Trains, Planes, and Automobiles!

The worst part of traveling abroad is, well actually traveling. We are writing this from a bar at the Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. Not that we would ever promote drinking, but there is a special kind of of pleasure in enjoying a beer after sitting on the same airplane for over 16 hours. Westchester to Manhattan to Brooklyn to Queens, back to Brooklyn (for those of you keeping score: yes, we are expecting to navigate around the South African Veld
but yet can't manage to get to JFK without taking the wrong A-train), on to Queens, to Senegal, to Johannesburg...and we're not done yet. After this layover, we will have to take a shuttle bus to our connecting flight, a plane to Durban, then a car to the hotel for the night before waking and driving to Coffee Bay. Phew!

After sitting through a cross-hemispheric flight filled with babies crying, ribs soar from the sharp elbows of near-by passengers that don't understand the concept of personal space, and one too many leg cramps, we have just one thing to say:

Nkosi Sikilel iAfrika, (God Bless Africa)

Since we want to make these travel diaries not just a story about us, but a story about South Africa, here's a little bit about the phrase above. Nkosi Sikilel iAfrika is a song written in 1897 by Enoch Sontaga, a school teacher. It has over the years been a song of African freedom and pride. 100 years after it was written, the new constitution of the post-apartheid South Africa was adopted. During the same time, in a beautiful compromise symbolizing a united nation, Nkosi Sikilel iAfrika was joined with the long time anthem of the previous government to create a new National Anthem.