We made it! Our luggage made it! Two very important details to our travels. We departed Chicago around 4:00 in the afternoon, flew to Newark, NJ, then on to to Johannesburg, and arrived around 6:00 p.m. local time (which is about 11:00 a.m. the following day departure time). We actually made it through passport control, customs, and baggage claim quite quickly. It was kind of neat reminiscing of the last time we got off of an international flight in Johannesburg and going through customs, waiting to meet Tisetso. It was much cooler and less busy inside than last time — I remember that much! I was thankful for that. It was also helpful that we had traveled to Turkey recently (for me, at least). Being in another country wasn’t as much a shock to the system because we had done this four months ago.

My guys and our luggage (not pictured: my backpack)

Tisetso eating dinner, drinking creme soda, and MANY eyes watching…

After collecting our luggage (five suitcases, two rolling carry-ons, and three backpacks (and a partridge in a pear tree), we hopped into a van that took us to our guest house. It was beautiful! We checked in, dropped off our bags and then snuck in some dinner. Tisetso got to have a green creme soda for the first time in six years. It briefly elicited a smile from our teenager!

The guest house where we spent our first night.

After spending a great night of sleep—well, I slept like a rock because I can’t sleep on planes (Tisetso and Brian were up for a couple of hours)—we had a great breakfast at the guest house. Tisetso piled up his plate with pancakes and bacon. The syrup was so thick, you almost had to apply it with your fork. You certainly couldn’t run your pancakes through it without the pancakes shredding. It was delicious. Tisetso also loved the orange juice, which is surprising because he doesn’t like it in the States. Here, it definitely has more of a pineapple flavor.

With breakfast done, we hopped back in the transport van and headed back to the airport to pick up our car rental. We got to chat with a lovely older couple from the UK (he was from Ireland and she was from Scotland, so he said they compromised and lived in England). At the airport, we got coffee for Brian and picked up the car—hindered by a soft-spoken trainee behind a mask and plexi shield. Once we got through the registration process, we managed to find our car after a few wrong turns (see again: trainee).

After a prayer and our Apple maps turned on, we ventured out of the parking spot. With Brian and I at the helm, we made a good team. I announced any speed signs I saw or anything Brian didn’t see (“DEBRIS IN THE ROAD! DEBRIS IN THE ROAD!”). We made it back to the guest house and parked in front of our room. Thus began the great packing puzzle of 2022, as it shall be known from here on out. We had to fit all of our luggage into a Toyota Quest (a little smaller than the size of a Corolla). Brian, being a pack master, got it all to fit. Barely. It was a great feat. All children will tell of this tale.

This was right before all the packing was done. Also, the car’s name is now Quest Love.

With us checked out, we headed to our apartment we had rented for two weeks. Along the way, we encountered potholes about a third of a meter deep (hello metric system), four-way stops with one ‘removed’ stop sign (of course the one facing us), and almost hitting a delivery motorbike. We will call that a victory. After some confusion of where we should check in, we managed to find our flat (apartment). Walking up, I tripped on one of the steps. At first, I thought it was just me. After walking back down to help Brian park (the spots are super narrow and there’s no backup camera), I tripped on the same step on the way back up! After taking a closer look, it came to my attention that the steps are not all the same height!! How fun.

We live by the fancy mall, Sandton City.

We took a minute to make a grocery, list then hit the mall for lunch and supplies. At the mall, we made a huge circle before finding the food court. We went to a place called Steers and got a macon burger (Tisetso) and lemon-herb chicken (Brian and I). Eating done, we hit up an electronic store for some device charging adapters with the South African plugs on them. We then went to Woolworths (essentially a Nordstrom attached to a Trader Joe’s). We got socks, cologne for Brian and Tisetso, and groceries. It’s always fun to see what other countries carry in their grocery stores. After hitting up Click’s (like Walgreens), we headed back to the flat.

We are now back and enjoying the evening. We are watching Matilda and vegging out on our phones and waiting until it’s an appropriate time to go to sleep…which is 7:00 pm, right?

A blurry photo of Brian’s airplane pillow contraption.

At this point in the post, Brian is probably hoping I am sleepy enough that I forgot about his special airplane pillow, which I promised I would 100% make fun of him for. It was ridiculous looking and made me laugh out loud on the plane. Apparently it worked though. Well done for him. He got sleep and I did not.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us and wished us well on this first leg of the journey. We are so excited to meet our girl on Sunday!