Good Wishes, Preparing, and Then Flying Away

I am looking at the photos from the the beginning of July to when I flew to South Africa. One thing is certain is that I was not sure what kind of food I would find there and I wanted to get a fill of my favorite comfort foods. My favorite meal is breakfast, in particular steak and eggs. This is the breakfast of astronauts. My next favorite meal is soup. I always find out what soups a restaurant has and hope it is a good one. So before I left the USA, I had steak and eggs and soup.




Another thing that happened during the preparation was the people that were genuinely happy for me and expressed it. One friend sent me a pillow with a nice saying on it: Sometimes on the way to a dream you get lost and find a better one.


Also one of my co-workers gave a card. I need to take a photo of the inside. On the outside it says This Place Won't Be the Same Without You. On the inside it says It will Still Suck, That Won't Change.


As far as the house, I cleaned the garage to be able to fit the car in. Ran ethanol free gas through the car and motorcycle. I already had the Nest Thermostat as well as the Nest Protects. These are WiFi enabled devices and I would be able to access them through the internet. I purchased some webcams and placed them strategically in the house. The final preparation was to make sure all of my bills could be paid via the internet. I spoke to a human at the bank and for the credit cards and let them know my travel dates.


I had a 6 AM flight on Wednesday, 24 July 2013. Since the flight was so early I decided to stay the night before in a hotel near the Orlando Airport. On Tuesday the company had a whole bunch of new employee training seminars. After doing them, my neighbor drove me to the hotel. Unfortunately I forgot my backpack and we had to fight traffic to get back to the house.

Another lucky break was that I was booked on Emirates via JetBlue so I was able to check my two bags all the way to Johannesburg. I had a second bag because I was bringing two laptops and other equipment from America for the project. The flight to Dubai was long. There was a flight attendant from South Africa and she came over and spoke to me about what South Africa was like. She was very positive and friendly. The Dubai Airport is huge and confusing. I made it to the lounge and on to the flight to Johannesburg. I remember having a nice conversation with my seat mate and being jealous that he was able to sleep most of the flight. 




I was met at O.R. Tambo Airport by a gentleman named France who drove me to my hotel. It was around 8pm on Thursday 25 July. I had not slept much on the flights and I was exhausted. I called the country manager to let him know I had arrived safe and went to sleep for as long as possible.









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