How do you get there from here???

This is Mary and I on our flight to Cape Town. Delta started direct service from JFK to Cape Town (via a stopover in Dakar, Senegal at 4:00 AM). The flight is about 18 hours and with the fight to JFK and the layover, its about 26 hours of travel time total. We were unbelievably lucky to be UPGRADED on the flight, though. For those season travellers out there - what are the chances of being upgraded to business class on an international flight when you only have Silver status? The answer is, when the airline oversells the coach cabin by 44 seats - pretty damn good! I, of course, am on the left. Mary is in the middle and our new friend on the flight, Barrie is on the right. Our flight attendant for the JFK to Dakar flight looked suspiciously like my boss - I am not kidding. He agreed to let us take his picture, but he left the plane before we got a chance. It was weird, I tell you.

Mary flew back home this past Friday and I am anxious to hear if she managed to get upgraded for the return flight as well. Keep your fingers crossed.

Alive and...... well, Alive in South Africa

Hey - remember me? It's the long lost blogger. On my last trip home, I was assured by various friends and family that if I started to blog again, they would, in fact, leave comments. So, I am taking you at your word and will invest some of my previous free time to update you on the goings on in Cape Town.

Since my return to the Motherland 2 weeks ago, there have been many hours logged (not blogged!) at work. A good friend and co-worker, Mary, flew back to Cape Town with me as she is our corporate trainer and was coming down to the train the future users and administrators of the application we have been building and configuring for the last 5 months. It was Mary's first trip to Africa and I *think* she enjoyed it. When she wasn't working 12 hours days or preparing to work 12-hour days, that is! We did manage to squeeze in some fun times - she got to see the famous jackass penguins (pictures to follow) and we spent our one free weekend at a private game reserve about 2 hours outisde of Cape Town and got to see some amazing animals (again, pictures to follow). She kept a list of all the *crazy* things she observed in South Africa - she has promised to send me a copy. I'll be sure to share it with you.

Our project goes live on August 20th, so the countdown has begun. I fly home in less than 6 weeks.