Wednesday, March 4, 2009

South Africa, Amazing - Getting There, Not So Much

Wow, where do I begin. I just returned from one of the most amazing vacations I have ever experienced. Not only was it the furthest I have ever traveled (nearly 24 hours of travel each way) but it was the most diverse vacation as well. From hiking mountains to lounging poolside along the Atlantic Ocean, from the world's longest bungee jump to a full day at the Indian Ocean beach, from being a bridesmaid in a wedding to hunting for kudu - what an trip! I have many stories to share and am planning to do mutiple blogs to cover it all, be sure to check back for more. For this first entry, let's chat about the getting there part.

As the title of this blog mentioned, the getting there part was not so amazing. It was at least 24 hours of travel each way. I must admit though, as bad as it was, it easier than I thought it would be. In order to make the trip as enjoyable as possible we tried to bring as many things to entertain us we could fit in our carry on bags. Books and magazines. I actually read three books during the trip, Confessions of a Shopaholic (totally ready to watch the movie now - loved the book), A New World (an Oprah Book Club recommendation - self help book that helped me "live in the moment" during my vacation), and Made To Stick (a marketing book that I got from my boss for Christmas - great, easy read with practical advice). I have realized that flights are pretty much the only time I ever read...sad, going to have to work on that. I also made it through two US Weekly's that I had saved up before the trip. Electronic devices. So, I love Sudoku and found this great little electronic handheld Sudoku puzzle thing at Target and thought it would be perfect for my trip. Unfortuntately, I didn't try it out before I left, bad mistake. After about 2 - 5 minutes of use, it would just mysteriously turn off. So annoying! Oh well, thanks to my buddy Lyndsey, I had a Nintendo DS complete with tons of games, including Sudoku, so that eased my annoyance of my own little Sudoku (taking that back this weekend!). Sleep. Jeff and I also made every effort to adjust to whatever time zone it was that we were traveling to as soon as we got on the plane and timed our naps accordingly - as many of you know, God gifted me with the ability to sleep anywhere, anytime and through anything. Movies. Unfortunately, the movies selected for the flight there were not that intrigueing - Nights in Rodanthe and another one I can't even remember, and then some low budget flick that Jeff was excited to watch but about 20 minutes into it they said "I am sorry, we are experiencing technical problems and will have to turn off the in-flight entertainment." We did however watch a movie titled Flash of Genious on the flight home and it was pretty entertaining. Free wine! Yes, they serve free alcohol on international flights, definitely helped me sleep even better.

Altogether, I must say that those two full days of travel wouldn't have been nearly as bearable without my travel buddy. It was so nice to have Jeff with me the entire time, making me feel like it was all going to be over soon. I couldn't have made the trip alone, that's for sure! Oh the joys of traveling with my husband during my Life As a Wife.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

You are such a trooper! What an adventure. I can't even imagine having to stay cooped up in an airplane for 24 hours one way.