From A to Z – America to Zambia in 41 Hours

It takes forever to get to Zambia. I started traveling Monday night at 7pm (that’s when I left my apartment) and arrived at Lusaka airport (Zambia) at 1pm Wednesday, and finally, after another flight and a 1.5 hour drive, got to our camp at 7pm Wednesday night. That’s 48 hours minus a 7 hour time change … 41 hours of travel. The good news is that we saw giraffes on the drive. Giraffes!

Granted, we didn’t take the most direct route and had a mammoth layover in Heathrow (which a four hour delay out of JFK ate most of). Actually, there was some virtue to our roundabout journey. We took a red-eye from JFK to Heathrow, then a red-eye from Heathrow to Johannesburg. The result is that we got a fair amount of sleep and woke up in “Jo-Berg” (as they call it) unusually acclimated. Huh. Fancy that.

Am I making any sense at all? Do I think I’m all “acclimated” but really I’m suffering badly from jet lag and talking nonsense? If so, apologies. Well … maybe not apologies. Excuses.

So. Check out my digs! Sanctuary Retreats Puku Ridge Camp:

Color me impressed at what a cement-floored tent can be like. There are many more pictures of this camp to come; daylight would certainly help. For now, here are a few things I learned getting from point A to point Z:

If you’re going to sleep with your face pressed directly into your handbag, it’s a good idea to keep tabs on each of your other bags with your feet.

“You break it you buy it” is SO passe.

Nelson Mandela is really tall.

Airport giraffes eat tinsel.

There is such a thing as a gym box.

Here it is open — look closely, you won’t see it open again on this blog.

In case of an emergency on a Proflight Zambia flight, cover your eyes and cry.

Time to get some rest before tomorrow’s game drive! Wakeup is at 5:15am. BRING IT!

 

This trip was sponsored by Abercrombie & Kent and Sanctuary Retreats.