Monday September 17, 2012. 14:40
Well ,I’m here! In the waiting room…waiting. The flight is a bit delayed apparently because boarding time was at 2:15 ant its 2:40 (I hope I’m in the right place). I still feel very anxious and nervous, not about the flying but about the whole getting in the country, not having my bags lost, you know…all that annoying airport stuff which is simply annoying to deal with.
I still don’t know the dates of what I’ll be doing but I certainly have things in mind I definitely want to do! Diving..for sure! I’m planning to hike Drakensberg which seems AMAZING (even though I’m a bit scared of the actual hiking, mainly because I don’t want to feel like I’m the one lagging behind and I probably will be). I have my month at Thanda which I’m super excited about, still not sure if I’ll be able to go Oct-Nov instead of Nov-Dec (hopefully I will be). I’m also planning on doing the Baz Bus from Joh-Cape Town or Joh-Port Elizabeth, it all depends on dates basically.
Monday September 17, 2012. 15:50
Im flying! The sun is out, it’s a beautiful day, blue sky, little clouds. I honestly tried not to be scared, I really wasn’t…until the plane started to go through the runway, and those initial 10 minutes are just not my favorite time of the day. Luckily its been a smooth ride so far – FUCK, seriously?! I just typed that and in less than 10 seconds the plane starts shaking…I’m freaking out here, I really don’t like the shaking – it isn’t like the time I got my crazy on, but it would still be nice to be able to squeeze someone’s hand at least! Ugh…it wont stop! Ok…it seems to be calming down a bit.
Honestly I am so tired I can’t even write much…I slept like 3-4 hours last night and I’ve been waking up at 2, 3 and 4 am for over a week to check my email because that’s the time I get S.A emails. So far, its all going good…again, I’m nervous about the whole immigrations process, its really isn’t fun for me and I wish the world didn’t have all these borders (for that we would need the world to be in peace and well, sadly history has showed us that is impossible…so far!)
I’m hungry, ate an early lunch and was way too nervous to eat before getting on so now I think im gonna have to pay $4 for a bag of potato chips (que robo!).
The pilot just spoke, if im not mistaken I land at 8pm in Miami which is not too good seeing as my plane leaves at 9 and I have to go through customs AND immigration! I hope It’ll be fast and I have enough time to buy some FOOD before hopping on.
K, goodnighty for now! Nap time!
Monday September 17, 2012. 21:45
Im on my way to Washington Dulles! Miami airport wasn’t that bad, the people were actually very nice…the immigation officer was extra chatty which was nice when you talked to him but it was a serious pain having to wait for him to get through everyone in line because it took forever! It’s also so different once you have to check in to domestic flights, airport security is seriously stressful…the lines are not only long (that is something you can deal with) but its just they make you take all kinds of things out of your bag, your shoes and then rush you out so I clearly almost left my laptop which would have been AWFUL.
I think part of the lesson I’m supposed to learn from this whole experience is patience…and letting go of things. My visa didn’t get here on time, I had to cancel one of my programs, my flight was late, and then I had to wait more than anyone else in line during immigration. I’m all for learning things but I just hope I don’t get a crazy lesson tomorrow on my way to Johannesburg.
I didn’t get much sleep my past flight and had like 15min to connect flights after immigration, customs, security and then getting to gate so I could only eat half of a very expensive sandwich and now my eyes are like on fire! Not sleeping is not good…
Tuesday, September 18 2012. 1:21 am
I made it! Remind me never again to get a shuttle so late at night, I had to wait for 45 min before we left! Next time, I rather pay more but get some sleep! G’night!!