Twenty-eight hours of travel later, we have arrived safely in South Africa.  Some of that duration was our doing, we booked a healthy layover in Atlanta because there is only one flight per day to South Africa, and you’d better be on it.  We hung out on the patio overlooking the runways and drank with fellow travelers, so it was not a chore.  My newly honed hospital skills have come in handy, as I’m able to chat up most strangers and insert myself into their lives with complete ease.  If you can talk to grumpy sick patients, then people traveling to exotic destinations for fun is stupid easy.  Travelers are not nearly as mean, nor likely to hit you randomly.  

We spent roughly fourteen and a half hours in the air.  We boarded, got settled, had a cocktail, and then had to “de-plane,” a verb people use now that makes no sense to me, so maintenance could fix something.  I was surprised our flight left at all.  I had one thumb over the “Book Room” button in the Hilton app, since I was pretty sure the flight would be canceled.    

Hours away from landing, flying over the open ocean, I was texting with my mother.  What a world.  In the not too distant past, a trip over open water would mean digital isolation.  I watched The Simpsons and terrible movies, while texting with several people.  

The ride was bumpy.  I don’t mind, somehow the air feels more “solid” when we’re being gently rocked.  Helps me sleep, actually.  I suppose if the dishes went flying I would feel differently, but after the initial shock I think I’d be fine.  The people hurt or killed because of turbulence are not wearing their seatbelts.  Flight attendants are most at risk.   

Anyway, somehow it’s time for bed again.  We spend the night here in Johannesburg — or as the cool kids call it, Joburg — to rehydrate our crusty bodies and sleep in a real bed.  

At 11:30 tomorrow morning, 4:30 A.M. EDT we fly on Airlink Airlines to Kasane, Botswana and drive to our first lodge, Ngoma Safari Lodge.  We should be there in time for the evening game drive, and the first animal pictures.  

Goodnight.