(Written Monday) I might cry. To do so would be a bit excessive, actually. Yes, crying would be over the top. My head, though, is about to crash into this rather hard hotel desk; and that might make me cry. I sit in a Johannesburg hotel on Monday late night attempting to capture some of the sights, sounds, and smells of the past two days. My voyage to Jo'burg began with a pleasant jaunt from Seattle to San Francisco. Of course, it was not so pleasant to wave goodbye to the family after being with them for all of one short week since our last trips (mine to Cape Town / SF Bay Area; theirs to Allentown, PA). Work duty called. I checked in for my flight to Dubai on Emirates and got to editing some old family video. During that check in with the desk agent, she noticed my place of birth and basically asked if I considered myself Filipino. No, I told her. She was nice about it all. About 20 minutes later (I don't exactly recall the exact passage of time), the same desk agent called about four or five names, asking each to approach the desk. My mood turned a bit grumpy, wondering if she would revoke my boarding pass since she exhibited odd behavior by calling a colleague when I first began the check in process. Instead of sending me to the sin bin, she ripped up my economy boarding pass and replaced it with a business class version (different seat, of course). She said, because of my long flight, she felt sorry. (Written Tuesday) That leg from SFO to DXB proved to be as pleasant as can be on a double-digit hour flight. In Dubai, I spent almost another double-digit hours in the airport until the flight to Jo'burg. The first hour I walked the terminal to get some sort of exercise. I then made a college try at entering the Business Class lounge. Nope. This desk agent stuck to the rules about the service being only for outbound business class customers. Instead of a lounge chair in the lounge I sat on a reclining chair in the terminal near one of the two zen gardens, with access to an open wifi, and next to a power source. From that perch I worked for several hours in total on work stuff, editing home video, IM'ing, and video Skyping with family. I must say the terminal was rather quiet, limited traffic, and rather pleasant when I landed at approximately 7 PM. By 11 PM or so, everything increased: people, noise, and PA cacophony. It actually threw me off for one second until I made sense of the situation by remembering the departure board: a slew of flights at 2, 3, and 4 AM. Thankfully the leg to Jo'burg was as good as it could have been: edited more video, watched more movies, and stayed awake the whole trip. Needless to say I was tired and needing a shower once at the hotel. I was patient during checkin (I had requested an early one) yet they had my paperwork in the back office so it took time for a light to go off in someone's head.

• 1030 PDT Saturday: depart home
• 1202 PDT Saturday: depart SEA-TAC
• 0440 GST Monday: depart DXB
• 1050 SAST Monday: arrive JNB
• 1215 SAST Monday: arrive hotel
• 1300 SAST Monday: shower

We had pre-workshop meetings at 1300 and 1400-1600. I then walked to a local shopping mall, destined for a computer store listed in a visitor guide to acquire a connector for my computer. Alas, the store had moved location; one not within walking distance. Let's be honest, the main reason for the excursion was to get some sun and exercise. Before meeting my team for dinner, I lounged near the pool in the quickly fading sun. The dinner-meeting lasted four hours. Long and my eyes were fluttering for sure. I hung on as best I could until returning back to the hotel and sleeping through the night: just what I needed.