...as surreal as that might be. We arrived back in Dalton Friday night and it seemed as though we had never left. We are just about over the nasty jetlag that seems to get harder to recover from the older we get. The flights could not have gone smoother though. We got to Oliver Tambo airport outside of Johannesburg late Thursday afternoon. I am glad we got there early because the ticketing process bordered on the chaotic. Although he is plenty fine to walk, Russ got a wheelchair which helped a lot with our carry-on bags and his stamina. With time to kill, we hoped to get wireless access, which was expensive and not very effective, not to mention that there was no place to plug in. So even with cappuchino counters and luxury duty-free stores, we were reminded that yup,we were still in Africa. (By the way, I am loving the fast, consistent access we have now. Yippee!)
We scored bulkhead seats, right next to a two-year old and her mother. Thankfully the child was the perfect passenger and slept most of the trip. We managed to sleep for most of the trip, but it is amazing how airlines try to keep people up for most of the flight. We boarded at 9:45 pm and dinner was served at 11, while breakfast was served at 4 am, which really only left us with maybe four hours of quiet anyway. Even if we did not eat, impossible to sleep with all the noise. My thoughts drifted to how we could possibly get into business class on our next overseas flight. There must be a way.
We arrived in Cairo at 5:30 am and the airport was a pleasant surprise. Very nice and easy to navigate (easier again with the wheelchair). We waited comfortably for a few hours before going through another security checkpoint. Never mind that I had other small bottles of liquid in my carry-on (some more than 3 ounces); it was imperative that I drink my water before boarding. Grrr...
On the second segment, one of us had a bulkhead seat (with another adorable and perfect child with a grin stretching from ear to ear), and the other had the whole middle row behind so we switched back and forth. Not that we could sleep much, but nice to stretch out.
We arrived at JFK earlier than expected but Fred and Fred were there to pick us up. We breezed through immigration and customs despite having six large bags and lot of prescription meds (now of course I am wishing we had bought more because they were unbelievably cheap in South Africa). Even the drive out of New York on a busy holiday weekend was relatively pleasant, just taking under four hours. Of course I was not driving, which after driving the past 10,000 miles in Africa was a treat to sit in the backseat.
Oh, to be back in the land of miles, ounces, pounds and inches! I love not being bothered to to think about such conversions. To be back with highspeed internet (and caught up on my emails), total familiarity, and recycling is bliss. Food options are great except for the high fructose corn syrup which was completely absent in southern Africa, but which we try to avoid anyway. It was refreshing over there just knowing it did not exist.
Reunions with the Sears family and running into friends has made up most of our short time back here, when we are not napping or unpacking. Lucy and Freddy made welcome back signs for us. The weather has just started warming up, and I love being back in summer again. Fred just opened up his pool.
No comments:
Post a Comment