As a world racer, you could say I’ve gotten pretty used to traveling. At the end of each month (as well as sometime in the middle) I pack up my 7 shirts, 3 tanks, 4 pairs of shorts, 4 pairs of pants, toiletries etc. into my 65 liter pack and head on to a new location. It’s what we call travel days…or I like to say travel daze.
Daze- make someone unable to think properly; stupefy; bewilder
80 hours of traveling will definitely leave you a little dazed and confused. In this blog I’m going to give you a little look at what my recent travels days from Manzini, Swaziland to Mendoza, Argentina looked like.
Friday, 4/28
8:00am The rest of the squad shows up at our house and we start loading the vans with all our bags, put the finishing touches on cleaning the house, and say our goodbyes.
Rachel and I in our matching travel day outfits
8:30am-2:30pm We start our travel days by driving out of Swaziland and heading to the Johannesburg airport.
2:30pm-7:00pm On our travel days we do this thing called “hurry up and wait.” That just means we try to get places quite a bit early since there might be unforeseen obstacles when traveling in a group of 50 people. So we usually hang out at the airport restaurants or check out the little shops. We even take this opportunity to nap as well.
This was actually traveling to India, but here’s an example of how to sleep and guard your stuff at the same time.
7:15pm (SA time) – Saturday, 4/29 5:20am (Dubai time) Time to board our first plane from Joburg to Dubai! We got to fly Emirates Airline, which is quite possibly the number one airline in the world…at least that’s what the flight attendant told me. I had been looking forward to the plane because I got to catch up on new movies, get free food, and get a new blanket. That’s right…racers often pick up new pillows, blankets, socks, and eye masks from our flights, and it was time to retire my bright red Kenya Airways blanket. The flight was about 8 hours long once you figure out the time change.
5:20am-7:10am We quickly go through the airport to find where our next birding gate is. Most of us hurry to Starbucks to get some familiar coffee. I realized I paid about $5.70 for a grande cold brew, but didn’t know til after I had it due to the unfamiliar currency. Not my smartest move.
7:10am (Dubai time) – 7:45pm (Argentina time) Time to board our second flight to Buenos Aires! The highlight of this flight was watching the movie Lion, which I highly recommend! I also spent a lot of the flight catching up with my old teammates, Hillarie and Amanda. I took a little sleep aid and was knocked out for quite a while, and I fully took advantage of the “Wake me up for food” stickers that they provided. This flight was LOOOONG, and we all got pretty restless. I think on both flights I watched a total of 6 movies. After all of the time changes, this flight was nearly 20 hours with a short stop in Rio to refuel.
7:45pm & after We found a nice little ally up on the second floor of the airport and called it our bedroom for the night. There’s nothing like falling asleep on top of an air vent, lights on, and listening to the sounds of strange Spanish music. I was so tired that it didn’t even bother me.
Our bed for the first night in Argentina
Sunday, 4/30
8:00am-8:00pm We couldn’t catch a bus to Mendoza until night time, so we spent the day stretching out our legs and exploring the city. In our 12 hours we managed to visit a famous cemetery, went to a cathedral, ate some delicious barbecue, played music with locals, watched Zack skate around the city, see what we called the “exploding bean” (like in Chicago), dance in a Beauty and the Beast ballroom, admire some art museums, and wandered into an Italian music festival.
8:00pm-10:30pm Back to hurry up and wait. We all laid on the floor of the bus station, trying to save our sleep for the long bus ride ahead. Zack, Don, and I played “20 Questions” with things that we have experienced in the past 7 months together to pass the time.
10:30pm – Monday, 5/1 1:30pm We loaded the bus to Mendoza. It took me about 2 minutes to take more sleep aid and call it a night…and I woke up about 12 hours later. I woke up to the view of the Andes in the distance and found out we were only a few hours away. The total bus ride was about 15 hours long.
2:00pm After a total of 78 hours of travel, our lovely new hosts picked us up and we headed to our new home! Time to beat that jet lag and start month 8 strong!
I hope you enjoyed this little look at what a normal travel day(s) looks like. This was actually our longest time traveling on the whole race, with the initial launch to India following at a close second.
In case you haven’t heard, last month I officially became FULLY FUNDED!!! You guys have loved and supported me along every step of this journey, and I am so so thankful for each of you. Please continue to pray for me over the next 4 months. I could use some prayer for health, safety, energy, and focus on this last leg of the World Race. Thank you!
