Getting there is half the fun

Ok, really it's not.  In fact, I can state categorically that well over half of the fun of going to Swaziland is being there, not getting there.  Nevertheless, getting there is the first hurdle in the race.

It is a high hurdle.

Up at 4:00 am on June 26, I dressed in the clothes that I would wear for the next 36 hours.  Then I woke my dear wife, who had the unenviable task of driving me to our rendezvous point: New Life Church in Glenside.  I loaded my suitcases in the car and we left the house around 4:30.

On the way we purchased coffee, both the liquid kind to drink and the grounds for making coffee during the trip.  After a short drive we arrived at New Life shortly before 5:00 am.  There were already several team members milling about the parking lot, but no bus yet.  I unloaded my stuff, kissed my wife goodbye, and she headed back home to return to bed.  

The bus (and the last few team members) arrived around 5:30, and we loaded up the bus and headed to New York City's JFK airport.  

To describe the trip, let me encapsulate:

2 hour bus ride to NYC.

1 hour checking in and passing security

2 hours waiting for our flight

14 hours flying from NYC to Johannesburg

1 hour collecting baggage and clearing immigration and customs

4 hours on a bus to the South Africa-Swaziland border

1 hour (actually more, I think) at the border

1 hour from the border to Manzini

There were some fun points on the way: I got to know a team member that I had only met a few weeks before (14 hours on a flight sitting next to someone, and you get to know them), I got to eat at Nando's (more on that later), I got a Nosh bar (like a Snickers but with hazelnut, and not available in the USA). 

Nevertheless, by the time I finally arrived in Manzini, Swaziland to the greeting of a dozen of our Swazi brothers and sisters, I had experienced only a fraction of the fun that I was to have on this year's trip.

-Mdu