Jetsetter

Two weeks ago, I drove past OR Tambo International Airport as a Boeing A330-200 was taking off. My heart sank. Strange you might think? But the thought of travel has always intrigued me. Right now, I am sitting in Seat 48K on a Boeing A330-200 en route to London. My heart sank two weeks ago, because I knew that today I was going to be leaving, escaping the tiredness of work and Johannesburg’s busy streets. I have needed his holiday for many weeks, and I have been slowly building up excitement for it. I am sad to go and wish that my boyfriend was coming with me, I know he’s very jealous of me.

Sometimes in life we get stuck in a rut, the mundane routines of our days and week start to drain the life and energy out of us. We start missing the small things that really matter in life. The sun shining on our skin, the wind rushing through the trees, birds chirping, smiles of random people we pass, the touch of a loved one’s hand. It all becomes blurred by the bland routines that start overwhelming our lives.

They say change is as good as a holiday. But a holiday itself is even better. Exploring new things, finding interest in the things that are normally cut out by our work routine and daily habits. Life isn’t about the routines, about how much money we make, if we succeed or if we have the house on the hill that everyone wants. It’s about finding contentment in what we have and what we are surrounded with, learning from our mistakes and experiencing the wonder of the world we live in. At the same time it is about exploring and finding what makes us happy.

11PM

OK, lets get back to the flight… I’m sitting next to a lovely Afrikaans lady from George in the Eastern Cape who has been working as a teacher in Kingston-upon-Hull for the past 10 years. The two gentleman in front of me are father and son. The father is watching a South African movie and the son is fiddling around on the remote of the seatback television. The gentleman across the isle from them is a freelance journalist for BBC, he grew up in Durban and used to live in Hillbrow in the 60’s. He keeps complaining how different downtown  Johannesburg is, even though the infrastructure has improved vastly, the buildings are dilapidated and the crime has sky rocketed.

Directly across from me is a mother, daughter and two grandchildren (The babies are clearly medicated, they haven’t made a sound since we left the airport. The gentleman behind me however has a 2 year old sitting on his lap who continues to kick at the back of my chair and squeals at the top of her lungs at random moments. All I can say is that I am greatful that I’m not sitting next to them.

I look out the small portal window next to me and I see nothing but deepest darkest Africa… I am looking forward to the sun rising in the morning. Luckily I have an east facing window.

The plane, that I kept mentioning in the beginning, the one I’m sitting in, is a beautiful plane… Aptly named Charlotte Maxeke…She is currently flying at 838km/h at 36000 feet above see level (That’s roughly 11kms above the earth. If I were outside right now I would be dying of hypothermia. (Oh wait there goes the kid behind me again…. WAAAAAAAAA WAAAAAAAA, kick kick). Yes, that is a useless bunch of information, but you read it anyway. ;)

Not sure when  I will be able to post this, but hopefully it will get to done as soon as possible.

There go the babies. Its like a flipping chain reaction, as soon as one starts the next one goes…

Oh and did I mention how I love turbulence… Its like a roller coaster without the coaster…  or the rollers for that matter.

4AM

The sky is slowly starting to fill up with crimson, aquamarines and deep blue. Venus slowly creeping over the horizon, trying to catch up to Jupiter. The heavens are really wondrous when one takes the time out to just take it all in.