are super helpful!

            I decided that on this trip, I wanted to go a few days early so I could have some more time to spend in Cape Town, my favorite city in the world. I feel like there’s a lot of that city that I didn’t get to see on my last trip. So I will be arriving in Cape Town on the night of February 23^rd, and starting at White Shark Projects on February 28^th, giving me four whole days to spend exploring Cape Town. I’m so excited to also be returning to Atlantic Point, the beautiful little hostel that I stayed at in May and June of 2015- my deposit for my stay is already in! I spent my first night in Africa at Atlantic Point, and it’s a great place to stay! Not only is it very clean and friendly, but it’s also a ten minute walk from the V&A Waterfront, which is one of the best areas of Cape Town to hang out. I remember walking around that area in 2015, and whether I was by myself or with other travelers, I never felt unsafe. I also just booked a tour of Robben Island, a very important area in terms of South Africa’s history, on February 24^th, and the ferry takes off right from the waterfront- no need to schedule a taxi!

            Now that all the big stuff is taken care of (project costs, flights, hostel, etc.), I’m basically just playing the waiting game the next few weeks. It’s 26 days until I leave (yes, I’m counting down), and I have a feeling those days are going to drag. Thankfully I’m still working up until just a few days before I leave so I can have as much extra money as possible, which also makes the time pass a little faster. Anticipation is a fun part of traveling, but it can get annoying, since I’m already so ready to check out of reality and jump on that flight to Cape Town.

            South Africa, I love you so much, I’ve missed you like crazy, and I can’t wait to be back swimming with those gorgeous great white sharks, walking around the V&A Waterfront, and drinking Castle beer. See you in a few weeks. This post’s food for thought: “She is free in her wildness, she is a wanderess, a drop of free water. She knows nothing of borders and cares nothing for rules or customs. ‘Time’ for her isn’t something to fight against. Her life flows clean, with passion, like fresh water.”- Roman Payne