Travel Day (More Like Week)

Here’s the blog of how 95 hours, 4 countries, 3 flights, 2 Squad splits, and 1 very long bus ride ended with us at our new base in South Africa!

We got up at 6:00 in the morning and were ready to leave the Hostel by 6:15. This wasn’t as sad as leaving base, but it was still strange to have it be our last morning, meal, and chicken bus ride.

We made it to the airport by 8:30, and made it through customs and security and all that necessary riff raff by 10:00. I spent most of the time before our flight at 1:45 playing as many last games of Euchre as possible.

The flight went very smoothly, and we were even able to arrive early! I used the 3.5 hour flight to watch the last mountains of Guatemala fade into the distance, then watch a new movie.

We said goodbye to Mitch shortly after we arrived in Miami (😭), then waited until 7:00 to recheck our bags (since we were taking a different airline) and go through more security. I used the free time to look at the books being sold at a random store and goggle at the American prices.

While waiting for our next flight (leaving at 11:30), I got dinner and hung out with Abeni. Honestly, I was so tired by this point, it kind of flew by, and before I knew it, I was seated on the nicest airplane I’ve ever been on, ready for the 13.5 hour flight to Qatar, a country in the Middle East.

Most of this flight was spent watching movies and dozing.

One of the weirdest things about this flight was how fast the sunlight faded. The sun had risen and set within 6 hours!

We made it to Qatar at 10:00 (Qatar time, which is 8 hours ahead of Michigan time). Since it was so late, getting into the airport wasn’t a problem, but staying awake long enough to explore it was actually quite a struggle for me. So, I took an hour long nap, and spent another few hours just resting.

After 3:00am, I started to explore more, and that’s what I did with Isabella and Abeni until it was time for our last flight, this one to Johannesburg, South Africa. It left at 8:15am, and lasted 8 hours.

We stayed in the airport for a little, before great news came! One of my teammates parents paid for hotel rooms for my team, so our night before the bus ride to take us to our final destination was spent in comfort.

Unfortunately, it did mean we had to say goodbye to the rest of our Squad early. Goodbyes were long and sad, and I needed to keep reminding myself I’ll see them again in a month. Then Doves and Steadfast went to our hotel.

The next morning, we checked out at 12:00 and took a shuttle to the bus station. The shuttle ride was nice, and it gave us our first opportunity to see the country we’re going to be spending the next month in.

After the mountains of Guatemala, South Africa looks so flat (which isn’t fair, since it still has its fair share of mountains), but the trees and tall buildings make the landscape just as interesting! I think the strangest thing is how everything is in English. I wasn’t expecting that!

We waited for a little at the bus station, before piling onto a surprisingly nice double decker bus, a necessity when you’re traveling by bus for the next 19 hours. I sat by Caryse, and she helped keep me awake until 8:00, the earliest I’d allowed myself to go to bed, since I was still trying to adjust to the time difference.

I only got a few hours of sleep, but I entertained myself through the long night with prayer and riddles, so while I was physically exhausted, my brain and spirit were no longer feeling dead, which I count as a win!

Nonetheless, I think we were all so relieved to get out of that bus and pile into a car instead. We stopped at McDonalds for breakfast/lunch, then we were on our way to our final destination!

More on our base in Heidelburg, South Africa in the next blog!!!