Flights to Africa Are Very Long...

The only real difference between airports is the decorations, the things they’re selling, and the statues that you gawp at along the way. Besides that, all airports are a bustle of vaguely annoyed or excited people just trying to catch a flight on time. I’m no different than any other tourist here, really.

My flight started out okay, despite the fact that I hadn’t slept yet since I was trying to maximize my time with two of my best friends on campus before I left for a year. There were mixed feelings at that vigil and I actually think that everyone was a tad more emotional than they were letting on, but I digress.

JetBlue is like a godsend. The service is friendly, they do everything in their power to make your flight more convenient, they offer programming on the screens even for short flights, and their seat are both cushier and roomier than competing airlines. That being said, I cannot remember the flight from Logan to JFK, because I completely passed out. Literally, I cannot remember the take off or the landing. I just remember suddenly becoming aware of the pilot welcoming us to New York.

I got to my next gate just fine with time to spare. It was all hunky dory, really. Until the actual flight. A 14 and a half hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. It started out fabulously, actually. I originally had a dreaded middle seat but a girl whose friends would have been sitting on either side of me asked to switch, so I got an aisle seat. That was fortunate. And I have to report that South African Airlines is also a VERY excellent service. The people were friendly, accommodating, and helpful; the food was actually not too bad, if a tad bland; and the blanket they handed out was actually big enough and significant enough that I kept it. :) They also included a pillow, toothbrush and paste, socks, and sleeping mask. I felt well taken care of.

It was not the airlines’ fault at all that my flight was COMPLETELY HORRIBLE. Somewhere around hour eight, I began to develop a headache. But my Ibuprofen was stupidly in my overly-heavy bag in the overhead bins and it would have been a giant struggle to get it down. Also, I was immersed in reading my Namibian culture book, so I ignored it.

Worst. Mistake. Ever.

By hour 11, it had turned into a full blown migraine with nausea, headache, shakiness, etc. I literally thought I was going to throw up for about four hours. It sucked, but I didn’t ask the fight attendant for pain meds because I had done that on an American flight before and been refused, so I assumed it would be the same. However, the two girls next to me (both from Africa though I never learned which specific part) were concerned and asked why I hadn’t asked for pain meds. So I did, and the VERY NICE flight attendant quickly retrieved me some… unidentifiable pain meds. But seriously, at that point, I didn’t really care if the side effects killed me, I wanted the migraine to be over that badly.

So eventually the flight ended, much to my relief. I went through security for the third time this trip and got to my gate fairly quickly since I didn’t have to go through customs until I reached Windhoek. (The funny thing is that the signs to the gate all have estimated travel time to reach the gates, ranging from one to seven minutes.) The shops were SO tempting: fully of all sorts of African goods. And there were statues of animals everywhere, including a giant giraffe that I wanted to take a picture of but didn’t want to dig out the good camera to do it.

The flight to Windhoek was uneventful and customs took FOREVER, but besides that, everything went rather smoothly. Africa kinda looks like Idaho with a lot more diversity and bigger bushes. And oh yeah, cheetahs :)

Look forward to my FIRST DAY SAFARI ADVENTURE in my next blog post and… PICTURES OF THE CHEETAHS!!!!

Love you all and missing you already!