18 hours to go...

In approximately 18 hours we will be on our flight. 18 hours. If you would have seen either Michaelle or me earlier today you would not have thought that either one of us was about to fly over to Africa. I, for one, was sitting on the floor of my old room surrounded by utter chaos (probably hugging my knees and rocking back and forth) wondering how I was ever going to pack up all my belongings to move into my new place... let alone how I was going to pack for South Africa. Michaelle, while in somewhat less dire straits, was still surrounded by closet vomitus and armed with pepto bismol to ward off stress-induced stomach-aches. Throughout the day there followed a constant stream of increasingly panicked phone calls and text messages between the two of us. What are you bringing? What should I bring? What do we need?! Really... what do you bring for two months in South Africa? Beats me! The only advice that we got from our contact over there was that it would be fall weather. And to make sure to bring a "light waterproof anorak." I had absolutely no clue what an anorak was until I googled it. When Michaelle was reading that email later in class, she turned to me whispering "what the hell is an anorak?!" "A warm rain jacket, of course" with just enough touch of "know-it-all-ness" to be believable but not too over the top. I'm a good friend like that.

So having finally packed my ridiculous amount of belongings, moved across town with the help of my wonderful father and his van, ran around Athens trying to finish all my last-minute business, got really lost in Conyers at 1am trying to deliver baby animal food to a wildlife rehabber, and made it to Atlanta... I'm now finally feeling ready to actually pack for this trip I'm setting off on in... 18 hours. So what do I need to take again? No clue. But I think I have the most important piece- the pendant pictured above- and that's all that matters... everything else will fall into place. The spiral is a symbol of the goddess, of the feminine serpent force, of constant change and evolution. This particular spiral was a gift from my amazing grandmother and I feel like it is the symbol of this trip for me, so it stays around my neck.

So bring it!! Here we go... and first stop? Amsterdam! Arriving Thursday afternoon. 22 hour layover. Flying to Johannesburg Friday morning. Spending the night there, flying to Port Elizabeth Saturday morning. From there we'll be met at the airport and drive an hour or so to Cape St. Francis- our final destination. So there's the outline of the next few days of travel. Safe travel thoughts are most welcome!

And so it begins...