South Africa Trip - Day 1

Hello folks! J.R. here, and it’s the end of day 1 of our trip to South Africa and we’re in our Hotel in Dubai. This is probably going to get posted at the end of day 2 since we don’t have internets in the hotel.

So… I was having trouble getting excited for this trip since Jennifer hadn’t shown any excitement. She kept saying that she would get excited when she got to the hotel, or whenever we finished packing, or when we got past security, etc. Anyways, the day finally came, and Jennifer was super stressed out. We were running around last minute buying shovels, doing some last minute gardening, getting the dogs groomed, etc (don’t ask ;) )

Getting to the airport and checked in was no problem at all. One thing that was getting me a little annoyed was the people checking bags in front of us as the airport. There were about 15 people travelling together and they all seemed to have 2 bags and a carry-on. They also left all they’re stuff right in front of the check-in counters so EVERYONE was crowded. But once we got past all that, everything was fine.

Once on the plane, the guy sitting next to me and Jennifer (in the window seat) was asked to switch seats with the child sitting in front of him. Apparently, children traveling alone aren’t allowed to sit next to men, so they moved the kid next to Jennifer. It all started out being pretty cute. The kid was about 6-7 and generally quiet and shy. He curled up in the seat next to Jennifer wearing his sleep mask and blanket. We figured he would sleep most of the 14.5 hour trip, but, unfortunately, he woke up for food about 30 minutes later. Being the cute kid that he was, he took his napkin and tucked it into his shirt.

Then things turned for the worst. He proceeded to spill his tomato juice over ALL of his stuff! Jennifer helped him clean it. Then he opened up to her and started talking for a long time about him being vegetarian and his parents sending him away for months at a time. I could tell that she was trying to pretend to sleep so he would stop talking, but he didn’t. Just kept going… At one point, he started watching a movie and would laugh EXTREMELY loud and wake everyone. Once the sun came out, he would open and close the blind on the window letting a LOT of light in. When he was asked to stop doing that, he pulled out his flashlight and started flashing it. He had a HUGE backpack that he kept taking stuff out of. Of course, to take things out of it, he would throw it into Jennifer’s lap, and then he would laugh thinking it was the funniest thing in the world. Luckily, Jennifer was finally able to get to sleep when he fell asleep.

The plane trip was pretty good for me though. Each seat had individual TVs with over 600 channels. I was able to watch about 5 movies on the way over. I was pretty surprised with how up to date the movies were. They had things like Avatar out. Good stuff!

After 14.5 hours, we landed in Dubai. The weather was a cool 102 when we landed and you could feel every bit of heat. Once checked in to the hotel, we booked a night tour of Dubai so we could at least see SOME sights. We were able to see some of the bigger attractions like Burj Dubai, the Palm Islands, and Atlantis. Picasa will be updated with pictures as soon as we get time.

For the last stop of the night, we went to Biggles, an English pub just outside the hotel. Lucky for us we were all dressed in non-England soccer gear! I finally got to try a Kilkenny too. Sorry guys… good, but you hyped it too much J

It’s 3am here and I have to wake up in 2.5 hours. I guess it’s a good time to try to catch a nap. I’ll update you guys more tomorrow. On the agenda: 10 hour flight to Cape Town, checking in at Hedge House, possible dinner and a soccer game with an old friend.