Plane Ride!

Sunset on the plane

Saturday morning Danielle and Kristen drove me to the airport in Grand Rapids. On the way we stopped at Panera with our best friends. The eleven of us had a great last breakfast and then headed to the airport. I am so lucky to have had my friends there to see me off since by family couldn’t make it. It was hard saying goodbye and many tears were shed. All 18 people on my trip had on our South Africa shirts. We attracted so much attention in the airport and everyone was curious as to what we were doing in Africa. We boarded our first flight from Grand Rapids to Detroit. After we settled onto the plane there was a mechanical problem, so we had to move to a later flight. It cut down our layover time in Detroit. The flight to Amsterdam seemed to take forever because no one got any sleep. It was nice to have tv screens though. I watched two movies. They provided a good dinner, which included pasta, salad, a roll, and cheese and crackers. There was also a small breakfast, which I didn’t like. The trip from Amsterdam to Stellenbosch went well. It was much more comfortable and everyone on our trip slept between 4-7 hours. They provided a ton of food and even ice cream. There was a beautiful sunset on the plane! Once we landed in Cape Town, we went through customs. The officers were very friendly. We then met David Taylor, who is our South African Coordinator. We loaded vans and then drove for 45 mins to our host families. Lizzie, Kayla, and I met only Liesel, the mom because it was 1am and the kids were sleeping. We are staying in a little apartment in the back of the house. It is cozy with our own small kitchen and bathroom.