The Ups and Downs of plane flights

Uffda, what a long two days this has been! Not even  flying to New Zealand can compare to the length of the plane trip to Johannesburg. Monday started out with good omens- another girl and myself got to by pass the body scanners at MSP security!The flights from MSP to Chicago, and then to Washington DC were all successful and pleasant.The only excitement in those two trips was when we were flying in to Chicago a St. Thomas student loudly asked her seatmate if the body of water we were flying over(Lake Michigan) was the ocean. Sometimes I can’t help agree with the stereotype that Americans are stupid.

 After we got to DC we were allowed a brief rest –what we thought was going to be at least a half hour, turned into a 15 minute break. After frantically boarding, getting all settled into our seats…. Our plane was delayed over an hour because of some technical problems. After we finally take off everything goes fairly smoothly. After dozing on and off throughout the night I wake up to an incredibly unhappy body.  It looks like something from supper the night before had given me food poisoning. Note, the LAST thing you want on a 16+ hour flight is food poisoning!  Soon after I woke up we had to stop in Senegal to refuel and change flight attendents. They also spray the cabin with something that kills mosquitoes(and yellow fever)-  not the most pleasant thing to wake up too. The man next to me woke gagging, thinking he was soffocating.  

After another 8 hours in the air we land in Johannesburg. We left costums behind to greet the warm South African sunset- and by warm, I mean warm! It’s gloriously summer here, the grass is green, the flowers are blooming. It is the opposite of poor cold Minnesota. On the bus ride over to where we will stay the night we all threw open the windows to catch every last bit fresh air we could. Breathing in the summery smells of bbqs, wet soil, the tang of motor oil, and for some odd reason, bread dough? Well, whatever the scent, it was a huge relief to breathe in non-airplane air. We are spending the night in Mazenod Retreat Center, a Christian retreat center. We each have our own rooms that over look a pretty little courtyard. Tomorrow we leave at 6 to catch another plane to Windhoek.