Good to Go?

I have just re-confirmed my reservation on South African Airlines (yes, they are flying again) from Frankfurt to Johannesburg to Cape Town. It looks like- at long last- I am going, and with some luck I'll have an aisle seat. The South African Airlines representative with whom I chatted also reminded me to pack a swimsuit in my carry on so that I could swim at the Sheraton during my layover in Frankfurt. In fact, he was so excited talking to me about the pool and the bar that I had to remind him that I wanted seat assignments and wanted to make sure that there was room for me on that plane.

So, things are looking up. I have just spent a weekend in Aspen which was a nice distraction from my time on the phone with Delta and South African Airlines. Aspen also provides a type of culture shock of its own, although sort of the opposite type of shock that you might expect when heading to Africa. Of course, that remains to be seen.

In any event, it was nice, as a friend put it, "to get a little more America in me." However, I am now ready to head out. Really ready...

One More Week Not In The Canyons

Incredible day. I got a call from Delta at two in the afternoon today asking me to kindly call them back because my flight to South Africa had been canceled. In truth, only the leg from Atlanta to Johannesburg had been canceled due to a strike at South African Airlines, a Delta partner. Fantastic. The strike started on Friday, so those people who keep close tabs on the airline industry beat me to the punch in rebooking flights on other airlines. When I called to see what to do and explained that I needed to talk to someone about this whole mess the woman on the phone asked what exactly I would like to talk about. What would I like to talk about? Are you kidding? I'd like to talk about how moving my bed in my room will affect its Feng Shui.

To make a long story short I think I'll actually be leaving in about a week, and it only took some three hours on the phone to get to that conclusion. Potential routes to Johannesburg include stops in Sao Paulo, Dakar, Paris, Frankfurt, New York, and of course Atlanta. Routes are shown above. So, if you have anything you need to say or send to me, you still have a few days. Although I likely won't be available because I'll be busy rearranging my bedroom...or at least I'll be discussing it with the folks at Delta.

However frustrated I may be, and however ready to go I may be, this is a good test for the rest of the year. Delta actually tried quite hard to get me on earlier flights, but you can't give me a seat when there isn't one. This delay, like all dark clouds, has its silver lining: I discovered that STA travel hadn't sent me a couple of the paper tickets I'll need later in the year. When I called, they discovered that they hadn't booked those very same flights for me although I had paid for them. So, as they say, things have a way of working out.

The first leg of my journey: I start in Denver and make stops in Atlanta, the Cape Verde Islands, Johannesburg, and Cape Town where I will take a bus to Namibia.

One Week From Now

One week from now I'll be in the air flying off to Africa to begin this Watson year (more realistically I'll be at one of my three layover locations before I get to Cape Town). I'm excited, nervous, and happy to finally be on my way. Of course, I have been having a great time this summer with family and friends, hiking in Zion, bike racing in Idaho, and living it up at my sister's wedding. Seeing my sister publicly proclaim her love and desire to spend her life with her (now) husband in some ways makes me think that this whole adventure is just a year, and not too big a deal. They pledged their whole lives, I'm just roaming around for a year. Either way we're both in for some fun. That said, my sister and her husband give me confidence.

One of the most amazing things, in my opinion, about my upcoming year is that I am not sure what to expect. I expect challenge, fatigue, excitement, confusion, moments of amazement and joy, but those are just vague notions at this point. That will be the incredible part: putting experiences, tangible events, moments and people to those notions and expectations.

So at least I have some confidence and a few expectations, because I don't yet have traveler's checks ... I'll get that done tomorrow ... along with the last rabies shot, photocopies of various documents, and who knows what else will creep onto my list. I can't wait to cross that threshold from concourse to airplane cabin.