Saturday Nov 11
What an exciting, yet nerve wracking morning. We woke up at our cousin Nicks house, and got on the road for JFK airport. Dave awoke early in the morning to a cramp in his right calf! Great start to the trip! Even walking to the bathroom was painful, how would hiking Africa all work out, ha! We had a 10 am flight, so we got out the door by 7 am to get to JFK. It was a freezing cold morning! We were dressed for summer in Africa, not November in NYC!
We had rented a car from near our apartment in Scranton, so we dropped it off and headed straight for the terminal. We got to the international terminal in plenty of time, but looked like pack mules walking with our 40 L packs. At the airport, we pseudo cut in line checking in. We walked up to check in holding our itinerary, and they sent us to the front of a very long line because they thought we already had boarding passes. (Or as Dave tells it: Nadine accidentally cut in line by mis-telling the South Africa Airways lady that we were premier class (ha!)).
Exciting, we had our tickets for NYC to Johannesburg to Antananarivo! Mada here we come!
We made final family phone calls waiting by our gate, took a few minutes to reflect on all the amazing planning we had done. Now was the time to enjoy the trip! We boarded the plane with South African attendants & accents, and then took off. NaDave honeymoon was off! We had 15 hrs to rest up…and finally read up on Mauritius & Reunion!…Africa here we come!
Sunday Nov 12
Flight #1 JFK to JNB: 15 hours to fret about what was to come- we were worried about a safe flight, no plague, and no other issues! The flight went smooth and at least Dave got some decent sleep on the plane. Nadine was up almost the whole time!!...the nerves about how our trip would go were certainly starting.
As we awoke we could see the African coast of Angola and Nambia out the window. The contrast between ocean shoreline and desert coming together was beautiful. Passing over the landscape below was all we needed for entertainment. We landed safely and on-time to a sunny Johannesburg. The airport is to the north of the city, so we didn't see anything in particular. But we deplaned groggy with everyone and made our way to customs for our transfer flight to Madagascar! We made it quickly thru incoming customs with our backpacks. but then hit a long outgoing immigration line to get to our Mada flight. We had a 60+ minutes until boarding, so we initially felt okay.
As we waited, we heard American English spoke near us, so we politely introduced ourselves. Turns out one of the people was from Jackson Hole, Wyoming and headed to Mada....and we found out she used to work for National Geographic (Alexandra Fuller). She had been to Mada before, and was writing an article for a travelers website. We asked her all about our fears about the Plague, but she reassured us that if we stayed smart, we should be okay. But she did advise us to be careful of handling money...the money is so dirty that handling that and forgetting to wash your hands can give you a stomach virus!
As we chatted, the 3 of us noted our time was running short. We heard the immigration agents call out our flight and say anyone on the flight to jump the line and come forward. We hurriedly rushed ahead and got through. As we headed towards the gate, Alexandra instructed us that to board our flight...we first board a bus, that then drives us to the plane. If we missed that bus, we were SOL. And when Alexandra started to run to catch the flight, we started to run too! What a way to start our trip...we ran through a long hall of gift shops and duty free. Our legs were tired and our bags were heavy, but we pressed on. Dave ran ahead and got to the gate first...they were already boarding, so I waved back to Nadine to hurry up! We made it on time and exhaled a bit.
We didn't get a long look, but already the people looked differently. There was more of a mix of whites and blacks, and the features of each looked different than USA. And our flight to Mada was also a different mix of people...albeit the few that were there. The plane was less than half full, which makes sense with the Plague! We found our seats and before taking off, the flight attendants walked up and down the aisles with an aerosol can spewing cleaner. They also handed out cards explaining that a Plague was present...this was for real! We finally took off and we each dozed off for a nap. As we awoke, the island of Madagascar was below us and it looked beautiful. We started our decent and the country started coming into focus!
South African Airways leaving NYC!
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