The Flight To Durban.

I'll break down the flight for you guys in 2 words: 46 hours. (Including layovers). It's neither easy for me nor fair for you for me to leave it at that, so the first phase of my LONG travel adventure started at PDX and temporarily ended in Las Vegas, Nevada....

I walked out of the plane tunnel and I kid you not, the first thing I saw was SLOT MACHINES! Realizing that I had 10 hours before my next flight to New York, I figured I would go down to the strip and see what Vegas had to offer. But getting down to the strip was an adventure in itself. I decided to take the buses down to the strip and encountered some interesting characters on the way! And everyone had a different way of explaining the transit system and where and when I had to be at a place to make it back in time. After switching buses three times I found myself outside the Flamingo, with a miraculous view of Caesars and the Paris Casino. I LOVED Caesars! I wandered around the great casinos and Pure nightclub for at least 2 hours, and can't wait to go back and experience it in all its glory as a guest and during a time in which everything is open. (I arrived after 11pm, so most of the shows and attractions had already started or were closed). I'll sum up the rest of my experience on the strip real quick-like: Paris: didn't bother. New York New York: hooker central, seediest place ever. Planet Hollywood: Nice atmosphere, tiny casino, few attractions. MGM Grand: Biggest letdown of the night, only two bars I could go, long lines- one I actually decided to wait for couldn't get in because I was wearing flip flops.

By this point I was cranky, sore and tired, and walked to the Luxor for a cab back to the airport.

When I got back to the airport, I took a 2 hour nap and then got my stuff out of a locker and waited to board the plane. That was when the pilot got on the PA and said that we were going to be leaving 30 minutes late, and when we finally did leave, we had an 8 plane queue to get out of the airport. It took a little under an hour and a half to get through the queue and wheels up.... Problem: I had a 2 hour and 6 minute layover in New York..... I arrived at JFK with FOUR MINUTES to catch my connecting flight to Dakar, Senegal. Imagine some guy sprinting through 16 terminals carrying a duffel over his shoulder dragging a mini-suitcase behind him through a packed corridor and food court. Yeah, I was that guy. Somehow I made it! But my luggage didn't...

Despite the setbacks in Vegas and NYC, a Cape Town doctor and myself ended up getting a front row three person row all to ourselves so we had massive leg room and arm space, and myself getting excellent company for the 19 hours it took to go from NYC to Cape Town. Once in Cape Town, I took a terrible flight to Durban and am pretty sure my on-flight prayers helped that pilot land that plane. Moral of this paragraph: Don't fly Mango.

MORAL OF THIS STORY: Pay the extra $50 for less connections and layovers.

Coming soon: THE FIRST DAY, WHERE IS MY LUGGAGE, and PHOTOS!!!

Stay tuned!