So part of the flight is actually getting to the airport and getting on the plane – this part was the worst. I woke up early Wednesday morning, showered and did the final bit of packing that I needed to do. We left home around 9:30 am and headed toward Charleston after saying goodbye to Granny and Papa at my house. Tyson (my boyfriend), my mom, my dad, and my brother were all planning to drive down to Charleston. However, they wanted to take two cars – this decision was mostly Tyson’s because he knew he would be upset once he left the airport and would want to be by himself. This made it quite awkward for me though because I had to choose which car to ride in. I decided to ride the first half of the way with Tyson and I switched to my family’s car in McClellanville. We arrived in Charleston and went to one of my favorite restaurants for lunch – Jim N Nicks. It was great. Halfway through lunch it finally hit me – I would be leaving the country for nearly a year in just a few hours. The feeling and realization consumed me completely. I looked at Tyson and he knew immediately what had just happened. He hugged me and I laid my head on his shoulder. I also completely lost my appetite, my nerves had taken over. Tyson was wonderful, though, and said some sort of joke to make me laugh and I was calmed a bit and continued eating. Shortly after lunch and a final trip to the ATM for some spending cash, we went to the airport. My bags were just a little heavy and I had to reorganize some things and put some stuff in my carryon bags. This was a pain because my carryon bags became quite heavy. The man at the counter was nice and let me slide with a few pounds over because he saw what trouble I was having and the stress of the situation with my family and everyone there. We got to the security checkpoint and were a little early and the plane would be a bit late, so we just sort of sat there. It was terrible, like waiting for an inevitable pain to arrive. It was weird for me because on one hand I was sad about leaving everyone and nervous about being in another country for a year, but on the other I was so excited and ready for a new experience. This was an emotion, or rather mix of emotions, that I was feeling for a while, but it was so difficult to share. Everyone at home was mostly sad that I was leaving, so it was difficult to share how excited I have been for a while. Anyway, I decided it would be a good idea to head toward the terminal. I got in line, hugged everyone. Tyson left first, teary-eyed and sad. My parents and brother stayed to watch the plane take off. The hardest part of the whole thing was watching my 9-year-old little brother cry. It was very sad – I expected everyone else to cry and to be emotional and sad, but not him – not in the same way. I am very close to my little brother and being away from him will be very difficult. I went through security and it took quite a while because I was carrying on some electronics and had to separate everything.
I boarded the plane and sat next to a nice German man. The interesting thing, though, is that I didn’t get his name – do you ever notice that? You will have a nice long conversation with someone on a plane or out somewhere and you never actually exchange names? Anyway, he assured me that I would love Cape Town and that the food and wine there are even better than France! How nice!
I got to the DC airport from Charleston and thought that I would have more time. I forgot that international flights board so much earlier than domestic flights. I made some last phone calls to friends and family and boarded the looooong flight to Johannesburg, by way of Dakar, Senegal. The flight was on South African Airways, quite nice! I now know why SAA is Laura’s favorite airline. It was wonderful, except that it was so long. I asked one of the flight attendants before boarding if I would need any money and if food was served on board. She assured me that I would be well taken care of and didn’t need any money. About an hour after boarding, we were served drinks and dinner. The drinks came first and the guy in the seat next to me suggested an appletiser (a south African soda beverage with fruit juice – they have them all sorts of fruit flavors, so far I’ve only tried the apple one). I also got a glass of wine. The dinner and the drinks were quite good, especially for plane food. We landed in Dakar, Senegal after about 8 hours. We were not permitted to get off of the plane. Some passengers got off and some got on. We sat on the plane for an hour while it refueled. The plane was open, which was weird and mosquitoes flew around inside. This next stretch of the flight is when I got the most sleep. I was woken for breakfast, which was decent. I was pretty impressed throughout the flights of the quality of the service and food.
On this flight, I made two friends – Chris and Dillon. Chris’s parents are from South Africa and he was born there, but currently lives in the states. He was going for a short vacation. Dillon is doing some volunteer work with an HIV/AIDS org as part of a gap year before college.
When we landed in Johannesburg we had to go through customs, which was basically walking past a guard and stopping if they asked you to. They didn’t ask me to. Oh and the drug dog was a small beagle or something and looked like a puppy – a far cry from the German Shepherds and big dogs we use to intimidate people in the states. Before catching the next flight, I was able to call home and speak to Tyson, Granny, and my parents. They were quick calls, but enough to assure everyone that I was safe. The next flight was fairly short compared to the previous flights, only 2 hours. It included meal and drink service (unlike my similar time flight from Charleston to DC).
When I arrived in Cape Town (about 10:00 pm local time) it took a little while to collect all of my bags and load them onto the carts. I walked out of the baggage area and a man approached me and called me by name – it was Tony, my Rotary host counselor. He said he knew it was me because of all the bags I had. He was very nice and drove me to the flat that I will be staying in for a few days. It’s available for just over a week, so I hope I find a more permanent place before the permanent residents get back in town. If not, there is another person in Tony’s Rotary club that will let me stay with them. The flat is quite nice and is in an area of Cape Town called Green Point – if any of you know anything about the World Cup stadium here – it’s very close to that. I am also very close to the V & A Waterfront – a popular tourist area and big mall. That’s all for now.
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