In some ways I’m dreading it while in other ways I’m more excited than I’ve ever been for a trip in a really long time. One week from today, I’ll be in South Africa with my family. We’re doing a 16 day safari trip to South Africa and Botswana. It’s supposed to be really incredible. It’s basically like the Africam (I’m sure P5s OTers know what I’m talking about) but being there in person. I’ve never seen lions or many other animals in the wild so it’s really exciting. I recently went out and bought the best binoculars I could find in Cayman (okay, so that isn’t a really high standard) so I’m hoping to catch a glimpse of some cool stuff.

But, you may ask, why am I dreading it? Pretty simple… the flight over. It’s sooooo long. I’m flying Cayman to Atlanta and then Atlanta to South Africa direct. It’s like 16 hours on the way there and over 17 on the way back. That’s just an absurdly long flight. Luckily I have a ton of TV all ready to watch and I have a power outlet so I should be set for the periods when I’m not able to sleep. Even once we’re there we have a bunch of flights inside the country including some stuff that is listed on the itinerary as “light aircraft” flights. Needless to say I’m not looking forward to those. I’ve never been afraid of flying on jets (by the time I knew what was going on, I’d already been on a bunch of flights so I never had the chance to get scared) but little prop planes are not fun at all. I’ve been on them in Costa Rica and I avoid them as much as possible. Unfortunately I don’t have a choice on this trip so I’ll be dealing with the little planes a few times over the next few weeks.

Other than the South Africa stuff, I’ve been spending the last week bearing down on doing some detail sort-of stuff that just needs to get done every once in awhile. It’s been a week since Hannah and Ashley went home so I’ve had the time/space to get that sort of stuff out of the way. I’ve been dealing with more Cayman work permit stuff so that’s been tons of fun (usual story… no parking, long lines, cramped waiting areas, not-so-helpful staff, etc). But we’re almost finished with work permits round two so at least the whole process will be over with for awhile.

I’ve also been hanging out with some other people in the area. I’ve now crashed two parties thrown by the same couple down at the pool. Both times it was by accident and I’ve tried to not be the “random dude who hangs out with a whole bunch of people who know each other” but I have played that role a few times now. Pretty awkward but the people here are definitely nice and very welcoming so it’s been less awkward than it would normally be in most situations. I also met the brothers who live across the hall from me and hung out with them and their friends a few nights ago. It was fun as well — except I think I need to learn how to play Rockband. I’ll try to work on that when I get back from South Africa. Even though I’ve met a bunch of people here now I’m still not really sure how the singles scene works here. Almost all of the girls I’ve met are living with a guy so even though it’s good to broaden social horizons it hasn’t really led me to any sort of conclusions as to the best ways to meet girls on Cayman. I’ll also work on that when I get back from South Africa…

Related posts:

1. Some pics
2. A big announcement
3. Some big news…
4. The trip home
5. Paris Trip