July 5 - Long Travel Day

Technically it is days as it began on the 4^th and won’t end until the 6^th after crossing the border into Botswana. Holding up well thus 10:30 pm somewhere in the sky over Algeria which puts it around 4:30 back in Chicago and the long holiday weekend is beginning to draw to a close.

The 8-hour flight from Chicago to London was good and I lucked out with an aisle seat in front of a divider wall that gave a lot of leg room. Next to me was a guy from Ohio named Jorge who was on his way to India and is originally from Peru of all places. So we talked about my trip, work, etc. Nice guy and he gave me a few tips on things to do when I get down there. Slept part of the way and puts around on the plane the rest, no Wi-Fi access, which was somewhat of a surprise as it was a new plane. For those wondering, yes I did see a few fireworks as we took off from Chicago but not many. And by the time we crossed Lake Michigan they were all over on that side of the lake.

London was good, it was a little cool when we landed but not that bad. The plane got in around 10:00 am and my flight out to Johannesburg did not leave until 7:00 pm so I went into town to visit Stephen, a rowing friend from the past. Somehow my trips to London seem to coincide with big rowing events as the last time I was over here the Head of the River and the Boat Race were both going on that week. This week it was Royal Henley. There is a dress code at Royal Henley, which I was not prepared for, but that is OK, we stopped by Stephen’s rowing club and watched it in their bar for a bit. His club, the Thames Rowing Club, won the Thames Cup for the first time in 50 years in the eight so they are probably doing quite a bit of drinking right now.

The 11 hour flight to Johannesburg fortunately for me was not full and somehow I again scored a aisle seat with lots of leg room, so luck seems to be following me. Although once again this flight has no Wi-Fi so I am beginning to wonder if British Airways has it. Heathrow Airport did and even the Express Train into London had Wi-Fi available. It would be nice to catch up on stuff but I’m going to try and sleep for a while anyway so it does not matter too much I guess. Hopefully there is some in Johannesburg on my 4 hour layover as once I get into Polokwani I’m guessing there won’t be any. And I know the 3 hour drive to a camp with no electricity means it will be a while before I get back on. Or got back on depending when this gets posted.

Just shy of 24-hours travel time so far with 8-9 more hours flying time and at least a 3 hour drive. And this is not the longest stretch of travel I am going to do, that is reserved for Cape Town to Peru.