Getting Friendly with Airports

After countless hours in airports and airplanes I have finally arrived in Gaborone (depending on who you talk to, the "e" is pronounced like the "y" in my name). I haven't figured out exactly which one is correct. Everything ran really smoothly during my four leg trip. The eleven hour layover in Frankfurt was not exciting. I attempted to sleep across three chairs at one point, but that didn't go over well. I was slightly frazzled the whole time because I was worried about boarding passes and baggage. I was able to get through security without boarding passes. I didn't think this was allowed, but as the German man at the United ticket counter put "they don't care." I stressed for no reason though (surprise?). I got my boarding passes about an hour and half before my flight. I have noticed while in Europe and the same in J-burg that people do not form lines well. Boarding planes was much more organized in the US. In Germany and Johannesburg it was just a big clump of people. I had one woman cut in front of me made direct eye contact and shrugged. We even had two lines converging at the gate at one point in Germany.I was just amused for the most part. It's not like I was in a hurry -- I only had 20 more hours of travel ahead of me... The Johannesburg airport is awesome. There were so many shops I thought I was in a mall. It was really nice though. I attempted sleep in those chairs as well. Once more, very little success.

I heard so many different languages during my flights. Anywhere German to Afrikaans to Italian to Tswana. At one point I was watching these kids play in Germany and there was so much laughter. It was so comforting to hear. Even during the stress and exhaustion of my trip I was able to find comfort in the laughter I heard from many types of people. A universal sound. I hope to surround myself with laughter during my trip to help me adjust to all of these changes. Like when I tried to take a shower earlier and all that came out of the faucet was icy cold water. Instead of crying, I laughed. Okay, so maybe it was a laugh/cry. Don't judge -- I am tired. Point being, I already know this is going to be a huge adjustment for me, but I am going in with a smile and sense of humor.