Just a quick disclaimer – the past few days have been very full. This is a long blog.
Our travels on our way to Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, have been both memorable and interesting. We left Chicago via O’Hare airport on Sunday, September 20th, at 4:15 pm, on a plane to Amsterdam (which is in the Netherlands, Gabby J, not Germany). Sunday was a day of mixed emotions. We were sad to say goodbye to the other teams, but we couldn’t help but be really excited to be on our way to South Africa!
Our flight to Amsterdam took about 7 hours, and it came and went largely without incident. Sure, we were crammed into the back of a huge airplane with next to no leg room and no way to recline our seats, but the flight didn’t last forever. Also I slept most of the time J. Eventually we made it into the Amsterdam airport. Flight one over and done!
We had about a three hour layover in Amsterdam. At the time it seemed kind of long. We didn’t have much to do and we spent the time wandering aimlessly or bemoaning the lack of free wi-fi.
Eventually we got onto our second flight: a ten hour flight from Amsterdam to Johannesburg, South Africa! We were all excited to finally be getting into South Africa, and the plane was even a bit roomier. Also, we all had our own TV screens and a whole list of free movies, TV shows, and games to pick from! Yay! Airplane heaven! Again, I slept for a good five or six or even seven hours. I realize now that I am blessed to be able to sleep almost anywhere. Others on my team had a less slumber-full time and I’m sure they wish it had gone differently.
So finally we made it into Johannesburg. It was about 9:30 pm in Joburg when we arrived, and we were all tired, so we set off to get the money we needed for the room we had booked for the night. We needed to get about 1500 rand (which is about $200) to cover the taxi and the room. So we found an ATM, and I stuck my card in, and the ATM kindly informed us that my account had insufficient funds.
WHAT?
Here is what should have happened: Darrell, the Radical Journey director, was supposed to put Radical Journey money into my account for us to use for things like this. We should have gotten the money no problem, and gotten a pretty good night’s sleep at a nice guest room in Joburg. INSUFFICIENT FUNDS? REALLY?
So we had no money, except for the little bit of cash we all had with us. Not nearly enough.
So by then it was about 11:00 at night. We had close to 40 tons of luggage with us, and we were more exhausted than ever (I was actually doing okay because of the large amounts of sleep I got on the planes, but Anna, for instance, was really tired). Johannesburg, by the way, is not our final destination. We have another flight that will take us about an hour south to our home for the next ten months – Pietermaritzburg. We really, really, really wanted beds.
But, since we had no money, we decided to stay in the airport overnight. After wandering about for a while we found a row of semi-comfortable looking seats and set up camp, surrounding ourselves with luggage and trying to work ourselves into positions that encouraged sleep. A couple of us had blankets (not me! Oh me oh my!) and pillows (again, not me), and over the next seven or so hours we all got sleep in varying amounts. I think Gabby and I slept the most – yay! I must have gotten about five or six hours of sleep. Kyle slept the least, with a grand total of no hours. He was also kind enough to give me his blanket. This happened at some point when I was asleep, so I woke up warm! It was lovely!
Now we are still in the airport. As I write this, it is 8:05 am here (and about 1:05 am in Chicago) and we have another hour and fifteen minutes before our flight to Pietermaritzburg even starts boarding. But at least we are still all together, and we have had no security or border or health issues. This is quite the adventure!
P.S. Now we are here! We made it!
Our travels on our way to Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, have been both memorable and interesting. We left Chicago via O’Hare airport on Sunday, September 20th, at 4:15 pm, on a plane to Amsterdam (which is in the Netherlands, Gabby J, not Germany). Sunday was a day of mixed emotions. We were sad to say goodbye to the other teams, but we couldn’t help but be really excited to be on our way to South Africa!
Our flight to Amsterdam took about 7 hours, and it came and went largely without incident. Sure, we were crammed into the back of a huge airplane with next to no leg room and no way to recline our seats, but the flight didn’t last forever. Also I slept most of the time J. Eventually we made it into the Amsterdam airport. Flight one over and done!
We had about a three hour layover in Amsterdam. At the time it seemed kind of long. We didn’t have much to do and we spent the time wandering aimlessly or bemoaning the lack of free wi-fi.
Eventually we got onto our second flight: a ten hour flight from Amsterdam to Johannesburg, South Africa! We were all excited to finally be getting into South Africa, and the plane was even a bit roomier. Also, we all had our own TV screens and a whole list of free movies, TV shows, and games to pick from! Yay! Airplane heaven! Again, I slept for a good five or six or even seven hours. I realize now that I am blessed to be able to sleep almost anywhere. Others on my team had a less slumber-full time and I’m sure they wish it had gone differently.
So finally we made it into Johannesburg. It was about 9:30 pm in Joburg when we arrived, and we were all tired, so we set off to get the money we needed for the room we had booked for the night. We needed to get about 1500 rand (which is about $200) to cover the taxi and the room. So we found an ATM, and I stuck my card in, and the ATM kindly informed us that my account had insufficient funds.
WHAT?
Here is what should have happened: Darrell, the Radical Journey director, was supposed to put Radical Journey money into my account for us to use for things like this. We should have gotten the money no problem, and gotten a pretty good night’s sleep at a nice guest room in Joburg. INSUFFICIENT FUNDS? REALLY?
So we had no money, except for the little bit of cash we all had with us. Not nearly enough.
So by then it was about 11:00 at night. We had close to 40 tons of luggage with us, and we were more exhausted than ever (I was actually doing okay because of the large amounts of sleep I got on the planes, but Anna, for instance, was really tired). Johannesburg, by the way, is not our final destination. We have another flight that will take us about an hour south to our home for the next ten months – Pietermaritzburg. We really, really, really wanted beds.
But, since we had no money, we decided to stay in the airport overnight. After wandering about for a while we found a row of semi-comfortable looking seats and set up camp, surrounding ourselves with luggage and trying to work ourselves into positions that encouraged sleep. A couple of us had blankets (not me! Oh me oh my!) and pillows (again, not me), and over the next seven or so hours we all got sleep in varying amounts. I think Gabby and I slept the most – yay! I must have gotten about five or six hours of sleep. Kyle slept the least, with a grand total of no hours. He was also kind enough to give me his blanket. This happened at some point when I was asleep, so I woke up warm! It was lovely!
Now we are still in the airport. As I write this, it is 8:05 am here (and about 1:05 am in Chicago) and we have another hour and fifteen minutes before our flight to Pietermaritzburg even starts boarding. But at least we are still all together, and we have had no security or border or health issues. This is quite the adventure!
P.S. Now we are here! We made it!
So glad that you made it safely. Hope you have a great week!
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