13 June, 2017
Mosselbaai, South Africa
Traveling
has a certain reputation for being an exhausting and potentially confusing
experience, particularly when flying across multiple continents. The savvy (or,
the experienced) traveler prepares for the potential host of problems part of
air transport. Unfortunately, this presents an excellent opportunity for unpredicted
problems, generally for a sleep deprived individual to solve in rapid
succession.
I only
had a single mishap on this trip, which I shall understand to mean that I’ve finally figured out how to
travel internationally, or at some point this will all blow up in my face.
Travel
via airplane can be a leisurely, relaxing experience, to an exotic location, with
good food, drinks, and rest. Unless, one of these things comes into play:
1)
Flying economy
2)
Flying with more than
the allotted amount of luggage,
3)
Flying with expensive
or delicate equipment
4)
Flying as a student, researcher, or similar capacity, in which case all of the above may
apply.
Planning
a trip comes in stages. For this trip, I was committed almost by the end of our
2016 field season (i.e. the time we spend on site, excavating/in lab). My search
for a ticket was delayed, because I still had to make a decision on grad
school. After I made a decision, I could then look at the logistics of early
arrival.
One
of the benefits of this trip is the shorter duration, and (mostly) singular destination.
I’m starting classes in
August, which curtails any possibility of wandering off to Southeast Asia or
east Africa again. Theoretically, this should result in my needing/packing less
luggage, right?
Actually,
I think it ended up about the same (in terms of bulk). I just became smarter
about how I packed it. Occasionally, I’ve
taken my backpacking backpack, but this doesn’t have a lot of space and it difficult to live out of (I
need to unpack it to find things). I have also taken my duffel bag around the
world, but even its small-ish space becomes heavy when full of books. So I have
stuck upon an ingenious method, used by global travelers: I purchased a rolling
suitcase.
And
borrowed my dad’s
rolling duffel bag, and then borrowed another one from my sister. Armed with
these, I was ready to begin sorting through piles of clothes and deciding what
comes with.
What
did I do, throw everything in a pile to pack? Yeah, it all has to be packed for
the move anyway!
Last
season, I limited myself to two books, reading another dozen off the kindle
app. This year, I have 3 textbooks, 4 notebooks (full of notes), and at least 4
novels in addition to the ones on my kindle. I figure I can practice cramming
for the semester during those insanely long flights.
I
also made the mistake last year bringing of minimal electronics—which might not have been a
problem, except that most of my duties required working with programs not
supported by a tablet! Additionally, the power cord—which cannot be purchased in South
Africa—died (this made uploading
documents to graduate programs difficult). Oops. In retrospect, it’s not a great idea to put all
your files on one hard drive. So, this year, I have brought laptop, tablet,
phone, and extras of everything, including 3 earbuds, one pair of which has
already given up the ghost.
But
I still had space left. At this point, my site director gave me several additional
items, including the ranger, which is an extremely durable handheld computer,
casually mentioning the cost. of this device
I
immediately began planning how I could duck tape the backpack to me, preferably
using a whole roll of tape. Security might be an issue, but it probably wouldn’t be much worse sleeping with the
bulky pack than airplane seats in the first place.
Packed,
ticket in hand, I was ready to navigate the world of airlines, security, and
sleep deprived individuals. My biggest complication was an 18 hour layover in
JFK airport, NYC. Last year, I had 12 hours in London, which meant I hung out
at a museum. Which I could probably blame for my sleep deprived arrival in Cape
Town and subsequent stress. Fortunately, when you travel as often as I do, you
have friends in many places. This is one of the benefits of travel: meeting and
getting to know so many different people. I think, at the end of my life, I will be able
to look back and see that my life was better because I know they existed, and
know them, whether we met each other only for a moment, or become lifelong
friends.
At
this point, I’m
arriving in South Africa for the fifth time. Last year was a season of mishaps,
from mixing up my arrival dates (and having to repurchase a bus ticket from
Cape Town to Mosselbaai), to messing up my visa, (and having to change my departing
flight), and finally, leaving my backpack in the taxi. After a considerable
amount of panic and some serious sleuthing skills on the part of the hostel
staff, it was returned. In retrospect, all of these could have been avoided, by
paying better attention to dates or where my belongings are.
Of
course, some things can’t be
predicted. I made it to cape town, was given a visa without a second glance,
and took an Uber to the backpacker. I totally had this….right? However, after going to
bed, my phone updated/reset or generally malfunctioned, ending up in a
different time zone, and the alarm was no longer on Cape Town time. It’s problematic to wake up for a
6am bus at 6:45. I checked out of my room, called a taxi. I even had cash on
hand. Then I glanced at the clock on the dashboard, which read 7am. I was certainly
to late for my bus, and had just missed the next (and, as far as I knew, the
last round of buses for the day, at least until 6pm). My technological dilemma required me to try something
new: purchasing a ticket at the counter instead of online. I had ask three
different companies before I found one with a morning route (we are discouraged
from taking the bus that arrives at midnight, for obvious reasons). In the end,
I left Cape Town three hours after I was supposed to, travelled a slightly
different route to my destination, and arrived only two hours after my original
bus.
I
must say, I’m
fairly impressed by the potential to take a later bus, especially if me (and my
phone) are recovering from jetlag. I’ll
remember that one.
It’s strange and exciting and
familiar and disorienting to have returned. It’s home in a lot of ways, but every time the place has changed. People have changed. Or maybe it's just my perception that is changing, as I learn more about them. Perhaps this is the best part of travel, diving deeper into the water after skimming the surface.
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