Life through a lens
Friday the 13th and I fly into Johannesburg Airport – unlucky day for some, but it has brought me home! And as there was no one next to me pleasuring themselves on the plane (a reference understood only by my accompanying travellers last year), it was already a good trip!
Arrival went without a hitch complete with installing 40 people onto minibuses ready for our drive to Swaziland.
So, with window down and feet on the dashboard it is time to roll!
So here we are, 6 days until I once more fly to South Africa and 54 days till I fly back. If I come back. It would appear that popular consensus involves me not returning, the reasons why are quite widespread and range from being kidnapped, to marrying a millionaire and even faking my own death so that I can stay in the bush and live with the Gorillas or a pygmy king – the creator of that story has yet to decide on an ending.
I am essentially ready to leave, although I am yet to pack. It is truly bizarre, I excitedly wanted to pack months and months ago and now the time is looming I can’t be bothered to do it. This will end in the inevitable last minute packing that I do so well… resulting in me having to buy an exceptionally expensive toothbrush at the airport.
I think this reluctance to pack is based upon the fact that I still have planning left to do. I have my anti-malarials, I have had my Hep A booster (meaning I don’t have to worry about it for 20 years) I am in the process of completing my cholera vaccination (don’t let the intially sweet taste lull you into a false sense of security – this makes the polio one taste nice!) and so have another nice cholera bascilli drink to look forward to the day before I leave – nummy num num!
I do not however at current have a transfer flight to the airport for my return flight, I do not have my flight in the middle of my journey planned and I have not yet sorted out my Rand. But I am sure it will all be alright on the night, after all it does not matter how carefully you plan things in Africa – plans change.
Africa always wins.
24 signed up so far… 11 months to go….
Bring it on!
All my life I have wanted to travel, my home has always been whereever I lay my head. It is no secret to those who know me that I sleep more soundly in places that are strange to me than in places I know so well.
I have always been a drifter, I just never had the means to drift very far. Rather than being that gust of wind that plays among the trees, I am instead that slight breeze that may or may not have been imagined.
Travelling around was always just a dream, a musing, a mere whim that I never really considered to be possible, it always seemed so far out of reach. It was a desire I could push to one side, distracting myself with books, and sketching and music.
But now, I have the travelling bug.
No longer do I push the dreams away, nor do I think I could – should I even wish to try. The desire that for so many years has been contained is now loosening the bolts on its cage.
So I hear you ask, what has brought about this change, well, I was recently fortunate enough to become involved with a youth group for which I am an instructor. Every year the group leader organises a trip to South Africa for a few weeks and now it is my job to accompany them every year, I become mentor, mother and friend to those in my care. This is a responsibility which I relish for it gives me an excuse to leave my mundane existence behind and taste life – if just for a few weeks a year.
Having spent 19 days driving, hiking, wandering and sleeping under the stars in South Africa and Mozambique I am awake. For the first time, I have opened my eyes to the possibilities that lay out in the world, beckoning me.
All that is keeping me from reaching out and grabbing them is the deficit lingering on my credit card.
However I cannot wait until the next time I fly out. Rather than it being a hindrance I am even relishing the thought of the eleven hour flight during which I can cast off my normal self and become instead who I really am, who I only seem to be in Africa, my newest home.
So here’s to this new blog, may it encourage me to have many new adventures.