Travel Day: South Africa and Swaziland

 

March 28, 2013

4:00 am- Wake Up

4:30 am- Ready with bags outside

5:05 am- Bus came to pick up first load

5:20 am- Second bus arrives and we load

5:35 am- Bus leaves

5:45 am- Arrive to Bus station

6:00 am- Bus is fully loaded

6:11 am- Bus leaves Lilongwe, Malawi

7:42 am- Arrive at Malawi border

8:20 am- Everyone is through customs and we leave the border

8:22 am- Arrive at Mozambique border

9:10 am- Leave Mozambique border

9:15 am- Take dramamine and pass out

3:55 pm- Arrive at Mozambique border

4:25 pm- Everyone is through customs and we leave Mozambique border

4:31 pm- Arrive at Zimbabwe border (praising Jesus that we made it before it closed)

7:17 pm- Leave Zimbabwe border

8:30 pm- Go to sleep on the bus

 

March 29,2013

6:27 am- Arrive at Zimbabwe border

7:16 am- Leave Zimbabwe border

7:18 am- Arrive at South African border

8:00 am- Make it through customs and are then told we have to get everything off the bus

9:30 am- Everyone finally makes it through customs having all their belongings checked

9:31 am- Waiting on bus to get checked

9:32 am- Starts pouring rain

9:34 am- Everyone scatters and runs to get on the bus

9:35 am- Timothy stays out in the rain to help load everyone's bags

9:42 am- Leave South African border soaking wet

9:43 am- Timothy realizes that he brought an extra pair of underwear and shirt for travel day but no pants

9:44 am- Timothy puts on dry underwear and dry shirt…and wraps a blanket around his waist until his pants can dry

10:30 am- Timothy is still in a blanket…pants still wet

11:00 am- Timothy is still in a blanket…and realizes that water has spilt on his pant in the overhead compartment and his pants are wet again

12:45 pm- For the first time in three hours Timothy puts on pants

6:22 pm- Arrive in Johanesburg, South Africa

6:30 pm- Arrive at a bus station/mall

6:38 pm- Got off bus

6:45 pm- Walked into mall with no power

7:00 pm- Power came back on

7:30 pm- Ate dinner

9:00 pm- Started loading next bus

10:05 pm- Bus leaves Johanesburg

 

March 30, 2013

2:34 am- Arrive in Nelspruit, South Africa

2:50 am- Hostel owner comes to pick up the squad

3:00 am- Arrive at hostel

3:17 am- Get room assignments

3:30 am- Settled into room

4:00 am- BED

 

48 Hours Total Travel

 

Note: We stayed in South Africa for four days

 

Travel from South Africa to Swaziland

April 3, 2013

 

5:30 am- Alarm goes off

5:45 am- Got up

6:30 am- Started walking in the rain down the street to the main part of the hostel where we were leaving from…Timothy having flash backs of wet travel again

6:40 am- Arrived at hostel

7:55 am- Bus arrived

8:00 am- Load 14 people and all their belongings onto a very small van

8:15 am- Left Hostel

8:30 am- Stopped to get gas

8:45 am- Realize there is a hamburger place inside the gas station

8:46 am- Go inside and order cheeseburgers

9:00 am- Bus leaves as we are eating cheesburgers (Yes, it was 9 am and we were eating cheeseburgers…welcome to the world race)

10:05 am- Bathroom stop

11:00 am- Arrive at South African border

11:30 am- Everyone is through customs and we leave border

11:35 am- Arrive at Swaziland Border

12:20 pm- Leave Swaziland Border

2:30 pm- Arrive at Spar grocery store to get as many groceries that will fit in our van

3:00 pm- Finish grocery shopping and walk next door to coffee shop

3:30 pm- Finish at coffee shop with sandwhiches to go in hand

5:40 pm- Arrive at Shop Mor in Nksoko, Swaziland

6:00 pm- Our contact Erica arrives to lead the way to our guesthouse

6:10 pm- Finally arrive at guest house which is our home for the month

6:15 pm- Realize there are only two rooms for two teams…settle into a cozy month of true community living