We had a long transition into our first destination…. a very long transition. Our international flight went from NYC, to Egypt, to Sudan, to Kenya, to Johannesburg, to Durban and finally arrived in Cape Town South Africa 44 hours later. While we were both exhausted from the travel, it only took us a day to get our bodies and minds on South Africa time. How? I’m still trying to figure that out but I think it really helped that we recognized the time change we would be dealing with days before our first flight and slowly adjusting to the time change a few hours every day. The two nights before we left, we got as little sleep as possible so that when we got on our overnight international flight, we would sleep most of the way and be awake and alert when we landed in Egypt the next morning.

As for the culture shock, it was important for us to recognize that fact that we were new to the city and we weren’t used to the lifestyle some people live. I find it much easier to spend the first day settling in, grabbing coffee, speaking with the locals, learning a few key phrases in their language, and wandering around the city aimlessly to acquint yourself to the area. This way, you have no set agenda and do not have the stress of having to find a certain place or be somewhere at a specific time. Half the battle for me was fighting the stress associated with unorganized road traffic, foot traffic, tourist traps and hagglers. This is where I have to remind myself to breathe, find flexability, appreciate the fact that I was able to take vacation time, and accept that this lifestyle works for other cultures. It may take some time to fully embrace the new culture, but the sooner you can stop fighting the abnormality of everything around you, the better off you’ll be. And should this still not work, find a local who can show you around, explain their lifestyle to you and introduce you to some of the magnificant things the culture has to offer.

After getting a few of the required visa’s from the Embassies in the US, I only had three blank pages left in my passport. I looked into getting pages added while I was still in San Francisco however it would take 4-6 weeks to get my passport back. If I wanted to “expedite” the service, I could shorten the wait time  to 2-3 weeks and pay $60 USD for a free service! Instead, I decided to wait until I got to a foreign city with a US Embassy or Consulate to get the new pages. I went to the US Consulate in Cape Town and it took 20 minutes to get my pages added. Not only did they have a section reserved for US citizens so I didn’t have to wait in the long line, but also it took a fraction of the time it could have back in the states AND was FREE. I highly encourage any traveller looking to get pages added, to do it at a foreign US Embassy or Consulate.