Sitting in Coach for 16 hours - June 23

This entry was typed throughout the day(s).

We got to the airport about 2 or so hours before departure and went to check our bags in. The ticket agent handed us our tickets which weirdly said Visa Required. We immediately looked at each other and freaked out for a bit. We don't have a Visa and were fairly certain we read that one was not needed. I immediately pulled out my cell and started Googling - within a minute we had confirmed that indeed we did not need a Visa. For a moment though I was very worried.

I'm fairly certain that hell is one long plane ride in coach with the seat in front of you leaned back all the way.

It's 3:20pm South Africa time and we're about 2 hours away from touchdown. The past 10 hours have been a constant battle between me / sleep / airplane seat / neck pillow. I am not sure who was the victor but I got the absolute crap knocked out of me. It's hard to say how much sleep I really got but I'd put it near 5-6hours of really good sleep and the rest was back pain. Yes at the ripe age of 27 this stupid seat hurt my back - half way through I used a balled up long t-shirt as lumbar support. Before the battle of the plane seat, Lora and I both watched some TV/Movies. Lora kept doing this funny pokey thing at the screen trying not to press too hard to annoy the guy in the seat in front of her. This basically led to her hitting the screen 10 extra times or so - I wish I had video. If you read the Paris/London blog entries it brought back memories of the ticket turnstile fiasco. The only other thing going on right now really is that I have the worst breathe possible. Lora has been feeding me Jolly Ranchers like I need them to survive. Needless to say I'm ready to land.

Out of left field side note - current favorite band: Metro Station

The last meal I just finished was a Sweet Potato Salsa wrap - it was pretty yummy.

We have begun our descent and I'm getting really excited now! We need to get our tickets, buy a SIM card, pickup our luggage, and get the rental car once we land. I'm hoping this whole process doesn't take too long, but I'll have the camera out the whole time so who knows how long we'll pause for pictures from time to time. We bought tickets to the last 2 games we are going to over a year and a month ago and I can hardly believe it's really here!

The flight is rather international as far as the passengers go - it's still American dominated but at least a quarter of the people on the plane I'd guess are foreign to the US. Also, Lora and I are very surprised at how many kids there are on the plane. There were a few criers but overall it was a rather quiet flight.