We arrived at JFK around 6 this morning and have been wandering around ever since.
I'm exhausted; attempts to sleep on the plane were only moderately successful.
We now have neck pillows, which aren't actual pillows, but perhaps they'll do the trick.
We do not, however, have the Excedrin PM, which may affect my ability to sleep on the flight. I'm going to be doing the patented Katie-Barry-sleeps-on-planes technique, which involves me putting my face on the tray and praying for sleep to come. It will. I will wake up with Tim Burton eyelashes, bending every which way, and while I will regret not sleeping upright, I will also be thankful that I've not drooled everywhere or be caught in some awkward open-mouthed position for the better part of ten hours.
Mike does not want pre-flight blog photos.
I can't say I'm excited yet. Right now all I have on my mind are flights, baggage and entertainment for the next twenty five or so hours.
I can't say I'm nervous or afraid. I have no expectations. I mean, obviously there are a few, but I honestly feel as though I won't suffer from the oppression that pre-conceived notions can provide. Hopefully my trip can be shaped solely by experiences and sensations, rather than ideas of accomplishment.
As for myself? I expect to remain intact (both in body and mind) and I hope to strengthen the areas of my life that most sorely need discovery: my spirituality needs to be shaped from the odd collection of superstitions and attempts at belief systems into something at least halfway legitimate (although I happen to enjoy my collection of superstitions and things borrowed); my physical shape - I wish to be stronger and more capable (I brought Jillian Michaels yoga with me, don't judge, and I'm hoping to acquire a bike while I'm there to ride around on. I also have my hiking boots, which will hopefully serve me well); peace and quiet for my own mind through organization, relaxation, work, meditation. I hope that Mike and I enjoy our time together. I hope to pick up at bit of another language - that way I can be proficient in English and a reader and writer but not speaker of Spanish and then have conversational something else to add to my limited ability to globally communicate.
That is all I wish. That and wonderful memories of beautiful places and interesting people.
nothing says "excited travelers" like the self-photograph
I packed too much. That's not surprising, if you know me. But it's frustrating. I've done so much traveling in the past four years and I really wanted to prove to myself that I could pack lightly and intelligently without having to worry about not lacking anything that I might need. Instead, I started packing at about 8pm last night and was doing very well. I had my rolling duffel bag packed (complete with shoes!) and thought I was pretty well finished.
But of course there were all those little extra things, and I did insist that I bring one of my comforters (I find I sleep much better when I'm surrounded by my own blankets...more on this later), which, coupled with an extra, empty backpack nearly filled the second suitcase.
And thus I'm carrying the mountain backpack with me, and my purse, and a smaller purse (over the shoulder with passport and wallet and necessary documents) and I'm overwhelmed already. But I think I may have done better than I had expected, so hopefully that's all going to go smoothly.
And of course Mike only has one suitcase and a nearly empty backpack.
Another thing I look forward to in South Africa is sleep. Summer has never been a good time for sleep for me; I'm always doing something. Even this summer, I hardly slept but I have no idea what I did with all of my time. So hopefully this flight will bring sleep and so will this trip. Perhaps with my curfew (10pm on weekdays, midnight on the weekends, ugh) I'll be able to do a good bit of sleeping.
Once we arrive in Cape Town (13:50 local time on September 1st), we will find our Projects Abroad driver, who will take us directly to our host families. Then we will stay there until the next day, when we will be found by Projects Abroad staff and shown how to use public transportation and oriented. Hopefully this orientation will include the procurement of a cell phone for inter-country communication. I guess I should be nervous about my internship, but since they can't seem to get that settled, I can't be bothered to stress. I'm taking this as a good sign, but twenty hours on a flight may leave me with a lot of time to conjure up worries and hazardous work situations that I might find myself in.
Keep the Cat in your prayers, or thoughts, or good wishes, whatever. He went in to the vet yesterday for a check up and because I found a lump and thought he had cancer again. Well, good news: turns out it's not cancer. Bad news: hernia. So he'll be in surgery any moment now and will be recovering for the rest of the week. I'm brokenhearted that I can't be there to snuggle him during recovery, but I hope he understands that he has the worst timing ever and that, like mother, like cat, we are Murphy's Law incarnate.
This is a weird idea, but it's my romantic self coming through: I've always wanted to fly with a boyfriend. I see the cutest couples who seem to enjoy traveling with each other every time I fly and I want someday to be that. If you can travel together, maybe you'll be able to stay together, right? (That's obviously a lie, I've traveled with boyfriends before and sometimes it ends horribly.)
Mike wishes to express that he is a "fantastic fireball of fascinating fun," and also that he only did that for the alliteration.
Love from both of us to all of you.
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