The Long Trip Over

I’ll start with the trip over. I boarded the shuttle to the airport with a bit more trepidation than I might like to admit. I suppose we always have a bit of fear of the unknown. I also knew that regardless of what landing in South Africa would be like, the nearly two days of getting there could be exhausting. But, armed with entertainment and heavy sedatives, I was off…
The trip was actually not too bad. No sedatives necessary. I had a long layover in NYC, and was fortunate enough to have a place to call home for a few hours (thanks ae and j!!). I went for a run to burn some energy, showered, and re-humanized before boarding the long flight. I’d recommend breaking any long trip up like that! And my fellow passengers were likely just as grateful as me that I’d managed a shower and change of clothes.

The long plane ride from JFK to Cape Town was…long. We boarded in the late afternoon, which I think was early morning in Cape Town. Time, however, becomes fairly irrelevant at some point. Contrary to my itinerary, which listed a stopover in Johannesburg, we stopped for a re-fuel in Dakar in the dark hours of some morning (yesterday? tomorrow?), during which security guards boarded the plane and proceeded to tear apart all the seats looking for contraband. Then we were off again for CT. Or perhaps that was all a groggy dream…

The thing about a 15 hour plane ride is, you’d better like your neighbors. As luck would have it, my neighbor loaded a large bag (over)stuffed with climbing gear into the overhead bin before sitting down next to me. Tristan, as it turns out, was on his way home from 2 months of backcountry skiing and ice climbing in the Cascades and the Tetons. Within minutes, I had a new friend. 15 hours, a sunset, a sunrise, a few bad meals, and a couple of naps later, I had seen pictures of all of South Africa’s premiere climbing crags and had planned many epic excursions through the region. It’s always nice to meet some locals. When they come complete with good beta and a full assortment of gear…who could really ask for more.

Landing in Cape Town was a bit disorienting. Having been out skiing only a couple of days before, I now walked off the plane into 105°F of sunshine. I then promptly tried to get into the drivers seat of the taxi. Hmm…I’m not in Kansas anymore. But I’m home. More to come soon….