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Published: August 12th 2011
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Apologies for the long lag in postings. One of these days I'll back and up and fill you in, but for now, here's the short version since last I wrote:
Went to Florida. Lived in a tent, worked as a guide. Left Florida. Saw Linda. Retrieved Skeffy. Drove every mile of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Went to the Cape. Left Skeffy on Cape & went to Canada. Got thrown out of a Canadian National Park. Went to Montreal. Went to Justine's graduation in Burlington. Went back to Montreal. Left Montreal. Went to W. Mass. Back to Cape. Skeffy and I moved into a dorm in Worcester for me to do a 2 month consulting gig a little college there. Finished in Worcester. Put Skeffy in foster care. Went to Cape. Left things in storage unit. Back to Western Mass to park my car in Jennifer's driveway. THEN...on August 9th, at 9:30am, Justine and Damian picked me up from Jennifer's and dropped me at Bradley International Airport. But not without...a quick lunch with Nate in Hartford. So wonderful to spend even that little time with the three of them!
Made it to the airport in plenty of time for my
flight. Shocking, I know. It's so unlike me...no running to the gate, arriving breathless and sweaty. I actually sat around for about an hour - talked on the phone, browsed at books. And in an equally uncharacteristic way, I didn't talk with even one stranger (hmm. does it count that I talked with the ticket agent?). The flight was called and the next thing I knew, there I was...walking across the tarmac, up the stairs, and boarding a plane. Next stop, Washington DC.
Layover in DC was only about an hour and a half - some of which time was used just getting from one terminal to another (not sure why, but I do like those little airport shuttle train things...you know, the ones with the electronic voices...always makes me think of A Clockwork Orange though...not sure what that's about). When I got to the gate, I was a bit surprised to see people already lined up and seeming eager to board. I didn't really get that. What's the rush? We have assigned seats, and we're going to be on the darn thing for more than 17 hours! Geez.
Got to the ramp door only have the ticket
checker tell me that I hadn't registered my passport and needed to get in another line then come back. Oops. Not long after, I was walking down the ramp and thinking - I'm going to South Africa! How did this happen?!
The flight was long. Very long. The cabin was hot. The movies everyone told me I'd use to pass the time didn't work. But they fed us often and provided complimentary beverages. I availed myself of South African wine...and so glad I did...best warning on a bottle I've ever seen!
We landed in Dakar for fuel (and to let a few people off and few people on). The sun was up. It was sort of painful knowing that another 8 hours in the air was ahead. Ugh. Slept a few hours and did eventually get to watch a movie. Invictus - about Nelson Mandela and the South African Rugby World Cup Victory. It seemed the most appropriate choice. Eventually it was time for the 3rd and final meal of the flight. I was pretty darn excited to see smoked salmon on the plate. Yes, smoked salmon. Can you believe it?! Pity I can't always fly
South African Airways!
Landed without incident. Customs was uneventful - not one question. Sort of shocking after my experiences at the US/Canadian border where they asked the ever-so-painful and difficult-as-of-late questions : Where do you live? What do you do for work? Guess South Africa doesn't much care about such things...not even about how long or where I planned to stay.
Off to baggage claim, where my bag promptly appeared. Down the corridor, through the glass I could see them - the Welsh brothers - sporting ever-so-appropriate hats. Lovely to see them waiting there for me.
It was already dark, so couldn't see much (other than the city lights) as we headed to Jim's. Nice dinner, and at 10pm I was more than ready for bed. Crawling into a real bed was absolutely delightful! I'm not knocking air mattresses, but a little break from them is a mighty nice thing! Long nights' sleep and a pretty slow day today - a tour of Jim's school, trip to the vet with the pup who hurt his foot on the tour of the school, review of various Soweto tours (and booking of one), another nice dinner, tea and photos,
and I'm back in bed.
Tomorrow, the adventure continues!
Booked a 4 hour bike tour of Soweto.
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Bunnsarelli
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A Big Job But You Have To Do It
Live it for all of us Jill. Every second. :)