One Last Request For Our Readers

We would love to know who and how many people have been following our trip. If you've enjoyed this blog, please comment on this post. You don't have to write anything fancy unless you want to--just put your full name.

Thanks,

Doug and Dena

Africa By The Numbers

Two years ago, we set a goal for ourselves that we would travel to Burbank's sister city, Gaborone, Botswana, to participate in their campaign to eradicate malaria. We want to thank all of our friends and family who helped us to realize that goal. There are too many to thank individually, and they come from a variety of places:

• The Burbank Sister City Committee
• Students at Burbank High School and John Burroughs High School for donating money to purchase 500 bed nets
• Our family and friends for donating money to help with travel costs
• Gaborone Senior Secondary School
• The governments of Gaborone and Botswana
• All of our friends and hosts on the African continent

Here are a few amusing statistics from the trip:

TRANSPORTATION

Different Methods: 9—Foot, Car, Airplane, Bus, Taxi/Van, Boat/Ferry, Safari Truck, Zip Line, Elephant

Air Travel: 8 flights, 54 hours in the air, 23761 miles (38237 km)

Departure City	Destination City	Hours	Miles	km
Los Angeles, CA, USA	London, England	13	5437	8750
London, England	Johannesburg, South Africa	13	5632	9063
Gaborone, Botswana	Johannesburg, South Africa	1	173	278
Johannesburg, South Africa	Cape Town, South Africa	2	785	1263
Cape Town, South Africa	Johannesburg, South Africa	2	785	1263
Johannesburg, South Africa	Madrid, Spain	10	5030	8095
Madrid, Spain	Chicago, IL, USA	9	4179	6725
Chicago, IL, USA	Los Angeles, CA, USA	4	1740	2800
	TOTAL	54	23761	38237

Bus Travel: 8 bus trips, 41 hours, 1575 miles (2534 km)

Departure City	Destination City	Hours	Miles	km
Johannesburg, South Africa	Gaborone, Botswana	7	173	278
Gaborone, Botswana	Kasane, Botswana	13	474	763
Kasane, Botswana	Parakarungu, Botswana	3	150	241
Parakarungu, Botswana	Kasane, Botswana	3	150	241
Livingstone, Zambia	Kazungula, Botswana/Zambia Border	1	37	60
Kazungula, Botswana/Zambia Border	Gaborone, Botswana	11	574	924
Cape Town Open-Top Tour	Round Trip	2	13	21
Robben Island Tour	Round Trip	1	4	6
	TOTAL	41	1575	2534

Number of Taxis: 39

Number of Boats/Ferries: 6—3 ferries and 1 small pontoon across the Chobe/Zambizi River, 2 ferries to/from Robben Island

Total Weight of four checked suitcases coming home: 150 pounds (68 kg)

We spent a significant amount of time in 10 different cities (London, Johannesburg, Gaborone, Kasani, Parakarungu, Livingstone, Victoria Falls, Cape Town, Madrid, Chicago), and 7 different countries (England, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Spain, USA).

We stayed in 8 different hostels, hotels, homes, apartments, and “other” accommodations: 1 hostel, 2 hotels, 2 homes, 1 apartment, 1 camp chalet, 1 classroom)

FOOD

We had breakfast, lunch, or dinner at a buffet 12 times.

We enjoyed food and/or drinks at 30 different restaurants, pubs or other eating locations (airplanes, buses, school, villages, homes, hotel rooms and apartments).

We consumed 14 different types of meat: Beef, Chicken, Pig, Fish, Lamb, Goat, Ox, Ostrich, Warthog, Impala, Kudu, Eland, Crocodile, and Mopani Worm

We had pap with our meal on 10 occasions.

ANIMALS/WILDLIFE

We experienced 4 different Game Drives: Johannesburg, Gaborone, Mokolodi, Chobe

We saw over 30 different species of “wild” animals—mostly mammals:

Baboon, Buffalo, Cat, Cheetah, Chicken*, Crocodile*, Cow*, Dassie, Dog, Dolphin, Donkey, Eland*, Elephant, Gemsbok, Giraffe, Goat*, Hippo, Hyena, Impala*, Kudu*, Lion, Meerkat, Monkey, Ostrich*, Penguin, Pig*, Squirrel, Warthog*, Wildebeast, Zebra

*animals we ate

OTHER

We had 5 different days when we didn’t take a shower.

We made new friends from 8 different countries: South Africa, Columbia, USA , Australia, Portugal, Botswana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Zambia

We survived “The Curse of Parakarungu” with Tommie, 8 students, and 1 bus driver

We had 7 official meetings with dignitaries from schools as well as city, district, and national governments:

• ICT Club at Gaborone Secondary School
• Max Mophuting, Headmaster of Gaborone Secondary School
• Nkoloi Nkoloi, Botswana’s Director Of Foreign Affairs for Europe and the Americas
• Victoria Lesole, Mayor of Gaborone, Botswana
• Parakarungu Village Kgotla, with Gordon Nshimwe (Member of Parliament for Chobe District) and Victoria O’Connell (Regional Health Officer for the US Embassy)
• Ramotswa Center for the Deaf
• John Moreti, Botswana’s Deputy Clerk of the Cabinet

We were hosted, driven, and entertained by 6 different people in Botswana/Zambia:

Tommie Hamaluba, Bobby Hassamaka, Max Mophuting, Nkoloi Nkoloi, Peter Caesar, Victoria O’Connell

We paid for or were taken on 21 different tours and attractions:

Apartheid Museum, Boma Dinner, Bungee and Zip Line, Cape Peninsula, Cape Town Jewish and Holocaust Museum, Cape Town Open-Top Red Bus, Chobe Game Drive, Elephant Walk, Gaborone Game Reserve, Gaborone Museum, Johannesburg Lion Park, “Ladies Detective” TV set, Livingstone Museum, Mokolodi Game Reserve, Mokoni Village, Ramotswa Center for the Deaf, Robben Island, Rondebosch Golf, Soweto, Table Mountain, Victoria Falls

We encountered 7 different languages:

English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Setswana, Tonga, American Sign Language, Spanish

We used 6 different currencies:

US Dollars (USA and Zimbabwe), Pounds (England), Rand (South Africa), Pula (Botswana), Kwacha (Zambia), Euros (Spain)

The Long Flight Home

Thursday, August 5 , 2010

We got one last taxi ride to the airport and managed to check all 4 of our heavy suitcases without a problem. Luckily, British Airways, honored the baggage requirements of Iberia Airlines, which allowed us 2 bags each. If we had bought our tickets in March instead of February, we would have been limited to one each. The bags were checked through to Madrid, so we would have to pick them up and re-check them once we arrived there.


As we waited for our flight to board, we started to add up some of the statistics from our trip, such as how many hours we spent and miles traveled on airplanes and buses, total number of taxis, and days without showering. We’ll post these numbers on the blog for everyone to see later. We lucked out and got seats in the emergency exit row for the first flight to Johannesburg, which was only two hours.


When we reached Jo-burg, we were happy to not have to deal with any luggage besides our carry-ons, but we did have some drama getting a comfortable seating assignment. The plane going to Madrid had a 2-4-2 configuration, meaning 4 seats in the center section between the aisles. We were assigned the 2 seats in the center of this section, the worst seats on the plane in our opinions. Dena worked with the gate agent to get the seats changed, and we ended up with the aisle seat and one next to it in the center section. Although it wasn’t the window/aisle seats we had originally been assigned months ago, this was slightly more comfortable because we wouldn’t have to bother anyone else when getting in and out of our seats. The flight ended up being delayed around an hour and a half, but we had plenty of time to spare with our layover in Madrid.

Friday, August 6, 2010

We made it into Madrid just after sunrise and a small breakfast snack on the plane. We went through passport control and were delighted to find all 4 of our suitcases on the baggage claim belt. We re-checked them all the way to Los Angeles, but we would still need to pick them up and re-drop them at customs in Chicago. We also managed to get much better seats for our last two flights. The Madrid-Chicago flight was another 2-4-2 configuration, and this time we got the 2 seats on the window, by ourselves. The final flight was a 3-3 plane with one aisle down the middle. Again, we got the 2 seats against the window, with a third passenger on our aisle seat. This was only a 4-hour flight, so we didn’t need to bother him much to get out of our seats.


In Madrid, we had some lunch and were happy to order a Sprite, something we haven’t seen since leaving America. Next we walked to our gate, where there was a long line just to get through the end of the terminal—More than 4 flights worth of people waiting in one line. We eventually got onto our plane and had an uneventful flight into Chicago.


In Chicago, we went through passport control again—a much longer line this time. We found our baggage, all 4 in one piece again, and re-dropped them with American Airlines. After taking the train to the domestic terminal, we found a Chili’s restaurant to have some lunch. This was the third or fourth time we had eaten lunch today, due to the time change from Madrid to Chicago (7 hours).


The 4-hour flight to Los Angeles seemed like the longest leg of the journey. We were very anxious to get home at this point, and it felt like a never-ending flight. American Airlines was offering passengers a free voucher to give up their seats for a later flight. We looked at each other and simultaneously said,

“Hell No!”

We arrived in Los Angeles only 10 minutes later than expected and found Dena’s parents waiting for us at baggage claim. We waited a few minutes and got our luggage—all four of them again, yay!! We packed up the bags in the car and headed back to Dena’s parents’ house. From there, we split up the suitcases and got into our own cars to drive to our own homes. It felt strange not only to drive a car, but also to sit on the left side of the car and drive on the right side of the road. There wasn’t much traffic on the freeways at 9:00 PM, so we didn’t endanger anybody too much.


By 10:00 PM, we had made it back to our own apartments, our own bathrooms and showers, and, most importantly, our own beds. It was hard to believe we had finally made it back home, and throughout the night, we both had to remind ourselves where we were. It’s amazing how quickly we settled into the comforts of home, but still felt a little out of place. Four weeks is a long time to be away from home, but we still feel like we could have used more time in Africa. I guess we’ll just have to try to go back someday...