Tuesday Arrival

After a long (um, very long) plane ride on South African Air, I arrived with several new friends :) in Johannesburg at the big, beautiful, modern, clean Oliver Tambo Airport. I made it through immigration easily, found my bag, and changed some USD for ZAR (South African Rand). The exchange rate is beyond my comprehension, and it's a little disconcerting to be carrying around so very many Rand!

We all gathered at the appointed spot and headed for the bus. A thirty-minute bus ride in the dark through Johannesburg took us to our upscale comfortable hotel. It's exciting and completely unreal to be in Africa, but I sure wish I could SEE it!



On another note, it seems that the country's soccer team is staying on our floor here at the Southern Sun Grayston. We hear they're playing Ghana tomorrow night.

Gateway City USA

I’m at Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC, USA, our Gateway City. I’m sure soon I’ll be seeing others with People to People luggage tags like mine, but so far I feel like I’m doing this alone. How exciting to know that folks from all over the U.S. have been planning and getting ready just like me and are arriving right here today for this grand trip. Our first official gathering is not until we land in Johannesburg at Tambo International tomorrow, but hey where are you?

Okay, so it may seem a bit silly (I did not hear the word lame out there, did I?) to post a photo of my luggage tag, but I'm also of course making sure I know how to get a photo on here when I really want to. Also, I'm just not so sure when I'll next be able to post at all. Even here in DC I'm not finding WiFi as accessible as I'm used to. So spoiled!