Trip so far.....

I am finally feeling settled into my new place in the Observatory (a sort of “suburb” of Cape Town). I am living at 5 Howe Street L7—aka The Loft. My journey here was looooong, but not as bad as I expected! My stay in Chicago O’hare was brief and from there I went to London Heathrow. Flying in, the weather didn’t look so great and when I got into the terminal, I couldn’t decide if I should go out or not. I wandered around for a bit and talked to a few of the local’s. They said it was supposed to be a nice day but to be careful because it was a Bank holiday and some of the underground lines may be diverted. I decided I couldn’t just sit in the airport for 11 hours, so I put my carry on luggage in day storage and took the London Underground into the city.

London was beautiful! As soon as I emerged onto the surface of the street (lol, its really far down) Big Ben was directly above me! Many of the sites you would expect to see were all right there. The London Eye was across the street, house of Parliament was right there, the Westminster Abbey and tons of historic buildings and beautiful parks. I have to admit I was super tired, so I was walking around like a zombie! But I got some great pictures and got outside!

On my way back to the airport, I made a couple stops—one in a shopping center and one (hectic) trip to Notting Hill. Little did I know that it was the Notting Hill Carnival that day and all of the trains into Notting Hill were ridiculously over-packed. I thought that was the norm until I got there and saw thousands of people on the street. I couldn’t continue on that line to the airport, so I had to walk around and find another station. On my way there, I stopped at Kensington garden and took a quick walk around—it was nice. I finally got back to the airport, about two hours before my flight. I made a quick call to my mom (which I found out today- looking at my account- that it cost me $35!!!!) and went and sat at the gate.

The 11.5 hour flight to Cape Town wasn’t as bad as I had expected. I flew South African Airways on an older plane, but the flight attendants were nice. I sat next to a woman from Canada who moved to CT with her husband 45 years ago. She gave me some great advice on the city and safety (which I have gotten from everyone by now!)!!

Once I got to CT at 9:30 AM, I collected my luggage and went out to the front of the airport. At this point, my biggest fear that I had before my trip HAPPENED! There was nobody at the airport to pick me up! I sat for about an hour and a half before I figured I had to make a move, so I called Oliver, the owner of VAC. Apparently Sly, who was picking me up, thought I wasn’t arriving until 10:10 PM! It was refreshing to know that I could calmly handle the situation and once Sly came I was and still am able to give him trouble for it ;-)

That is my trip here in a nutshell, there are some links to my pic’s up to now… I will write more later! Thanks for reading!!!

Going Away Party

London

Penguins

RIP Marlene Riccatone 9/5/09