Bon Voyage and hello America Vol.I

I know you have all been dying to hear from me in this really weird place. Before I start, let me share with you a little interesting fact: CARA in Portuguese means "expensive". Yes, it is true! Especially if you add up the costs of this little opportunity of mine!

My flight was way too long: 23hrs. We flew to Cape Town to pick up passengers and refuel, which set us back an hour in total. Thereafter, we landed in Isle de Sol to refuel and drop of one crew member. Probably another hour or something. I was really impressed with the size and extent of electricity of Isle de Sol. Never really heard of it before.

Yet, it felt good to be out of South Africa. Finally, Atlanta. What a mission! You disembark from the plane and fill out an additional two forms to hand in to the immigration and customs officers. I swear I could write a short story with all these damn forms. Atlanta International is excessively big and confusing. After being allowed through the tedious immigration officer booth, you have to find your way to the baggage claim area/carousel. If you have arrived at your destination - as I had - you have to go through customs that just wave you through without a care in the world. Just when you feel home free, you have to put your bags through another thing and exit through another metal detector, without shoes or your hand luggage - as per usual. They even have a device on which you have to put your shoe to see if it will set off the metal detector. Strange…

This is when I really flipped my lid at the Americans. Silently. Now, you take the train six stops further where you will finally be at the terminal and baggage claim area. Everyone seems confused there - even the Americans.

By the way, the airplane food still has not improved since I was about 11. It stinks. My boss met me and gave me a little stuffed frog and a yellow rose. I have been in numerous cabs and I still cannot get used to the fact that the people here drive on the right and sit on the left. It still freaks me out.

Atlanta is such a horrible city. It was freezing. To give you an idea, it felt like a Johannesburg winter morning. All day and all night. We stayed in a hotel - The Hampton Inn and Suites that night as it is a 6 hr drive to Gulf Shores. I couldn’t eat that first day and all I wanted to do was sleep. I was so jetlagged and homesick from that horrible city that I could hardly speak. I very nearly got back on the plane and came back. Atlanta is grey, huge, and very impersonal.

Everyone here drives some form of a van or four-wheel drive. Obviously, every car is automatic. I have seen three BMWs on the road. You find mostly Ford, Chevrolet, Nissan and Toyota. As far as I remember. Nothing spectacular.

I met with the lawyer that did my visa and he is so amazing – a lawyer with a creative mind. He is so good at duping the government with the visa stories.

Apparently getting a drivers license here is relatively easy. They are mostly concerned about the way that you treat a stop street. Stop, even if there are no cars and can you drive. Basically. All you do is go to them and pay +/- $24 to do the test; if you fail, you can go repeatedly. No learners permit required unless you are fifteen. How amazingly easy is that? And, this is a first world country? South Africa is full of nonsense. Our smoking laws are also a lot stricter.

The gas stations really intrigue me. They also have BP and Shell. The self-service thing is beyond me though. We are a little more advanced there. It costs about $25 to fill a tank. That is a rough estimate. The gas stations also have toilets inside the shop as well as coffee and decaf coffee machines. Oh and divine cappuccino in three different flavours for take away.

Anyway, let me go now. I still don’t feel at home here. It will probably take me quite a while to get used to this place. I miss you all incredibly and wish I could see you guys.