We Landed - Johannesburg for the night
As we begin our descent into South Africa, the kids ask me to check the time I set before we left. It reads: 23:54 -- almost exactly 24 hours of travel from taking off out of the Orlando airport through landing in Johannesburg.
It is customary for all weary travelers visiting foreign lands (no matter where you go) to walk through a maze of corridors, long hallways with people-moving sidewalks, and a handful of "officials" that are there perhaps to direct people, but are basically just walking around in groups of two or three. When we finally approach the customs clerk (who was also positioned the farthest away from us) I hand her our passports and await what I expect to be a long interrogation regarding my travel plans, the nature of our visit, the make and model of my first car, and the very important documentation that I meticulously collected for this very moment.
Instead of any questions or concerns, she says Landon's middle name "James" and he nods approvingly. She asks Eve to take off her hat. She stamps each of our passports and we are in. I want to show off my very organized binder with tabs for each child and clear plastic page covers, but alas, I keep my mouth shut and hug my black notebook and keep on walking.
We pick up our 3 bags and I remind Landon not to look suspicious as we walk towards the door. Of course, he continues to roll our large orange suitcase around much like he pushes a shopping cart -- in a figure 8, backwards, sidewards, etc. We see David and his wife, Cathy, through the glass as we walk through the final sliding door towards the parking lot.
It hits me just as I hug him. I squeeze my father-in-law tight and squeal, "We are in Africa!"
It's a 10 minute drive to the very modest hotel for the night. There are only a set of twin beds, but they kindly muster up a third twin and shove it inbetween. I tell the kids we should push them all together and make an African King Size bed and so we do.
"Is the next place we stay like this?"
"Did you see the bathroom?"
"Should I be scared?"
I now realize my kids are snobs. It also hits me that this trip may be the perfect way to yank them out of the mindset that everyone lives the way we do. I remind them of the footage from my India trip. And though a picture/video is worth a thousand words, to experience it in person makes an indelible imprint on one's soul.
Tomorrow we depart for Hazyview -- which is just a few miles from the entrance of Kruger State Park. There is lunch on the way and plenty to see as we descend from here in Johannesburg at 5,000 feet above sea level to a little lower than 2000.
It is customary for all weary travelers visiting foreign lands (no matter where you go) to walk through a maze of corridors, long hallways with people-moving sidewalks, and a handful of "officials" that are there perhaps to direct people, but are basically just walking around in groups of two or three. When we finally approach the customs clerk (who was also positioned the farthest away from us) I hand her our passports and await what I expect to be a long interrogation regarding my travel plans, the nature of our visit, the make and model of my first car, and the very important documentation that I meticulously collected for this very moment.
Instead of any questions or concerns, she says Landon's middle name "James" and he nods approvingly. She asks Eve to take off her hat. She stamps each of our passports and we are in. I want to show off my very organized binder with tabs for each child and clear plastic page covers, but alas, I keep my mouth shut and hug my black notebook and keep on walking.
We pick up our 3 bags and I remind Landon not to look suspicious as we walk towards the door. Of course, he continues to roll our large orange suitcase around much like he pushes a shopping cart -- in a figure 8, backwards, sidewards, etc. We see David and his wife, Cathy, through the glass as we walk through the final sliding door towards the parking lot.
It hits me just as I hug him. I squeeze my father-in-law tight and squeal, "We are in Africa!"
9:30pm
It's a 10 minute drive to the very modest hotel for the night. There are only a set of twin beds, but they kindly muster up a third twin and shove it inbetween. I tell the kids we should push them all together and make an African King Size bed and so we do.
"Is the next place we stay like this?"
"Did you see the bathroom?"
"Should I be scared?"
I now realize my kids are snobs. It also hits me that this trip may be the perfect way to yank them out of the mindset that everyone lives the way we do. I remind them of the footage from my India trip. And though a picture/video is worth a thousand words, to experience it in person makes an indelible imprint on one's soul.
Tomorrow we depart for Hazyview -- which is just a few miles from the entrance of Kruger State Park. There is lunch on the way and plenty to see as we descend from here in Johannesburg at 5,000 feet above sea level to a little lower than 2000.
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