Madison, WI. Waiting on my first flight.
Atlanta International Terminal.
The Great Adventure of 2016 has begun!! The Africa Edition!! This first post is a bit late as I have been traveling for most of the past three days, and this is the first opportunity I've had to post. So, here goes the first post...
I decided to go to Africa! I am currently in Namibia. I will spend about 10 days here, then go to Botswana for 4 days for a safari. I'll start from the boring beginning...
I left Madison on April 8th at 12:15p.m., on a flight to Atlanta. I had a 5 hour layover in Atlanta, then boarded a 15 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa.
All was going as expected, no problems. Until I boarded my flight to Johannesburg. I got to Atlanta and bought a Delta Sky Club day pass. It was a dream. I had 5 hours, and from my experience at the Atlanta International terminal, drinks are expensive. So I bought a day pass for $29 and had unlimited drinks. So I had a few. Maybe 4, before getting on the long ass flight. Oh, I also got a massage at the airport spa. It was nice. So I drank, and had some snacks and got a massage. At 8:30 our flight was supposed to leave. Of course there was a problem. Something about a battery and they were trying to find one. Of course they tell us this after they get us on the plane. So, we sat for 3 hours at the gate while they found a battery and installed it. So, a 15 hour flight turned into 18 hours. The flight attendants were mostly nice. There was one that didn't want to serve us water, but the other flight attendants had a coup and decided to do what they wanted and mingle with the passengers and give us water. Whatever. Finally in the air after the delay and I watched a hell a ton of movies and maybe slept a bit. It was a looooong flight.
Arrived in Johannesburg on April 9th at about 10:00p.m., and I made my way through immigration and customs and got my luggage and found my shuttle to my airport hotel. Got there and had a snack and went to bed. Didn't sleep well because of the jet lag, but I tried.
On April 10th, I went back to the airport at about 9:00a.m., and caught my flight to Windohek, Namibia. I arrived in Namibia at about 1:30p.m., found my ride and made it to my guesthouse. I checked in and hung out for a minute. Later that afternoon, the travel company representative came by and dropped off my detailed itinerary with my maps and directions to all my hotels and things. Then the car guy stopped by and dropped off my car and went over all the safety information. Oh, I'm doing a self drive through the desert of Namibia. So, that's cool!!
Later that evening I went to an awesome place called Joe's Beer House. It was super cool. I had an awesome dinner and a couple drinks and then headed back to my hotel. I walked to the restaurant despite the warnings of it being unsafe. The guesthouse owner said it would be a good idea to take a taxi home. But, it was an 8 minute walk and I decided to live dangerously. Nothing happened except when I was leaving the restaurant a couple of taxi drivers wanted to give me a ride and said it was too dangerous for me to walk. I kind of ignored them and they started yelling at me. I didn't care. I'm a rebel yo. It all turned out fine. I'm still alive and didn't get mugged. Maybe next time I will take a taxi though.
So, that's the first three days of the Great Adventure!!! I am going to do another blog post now. It is when the Great Adventure really started...