2 Days and Counting

I can't believe it's finally here! Almost, at least. I'll be landing in London on Tuesday at about 10 AM local time (2 AM Pacific), and spending the day frantically touring the city thanks in part to my cousin Stacy, who has hooked me up with Tube passes and an open-top bus tour. My layover is something like 9 hours, so hopefully I'll get a little taste of London before getting on my flight to Cape Town. I land in Cape Town at 7:50 AM local time on Wednesday (9:50 PM PST, Tuesday), where the wife and daughter (Norah and Kelly) of my dad's boss' business contact are picking me up. Kelly is in her second year at University of Cape town, and conveniently on winter break, so I may have a friend to show me around and help get me acquainted with the city. And I guess it'll be nice that there will be people on the continent who know my face and who I am.

Alright, just to get a few technical questions out of the way that everyone seem to have...

Cape Town is 10 hours ahead of Los Angeles. It's winter down there, but the climate is pretty similar to winter in LA. The flight is 11 hours from LAX to London-Heathrow, and another 11 hours from Heathrow to Cape Town... for those counting, that's 22 hours each way. Cape Town is arguably the most metropolitan city in Africa, so I will not be without running water or electricity despite what many people would like to think. Yes, most everyone speaks English, though there are also 10 other officially recognized languages. And yes, much of the country is still in a desperate state- around 20% of the population has AIDS and the life expectancy is a mere 43 years.

I know a lot of you that will be reading this will worry about my being abroad alone, but I hope that my being there will perhaps open some eyes as to what is going on in the rest of the world... not just what's happening in the States or in Iraq, though those remain important issues, but the basic human rights and needs that are still not being recognized or fulfilled. And of course to get as close as possible to animals that could feasibly eat me in one bite.

See you all in London!

Lots of love!