Hey guys! I am almost there. I am writing from my fancy schmancy hotel business center. I know, I splurged a little when it came to the hotel. I mean, I didn't think I could find use for both sets of house shoes, but somehow, I did.
The flight from Little Rock to Atlanta was interesting. Apparently, Atlanta was slammed by storms all day on July 31st. I caught my flight from Little Rock and after about 1.5 hours, they announce that they are about to run out of fuel since they have been circling around the Atlanta airport. The Atlanta airport was closed. As a result, we landed in Huntsville, Alabama. They didn't have a gate for us so we had to stay parked outside. Also, they wouldn't let us off.
As you can imagine, we sat and waited. Of course, the Delta hotline was busy. As we sat, there was a group of older African America church women sitting around me. The announcement to land was met with plenty of "dear Jesus" and "good Lord"'s. The girl next to me was flying for the first time and the girl sitting behind me loudly proclaimed that she was a claustrophobic. The two hours passed slowly. People blocked the aisle to chat and at one point a lady stood next to me with her backside resting on my shoulder. She turned around and apologized, but definitely, did not move.
Fortunately, the airline started handing out free booze to everyone. I went back to sleep but I woke up to some of the older women drinking down mini bottles of Jack Daniels. There was definitely more hootin' and hollerin' by the end of the wait. 7pm rolled around, and suddenly the plane was moving. The Atlanta airport was open! People around me chugged their drinks, including a full mini-bottle of Jack. The airplane broke out in applause and we took off.
We landed in Atlanta, and I ran (literally) to my gate. It was totally awesome...not really. Fortunately, the flight to Johannesburg was delayed until 9:15. I boarded on time and now I am in South Africa. I guess you can just call me even Steven. For all the drama of getting here, it was worth it. My hotel room was awesome...I don't think I was cool enough for it quite frankly.
I go to Maseru, Lesotho today. I will write from there. Talk to you guys later!
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