My trip to Cape Town, Part 1

This is a little story about my trip to South Africa. My 3 day trip. My 45 hour commute if you will.

It all started Tuesday morning in Seattle at 4:00am. I, along with my mom, dad, sister and brother piled into one car and headed to the airport. We arrive, check in, (each of my bags were 49lb's (allowed 50) cutting it close, i know! But Thank You Lord that they made it fine. Being so early at the airport, nothing before going through security is open, so we as a family sat in th Seattle's Best seating area and just talked for a while. When the security line got down to a good length, i decided that it was time to go. We said our goodbyes, did three rounds of hugs and then i was on my own. Standing alone in that line ready to take off my jacket and shoes. My family stood there and wached until i walked around the corner with one last wave of goodbye.

They started to load the plane by zone, starting with Zone 1 and going through zone 5. I was zone 4. When they reached 3, i decided to use the restroom one last time. By the time i was out, thre was only a short line so it as delightful! I found my row of seats and there were already two people sitting down. I had a window seat for all my flights, so the guy got up out of his isle seat and put up my bag for me in the upper bin, such a nice chap he was. Then the lady that was in the middle seat, did one of those, legs up on the other seat so that i could squeeze by type of things. Domestic flights are not meant for "squeezing by" but...she insisted...so i slugged past here with my bag for under the seat and she made a groaning sound and whatever...it was her fault. I sad down and got situated. At this point, i had looked over to my new seat mates for the next 5 hours and decided that they were married. Even though he was a man of about 70 years of age, receeding hairline, what hair was left was half white half grey and a pretty nice belly on him. The lady, i swear, could have been a venezuelan (sp?) model. She was beautiful! But they were obviously flying together and they each had a ring on so i just decided they were married. Strange as it was. This is when i noticed that the lady was crying. Not out loud, but one of those cry's where the tears are coming out but no noise is accompanying it. She just kept wiping tears away all through the seating process and the drive out to the runway and also through take off. After take off, she curled up and cried herself to sleep. Slight whimpering could be heard while she slept. It was really odd. Her husband kept asking what was the matter and she would just look at him and say nothing. I'm sure there was a great story there...i was dying to know what they were leaving and why she was so upset about it. But...because i'm sure the story in my head would be much better then the truth, i decided not to ask.

The flight was pretty much uneventful. Nothing happend out of the ordinary. (except the crying lady) and we arrived in Atlanta on time.

I had a 3 hour layover in Atlanta so i found my terminal and then headed out to find something to eat. I sat at TGIFridays for a while and ate a small little something and then just got too weirded out by eating alone. I don't like it. Especially in a restaurant. Makes me feel lonely. So i paid my bill and left. I went back to my terminal and awaited my flight.

Boarding went fine. I was the first one to my row and was able to get settled before the other two arrived. It was an older South African couple that ended up sitting down. She sat next to me and he in the isle seat. As soon as they started sitting down i knew i would hate them there. She smelled as if she had bathed in her perfume and then soaked her clothes in it and then sprayed a few sprayes just to be sure it was on. OH MY GOODNESS! I turned my air thingy on full blast. She sat down and started to complain about how cold it was and i ignored her comments. Ugh! It was her fault that i needed fresh air blasting on me anyways. I could not identify the smell to a particular brand, but i do know that it was a musk. Now ladies....if the bottle of perfume that you have says the word "musk" on it anywhere...just think of it as saying "smell of old ladies". At no point, should anyone be wearing a musk anymore. That fad went out in the 60's. Leave it alone.

Now this smelly couple was REALLY nice. They lived an hour north of Joburg and were just coming home from a 5 week vacation in Miami. Where is poured down rain for 4.5 weeks of their trip. They seemed relly bothered by it. Kept saying that it was nice to see the grandkids, but should have gone to Durban. Whatever. They asked me lots of questions about what i was going to do and why i was going to South Africa. We had a few random conversations before the plane pushed away from the terminal. We rolled out to the runway and got in line to take off. They pilot came on and said that we were 4th in line to take off. Just as we were about to go, the pilot came back on and said that we were turning around and going back to the terminal because they heard a bang noise in te rear of the plane. They thought that it might be a piece of luggage that had fallen down or dropped or something and wanted to make sure before they took off. We sat there for an hour and then the pilot finally came back on and said "it was not luggage, and so the mechanics are just now going through the whole plane to see what it might have been. There is no time for departure at this moment." We waited there another hour until they decided that it was nothing and we could take off. So, basically, a waste of two hours. We finally took off and startd on the 15 hour flight. It took forever! I couldn't sleep. Between the smelly lady next to me and the cold air i had to keep on me, it was horrible. I wasn't hungry and didn't drink anything so that i would not have to get up. Cause that meant leaving my filtered air stream and walking through the "smell". I stayed in my seat the full 15 hours and ate little, drank less. By the time we landed, i had gotten about 45 minutes of sleep total. (not in a row...just throughout the flight) My neck was crimped, my knees were hurting and my feet were sweating. I had decided that Uggs were a good idea for flying. Bhey are not. Comfy while standing, not comfy while sitting for several hours at a time.

The plane arrived in Johhanasburg 2 hours after it was scheduled to. Originally i only had a three hour layover in Joburg so i was pushing it. I had to get off, go through passport control, then wait for my bags, which, of course were nearly the last ones to come off. Then make my way through customs and then figure out where to re-check everything back in.

This is where the story gets good...

but i'm sleepy as it's now the end of Day 3 of travel and i still have not slept yet.

I will continue the story tomorrow.

Goodnight!