In the air again..but my seat had a built in massage!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Yes, in the air again and this trip is a doozy. 5 hours to the east coast and then onto an international flight to Johannesburg for 16 hrs! This might be the longest haul for me. I think the flight to asia was only 12+ hours at a time. It’s all good though. I am super excited because this is one of my bucket list trip. A photo safari in south Africa! Never thought I would get to cross this off the list since I've been talking about it for years and years. My bucket list has things that are goals (hike the grand canyon, check), stretch goals ( jumping out of a plane, check check and check), and then there are dreams that are nice to have ( climb everest, photo safari in Africa). So excited. I have to go through 3 weeks of work first before I go on the safari. I don’t mind that though because as before, it will be so interesting to learn the culture, people and ofcourse the food! We are breaking the normal routine and staying at a nice guesthouse on the outskirts of Johannesburg (JO). It’s well known that the city of JO can be dangerous especially at night. It’s not like the other places I’ve traveled to where we can stroll through town for dinner after work. There are nice big chain hotels closer to the city but it would mean a longer commute to the plant everyday due to traffic and we would not be able to step foot outside the hotel in the evening. It sounds bad but I’m hoping for the best. Actually when my nieces and I went to Rio we read that it was a very dangerous place and that people have gotten robbed in broad daylight. We had no issues because we traveled smart which mean no flashy clothes or jewelry. Our guesthouse is in a boomed-off neighborhood which means it’s a secured area. I know I’ll have to turn up my awareness level. One thing I know for sure it will be a totally different experience.

I was glad to at least be home for our anniversary yesterday. 11 years! During dinner we reminisced about our fun honeymoon in British Columbia. Gary remembers the smell of wilderness and moss and chopping up our own wood for the fireplace in our cabin. I remembered the bear we saw! It was such a cool place, I have the link to the lodge on my laptop for the past year and plan to go back there for one of our anniversary celebration.