Leaving In The Morning From Bloemfontein
Early in the Morning, we left from Big Water Safaris to the Bloemfontein airport. Charlie and William rode with us, and we all got to the airport together. We had an earlier flight from Bloemfontein than the Cox’s, so we said goodbyes to them and boarded the plane. The flight was short and quite hot. We flew to Johannesburg, but our flight didn’t leave Joburg till 9:50 pm.
Spending 8 hours in the Johannesburg Airport
After the semi-short flight from Bloemfontein, we had about 8-9 hours to kill before our next flight. We got off the flight and picked up our bags from the baggage claim. Because we were flying out of the country, we had to re-check our bags. Though, me and Zeb weren’t going to because we were going to go to Portland instead of Raleigh.
How to Kill Time in an Airport
After 30 minutes of running around trying to find where the delta check-in was, we were finally told that we couldn’t check in till 6:00 pm. Ugh. This meant that we had almost 5 hours till we could check in and get inside the main airport.
So, the perfect solution, go to Mug and Bean and wait there for the rest of the time. Yaaaay!… No, not yay. We stayed at the fantastic coffee shop for about 3 hours. But then dad changed his mind, and we went to the in-airport hotel. I got a one-hour rest, dad got some work done, and Zeb took a quick swim.
Duty Free Shopping
When we returned to the airport, checked our bags, and went through security, and dad decided he wanted to get some South African Whiskey at Duty-Free. The nice thing about Duty-Free is that they also have a lot of candy. And when you have a 17-hour flight ahead of you, most likely no GF food, you sometimes want to get some candy. I asked dad, and he said, “Uhh, sure. But you have 30 seconds till I check out.” Me and Zeb sprinted like our lives depended on it.
Here’s the thing, I don’t/can’t eat gluten, dairy, or eggs; basically, all they had was chocolate! I LOVE chocolate, but I also had a 17-hour flight ahead of me and an already sensitive digestive system… So I went with a jumbo pack of Harbio Travel Gummies. The bag was huge but was actually only 49% full!
The Plane Ride to Atlanta
After getting through the airport to our gate, we waited for 20 or so, then went through the second security. It was weird because the person at the table had to go through each person’s bag individually. Mine was kind of messy and tightly packed, so that was a bit big embarrassing. Me and Zeb we initially not sitting next to each other, but we asked the person who was going to sit next to Zeb if she would switch with me so that I could sit with him. She said yes, and we got to sit together! The flight was very long; I watched movies (approximately 4 or 5), slept for 7-8 hours, and ate my gummie’s.
Arriving In Atlanta, and Flying To Portland All By Our Selves
As you might imagine, after a 17-hour plane ride with no real food, I was kind of hysterical. Like, literally. I was acting very funny and wasn’t thinking straight when going through customs and security. Once we were through all the jazz, dad took us to the Delta SkyClub. We had an excellent refresher, and I even got to take a shower! Dad’s plane to Raleigh left a bit earlier than our flight, so we said goodbyes to him. We got lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was excellent, and then we waited for our flight. We had two connections: first to Chicago (Midway) and then to Seattle. Both were relatively short, but we still traveled for over 24 hours.
We arrived in Portland around midnight. We were supposed to arrive 20 minutes earlier than we did, but the delay was only because the plane broke. As we were taking off, something in the cockpit went black, as the captain said. The important thing is that we got back safely. And thus ended our trip back to the United States of America.
