Car, Train, Bus, Plane
The day to travel to Cape Town has arrived! After semi-frantically finishing packing, handing off my apartment key to the subletter, and running to Chase Bank for some cash, I hopped in an Uber to Union Station, and made the train to Grand Central with 2 minutes to spare. The train ride to New York was pretty uneventful - just continued reading Long Walk to Freedom, the Nelson Mandela autobiography to prepare for South Africa. The book has been great so far, and it is fascinating to learn about the upbringing and evolution of such a well-known figure. Mandela is honest throughout, admitting to his weaknesses and growth over his life, which is rare to hear from such a celebrated man. I also just finished Pale Native, the autobiography of Max Du Preez, an Afrikaner journalist who was a staunch supporter of the anti-apartheid movement during the second half of the 20th century. His story was interesting as well, but at times he seemed to stress his self-importance and his own views and you didn't always get a complete picture of the events.
From Grand Central I took the Airporter to JFK, got through security without an issue, and waited for my flight. The flight ended up being delayed for unknown reasons, but I had a long layover in Amsterdam anyway so it didn't really affect me. I also had time to call Grandma and Uncle Bob to thank them for their graduation gifts and catch up, which was really nice.
The flight to Cape Town is long. First leg from JFK to Amsterdam took just about 6 hours, in a very cramped Delta seat, while the second leg on KLM, though a nicer plane, was almost twice as long, at 11 hours. I passed the time reading Long Walk to Freedom (got through 300 pages of the 650 page tome), listening to podcasts, and watching a Trevor Noah stand-up special on Netflix, again, to get ready for South Africa.
I met a few iXers in Amsterdam, and a lot more in the Cape Town airport. Seems like a cool group of people with a range of backgrounds, and I'm excited to get to know them over the next 2 months.
So, a car, train, bus, plane and 30 hours of travel later, and 6 years after I wrote the report on Nelson Mandela that peaked my interest in South Africa, I have finally made it to Cape Town!
From Grand Central I took the Airporter to JFK, got through security without an issue, and waited for my flight. The flight ended up being delayed for unknown reasons, but I had a long layover in Amsterdam anyway so it didn't really affect me. I also had time to call Grandma and Uncle Bob to thank them for their graduation gifts and catch up, which was really nice.
The flight to Cape Town is long. First leg from JFK to Amsterdam took just about 6 hours, in a very cramped Delta seat, while the second leg on KLM, though a nicer plane, was almost twice as long, at 11 hours. I passed the time reading Long Walk to Freedom (got through 300 pages of the 650 page tome), listening to podcasts, and watching a Trevor Noah stand-up special on Netflix, again, to get ready for South Africa.
I met a few iXers in Amsterdam, and a lot more in the Cape Town airport. Seems like a cool group of people with a range of backgrounds, and I'm excited to get to know them over the next 2 months.
So, a car, train, bus, plane and 30 hours of travel later, and 6 years after I wrote the report on Nelson Mandela that peaked my interest in South Africa, I have finally made it to Cape Town!
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