Happy Valentines Day guys! I hope you all had a great time with your dear ones, because I had!

We left from the Heathrow airport in London at 15:10 PM and I had already loaded with candy, books and a lot of music on my phone. To be honest, I hate airplanes. After seeing those scary survivor-movies where it always begins with an airplane crash, I’m pretty scared. But after traveling in so many years I don’t feel the same fear as I had for a couple of years ago. Well, if you think that stop crying when the airplane starts is a success, I’m starting to make progress!

The trip went very well. It wasn’t as much turbulence as I thought it would be because the weather wasn’t the best. We had a stopover in Germany and thereafter we continued to our destination: South Africa. The airplane we changed to was much bigger and more comfortable, and I was going to sit alone, far away from my parents for the first time. I was very nervous and I was hoping that a girl in my age would sit next to me. I had no high expectations and I could even imagine a fat, snoring man sitting next to me during the whole trip.

I had fallen asleep when I suddenly woke up. The airplane was shaking because of the strong turbulence and I was fighting against the tears. It was so typical me, and I didn’t notice the girl next to me who giggled for herself. I wasn’t surprised. If I had seen myself sitting glued in the chair and praying to God, I would probably die of laughing.

Nina (that was the girls name) and I had very interesting conversations and thanks to her the flight was very pleasant. She told me that she had been on a vacation with her family in Germany. She also told me that she had never been abroad before. Nina seemed to be impressed over the lifestyle in Germany, it was so different from South Africa were she came from.

We also discussed the living conditions in Europe and South Africa. Nina told me that she was from Johannesburg and had seen a lot of homeless people walking on the streets. The majority of the homeless people are black and there could be many reasons. One of the reasons is that the system of Apartheid lives on even though it's gone. The poorest people are still the blacks.

 

Picture sources:

http://1000awesomethings.com/2012/07/27/975-airplane-toilet-flushes/

http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_Arlanda_Airport

http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-122378.html