I was very excited to leave my house and travel by cab to the airport last week, and over the course of my flight to Newark, New Jersey, I was very comfortable and relaxed. My flight from Newark to Cape Town was on a much bigger, newer airplane, so the 15 hours in the air felt like it went very quickly—I must have slept for quite a while. In Cape Town, drivers sit on the right side of their vehicles and drive on the left side of the road. I’ve driven like this in other places like Ireland, but it takes a lot of concentration when the roads are busy, the signs are different shapes, and all distances are related in kilometers and meters instead of fractions of a mile. After a long flight, I was happy to relax in the backseat of the van and let the South African driver keep an eye on the road.
I haven’t yet had the opportunity to fly on the passenger helicopter or get lowered onto the ice from the ship by the crane, but I’m very much looking forward to trying both. The helicopters especially are amazing. I have been able walk around them in their hangar, peek inside the cockpits, and talk to the many pilots and mechanics who work in that area. Fun fact about the K-MAX helicopter: The rotor blades are made from spruce wood because it is both hard and flexible. I can hardly wait to see the helicopters in action. The pilots are very nice, and extremely experienced fliers.
My main mode of transportation from here on out is the S.A. Agulhas, and up until yesterday it was docked in Cape Town harbor. We are now on open ocean, which I felt almost immediately. The bow of the S.A. Agulhas II is flatter than most ocean-going ships.
