Got Me Ten Feet Off The Ground

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So 30 hours of traveling and I have arrived in Maun, Botswana. I left my GH in Bangkok at 11:30AM and arrived at the Maun Lodge the next day at 12:30PM with a 5 hour time change (7 hour flight from Bangkok to Doha, Qatar with a 2 and a half hour layover and an 8 hour flight from Doha to Johannesburg, South Africa with a 5 hour layover and an hour and a half flight onto Maun). So now I am only 7 hours ahead of NYC. Anyway, it’s a damn good thing time of traveling doesn’t bother me. I slept, I ate, I watched movies, I read and finished my Toni Morrison book, The Bluest Eye, and with that I’m pretty content…don’t need much to make me happy.

When I got to Jo-burg I put my large backpack into storage since I cant bring that much with me on the safari, which honestly is TOTALLY FINE! That fuckin thing is really heavy…its nice to just be traveling with a small duffle, although my backpack is another story…my laptop, camera, lenses…

It was pretty early…I think we arrived at like 5AM in Jo-burg. I passed the time somehow and then noticed people were lining up at the check-in counter so I went on to get in line. This is where I met two South African guys, Dave and Sagren who were super friendly and we chatted it up a bit and after we all checked-in we went to get breakfast together. They were on a different flight, which was headed to Gaborone, for a business trip. They were working! Ha…it was just amusing that here I was having breakfast with two guys going to work - real jobs…oh how it is SOOO far from my mind. Anyway, they had some helpful tips and suggestions for when I return to South Africa and phrases I should know in Zulu.

Bought two new books…My Sister’s Keeper, which while I think Jodi Picoult is a little too girly for me I have heard amazing things about the book and have been meaning to read it so I got it and then I also got another one recommended by Sarah….What is the What? by Dave Eggers.

When I arrived in Maun I was met by a representative of CC Africa and transferred to my lodge for the evening. Bruno drove me…what a nice guy…so far everyone here is very smiley. There’s not much to do around here at all…which gave me time to read my new books. I went to the front desk to ask what I could do for the day and it was one of those moments where it was real silent and crickets were chirping in the background. Guess not!

I decided to shut my eyes for a minute before heading to dinner around 7…I woke up the next morning at 7…lights on, fully clothed. Guess I didn’t realize how out of it I really was. Definitely feeling refreshed…and HUNGRY!

I was also confused by the time of day…since I am now in the Southern hemisphere it stays light much much later than I am used to…no complaints but just threw me off a bit. Anyway…YIPPEEEE safari time!

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