June 25th. My last day of travel for the trip of
a lifetime! Almost 12 hours of sleep, after running on very little for the past
week! Everyone at camp had already been up, and gone on a set route drive by
the time I was waking up. Well, it’s a long set route drive, so they were still
on it, I’m sure. When I got up around 10:30 my body time (and 4:30 FL time), it
was almost time to be served breakfast. I freshened up a bit and then decided
to watch Life of Pi with my meal. I was all out of Africa documentaries, but I
figured, this one had tigers and other awesome animals still! For breakfast, I
had an omelette with chicken sausage, fruit, and yogurt. The omelette was
surprisingly good! The sausage was not. I really love the cute little cups of
coffee and tea that SA’can Airways serves you with your meals. :) I eventually turned Life of Pi off,
because there were too many interruptions from the PA system, and flipped
through the Sawubona (“Hello” in Zulu) magazine, planning my future voyage to
this country. :) We landed in JFK around 12:30 SA’can time, 6:30 local. Then
began the most annoying experience of flying. I had to go traipsing through the
airport, wait in a huge line for passport control, go to baggage claim, get my
two suitcases (the handle of one which will no longer pull up), go through
declarations, drag my bags around, stand in another line to check them in
again, scurry around to the outgoing area, take the shuttle to a different
terminal, go out back to where domestic ticketing is, and stand in another long
line to go through security all over again, with all the people who are just
now arriving to the airport to take a flight. Eish. I finally got through
security and headed over to my gate. By the time I got there, it was around 8:30.
I attempted to freshen up a bit, cause sleeping in a plane over the ocean
leaves you looking rough! I got a coffee at Dunkin Donuts, yum! And then headed
over to my gate to hit a wifi spot with a plug-in. My place was supposed to
board at 10, but it apparently didn’t arrive from the international terminal
until 10, so they still had to clean it and do a security check before they let
us on. Yay for delayed flights! They let us board a little after 11, and we
took off a little after 1130. I spent the whole flight reading 100 Heartbeats
and learning about a lot of cool organizations dedicated to the conservation of
really awesome animals! Then, we finally landed around 2:15. I was back in
South Florida. Looking out the window at the airport, I saw palm trees and saw
the beating sun, which I knew would be joined by oppressive humidity. It was
finally the moment I had been dreading for about 5 and a-half weeks. Sorry to
everyone who is back home, but I just wanted to turn around and get on the next
flight to Jo’burg! My mom, grandmother, sister-in-law, and nephew met me at the
arrivals waiting area, which was very sweet of them all. It was good to see
them, but I just didn’t feel complete. I guess I have to go now and get my mind
back in the real world. You know, figure out what I am doing with myself, and
how I can get back to South Africa most quickly. I left the French girls, Jon, Lauren,
and Daniel under strict orders to tell me about any and all predator sightings,
and send me pictures as well! At least I will still be working on my predator research
for the next few months, so I can pretend I am still there, hey. It has been
amazing: a trip I have been dreaming of since I can remember. Everyone at
Siyafunda was awesome, and my last 6 weeks exceeded any expectation I could
have imagined. South Africa stole my heart from the minute I stepped off the
plane in Hoedspruit and inhaled. Sala kahle, South Africa, I will be coming
back for you soon! Ngiyabonga, baie dankie, and cheers!
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