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After a month of vacation bliss, I left Hawaii and headed for San Francisco on Friday, January 22. There, I spent my last few days on US soil at my boyfriend’s house, tying up important loose ends with the bank, insurance company, and school. Fun stuff. My room in our beautiful Richmond apartment was no longer mine. Although I’m grateful we found such a wonderful subletter, it’s somewhat unsettling to feel foreign in your own home—to have to knock on a door you used to have the key to. Monday finally came, and it still hadn’t hit me how long I was going to be gone. At SFO, I met up with Kasey, my roommate and travel partner. Her family, especially her mom, was overcome with emotion as we said our goodbyes and moved through the security lines. Flight EK226, overnight to Dubai. 15 hours 40 minutes. Two Dramamines, wake me for dinner.
During the flight, we had a bout of epic turbulence. Kasey was mute with dignified terror… I wish I could say the same for the flight attendants. Two of them screamed at the first alarming surge, which considering their role on the aircraft, is nothing short of extremely inappropriate. We had thirteen hours to kill in Dubai, all of which I spent awake and desperate for sleepdom.
At 8:35 AM, after the grueling night I spent in fluorescent daylight, flight EK770 left Dubai for Cape Town. Two more Dramamine, slept through lunch. This flight was much more bearable, probably due to the exciting fact that it was the last leg of a 38 hour voyage.
I watched the monitor listlessly after we crossed the border into South Africa, ineffectively trying to physically feel being in a different corner of the world. Arrival was surreal, the two of us were like a CD single (hah, CDs!) on loop, singing the same song over and over again—Hey, we’re in Africa!
All for now...
I have decided, for now, to make separate posts for all that is worth mentioning (which is a lot). One blog for the past four weeks is daunting and may put me off of this forever. So, I will write the "recall" blogs as quickly as my motivation allows and hopefully, get caught up within two weeks. Apologies for the ambiguity!
All for now...
Let's get the disclaimer out there: I am not going to make a very good blogger. To begin with, I am overly picky with what I commit to paper, even if it is only for me to read; this gets published into the internet abyss, very intimidating. I also like having a personal stamp on things, and I find that it's difficult to do that while also maintaining a narrative dear-diary voice. Thirdly, I'm off to a terrible start--by definition, it's no start at all. I am already well into my fourth week here so I can say for certain, that by no means, will this blog be an all-inclusive record of my semester abroad. This late start can be attributed to the problems I had getting this off the ground. Below is what I believe to be the steps to starting a travel blog:
1. Blind faith
With visa in hand and travel plans confirmed, the "blind faith" stage begins. I could only imagine all the wonderful things I was going to experience, and (a) how I want to share them with friends and family, (b) how I want a record for myself, and (c) how a blog would make it all fantastically possible.
2. Underestimation
So a blog requires work. So much to say, so little motivation to sit down and figure out how to say it all. And in Cape Town, staring idly at a blinking cursor on an empty page will actually cost you (163.41 internet credits and counting).
3. Me, the Reprimander
With a lot of reflection on my own laziness and a bit of the early confidence returning, the idea gets revisited. This time, with a grain of salt.
*4. The beginnings and empty-diary syndrome
This is where I am currently. I've found that the birth of a blog is similar to the prom commitee in high school. Once the color, theme, and other decorative elements are configured, everyone slowly removes themselves from the remaining responsibilities. It has taken me already two days and a shameful amount of minesweeper to finally spit this out.
5. Upkeep
We shall see. My current goal is at least four blogs a month. This, I am already starting to fear was a bit optimistic. However, I will be posting some images very soon as sort of an abridged picture book of the past four weeks. There's already too much to recall.
All for now...
During the flight, we had a bout of epic turbulence. Kasey was mute with dignified terror… I wish I could say the same for the flight attendants. Two of them screamed at the first alarming surge, which considering their role on the aircraft, is nothing short of extremely inappropriate. We had thirteen hours to kill in Dubai, all of which I spent awake and desperate for sleepdom.
At 8:35 AM, after the grueling night I spent in fluorescent daylight, flight EK770 left Dubai for Cape Town. Two more Dramamine, slept through lunch. This flight was much more bearable, probably due to the exciting fact that it was the last leg of a 38 hour voyage.
I watched the monitor listlessly after we crossed the border into South Africa, ineffectively trying to physically feel being in a different corner of the world. Arrival was surreal, the two of us were like a CD single (hah, CDs!) on loop, singing the same song over and over again—Hey, we’re in Africa!
