We Made It!

    Well, wow. I can’t say that I ever want to make that trip again! Picked up Kristen, a friend that was traveling with me, on Saturday night and headed home to repack and finalize some last things. Then we were off to the airport bright and early Sunday morning! (Left around 5:30am). We were able to reshuffle everything to make them the correct weights and get bags checked in. Goodbyes took a little while, sad moments of departure :’(  Then Kristen and I were off to go through security and through to the gate! No glitches and we were there in plenty of time to go to the bathroom and wait for our flight to be called.

     The Dulles to JFK (New York) flight was surprisingly small! I guess I understand because most people would just drive that distance, and it was only about a one hour flight. All went smoothly, then we disembarked at JFK in the rain and ran in to find where the South African Airways flight would take off. Luckily we were able to check our bags all the way through (and they made it!) So we just had to take the tram thing to get to the right terminal. Not too difficult, all-in-all, and again, made it in perfect time to take a bathroom break and get some money.

    Boarded the South African Flight hoping I would have an aisle seat because I thought that’s what I requested, but it turns out I was in the middle of the middle row (one person on my left, two on my right) because it was such a large plane. The lady on my left was a little large, but very nice, from Puerto Rico on a month-long mission trip in South Africa, and the man on my right was tall, and was a snorer. Seeing as this flight took off at 11:15, we flew for a lot of the day, then they gave us ‘dinner’ and told us to go to bed in order to get on South African time (6 hours ahead). That was fruitless. I couldn't get comfortable in the chair, so I got maybe 20 minutes between movies a couple times. But then my tv stopped working so I couldn't watch movies. Made the situation even worse cause now I was stuck in this seat without anything to distract me! Tried reading my book and that usually helped me get sleepy but at a certain point I think I was just beyond tired and couldn’t get anywhere. So that was a slightly frustrating flight – I didn’t think it would ever end!

     But it did! Finally, after 14 and a half hours, we got off the plane and were in Johannesburg! It was chillier than I thought it would be, probably fifties. Here, we had to wait to get our passport checked for entering the country, pick up our baggage, go through customs (basically an honor system if you have anything you want to declare). Then we had some lovely airport employees proceed to help us to our check-in location, then ask for a 100 rand tip…. Thanks to Kristen who had rand and gave them a reasonable tip… 40ish. Waited for a while at the AirBotswana check-in, and they were kind enough to allow us to check both of our huge bags and carry on overweight bags because we had come from an international flight. The conveyor belt was a little messed up and took my bags before she had tagged them so I was a little worried my luggage would get lost but its such a small airline, they made it!

    This plane beat them all – was quite unique and tiny! There were maybe 20 passengers so we got to spread out for the hour and a halfish flight. Took some pictures with my new camera…… love it!! Then we finally pulled in to Kasane!! Very exciting, went through immigration, they weren’t too tough on us, grabbed our bags and went out to find Rob, Maria, and Lipa (sp?) waiting for us with signs and ‘african flowers!’ It was very nice and welcoming! We loaded everything into the big suv truck vehicle and stopped by the center, which is actually very close to the airport. It was rather small but very neat! We saw the lab room and the waterbuck and some other animals they have there. Will get a more thorough introduction throughout the week. Next we headed to the bank where we were both able to exchange our USD to pula’s so we could head to the grocery store and get the basic food we would need. Then, Maria brought us to our home for the summer in Kazungula. It is a house where two guys live already (with a dog – definitely a plus!) and all four of us girls will be sleeping in one large room upstairs! This was a last minute change from what we thought we would be having: a completely empty house. Positive and negatives both ways, as we are farther from the center now, but it is mostly furnished. We met our roommates (Johann and Matthew) and unpacked and showered (well not quite, I didn't get one because the water shut off - a common occurrence, especially the last two weeks) and we are going to have an early night! Can’t wait to see what the rest of the week has in store for us.