What's that smell??

Oh, yeah.

Wow! What a trip! Ok, I'm too tired to go into too many details. But most of the trip actually went pretty well.



Take off

 The flight to Atlanta -- no problem.

It got tense for a few moments when they shut down the terminal where my flight was scheduled due to some kind of security issue. But that didn't last long.

Due to all of the delays I got the center of the center seats. I wasn't able to see out any window no matter which way I bent or turned -- not that it mattered much since we were over water most of the time and had the shades drawn to let people sleep. Before we took off, the duration of the flight kept changing -- when we were in the terminal they announced that the flight would be 15 hours and 45 minutes. The first announcement said that it would be 15 hours and 30 minutes. The next person who came on said that it would be 15 hours and 10 minutes. I wanted more people to come on so the duration would keep going down.

The seat was roomier than most airplane seats so I appreciated that. It also had a screen built into the seat in front of me so I got to watch all of my crime shows and a bunch of TED talks all night long. I sat next to a man who has 7 kids, 3 are his own and 4 were adopted. He is coming here to work in Swaziland for orphans.

Around 2AM (Boston Time) I thought I wasn't going to be able to take it much longer. The compression stockings were so uncomfortable and my touchas was sore, but I found ways to shift to get more comfortable. By the time we were getting close to landing I was feeling as though it wasn't so bad. It turned out to be about 15 hours and 20 minutes, I think.

The transfer to the Mozambique flight went more smoothly than I expected. The Johannesburg airport is stunning and ultra modern. I was reminded that in many other cultures deodorant is not part of what they do -- until I actually sat down on the flight to Maputo and realized who actually smelled like that! That was an easy flight.

When I got out of Customs, the driver was there as promised and then things started to turn. Poor Yussaf, locked the keys in the trunk when he put my bags in there. He was distracted because he has a terribly sore tooth that has half of his face looking as though he lost a bad fight. We waited about an hour before help arrived.

Then we spent the next hour trying to figure out which hotel was mine. The whole way here I'm looking for flags to take pictures of for my brother. It was already dark so I couldn't see much except for flags with the name of the gas station they were boasting.

I have finally landed at Afrin Prestige Hotel. It is absolutely stunning. The room is enormous and looks like something my Aunt Mimi would have decorated. When I'm more awake I'll post some pictures.