The Strangest Travel Days

This has been the weirdest, sketchiest, and most uncomfortable travel days on the World Race thus far, by far!

The bus station in Pretoria:

It all started when we got off our mini bus from mini debrief, at the bus station in Pretoria, South Africa. Before we even got off we were told to keep a close watch of our belongings and keep them as close to our bodies as possible. Which is understandable in any travel scenario, but at this bus station it is very common and easy for people to come up and steal your belongings.

So, for about an hour we had to wait, while people weighed their bags and waited for the bus. Probably a half hour in, there was this lady who came up to some of us. She asked for money and food, and as far as I know we only gave her some sandwiches. However, not even 10 minutes later, I see her running away from someone with something over her shoulder. Security ran past us trying to get the lady. As far as I know, none of our stuff was snatched. There was also another lady screaming at some point… which made this whole bus stop feel even that more sketchy. But really what should we expect in a different country?

The bus crossing the border:

About 4 or 5 hours into our bus ride to Botswana we had to get out with our laptops (to declare them), and get our passports stamped. Let me just tell you just how we got to cross that border. We got off our bus, waited in line, listed our laptops off to a lady, walked a little bit to another lady to check our passports and got our exiting stamp from South Africa. We got out of this building, seeing that our bus was no longer there. We later found out it had to go ahead and drop our big bags off on the other side of the border to be checked when we crossed (by foot!).

While walking to our bus, and even the actual border, we had to walk on the road which seemed to only be for cars, but we walked anyways. Fences were every where, and only one police man to show our passports to before we walked over the border. We had to wait for one of our bus drivers to come and walk with us to find the bus. Once we finally found the bus, we went through customs and got our passports stamped for Botswana! We then picked up our big bags and headed to our bus and loaded them again.

Getting off in Gaborone:

Our bus stop was not at a normal bus station, but at a gas station. Which is probably normal, but it was just so strange for all 28 girls to get off with all our belongings at a gas station. And it was raining. Our hostel rides were there for 2 of our lady teams, of which one of them was my team.

We had a car and a large van to fit all our stuff on to. So, for the most part both 2 teams and our smaller bags (with a big bag or two), squashed into that van. Did I mention it was very warm and bumping with the beats the driver had playing? When we got to our hostel for the night, guess what we had to do in the rain. Set up our tents! I’m so glad we have gotten to use our tents for the second time on the race.

The bus station in Gaborone:

So, the next day around 5pm we arrived at the bus station. Very crowded, almost chaotic, and even more sketchy than the station in Pretoria. While both teams waited for our buses, 4 of us stayed with our big bags and the rest went to grab some supper for our team. You could say I was on very high alert to our surroundings while we waited with our bags. But honestly people who we talked to while we waited or who passed by, were very kind.

When it was almost an hour till we boarded our bus, 3 guys were next to us. The one guy started talking to our team leader, Claire. Which eventually she got to share a little about why we are here and traveling the world. He said he wasn’t a Christian, and Claire just told him that he could be one too. He just giggled and said maybe he’d try and go to church. So that was that.

Our bus that we boarded that night, was the most interesting bus I would have ever gotten on, especially for an overnight one. It was basically like a public transportation bus back in Canada or the USA. It had 3 seats on one side and 2 on the other. VERY slim seats, and limited cushion room and we could not recline the seats.

Sometime around 3AM:

That night will forever be the most uncomfortable and weirdest sleep I’ve had in my entire life. But let me just tell you how uncomfortable it really was. Every 1-2 hours I woke up, for the first little bit it was waking up to being in a city. But for the rest of the night, we would wake up to driving on small, and sometimes dirt roads. And before we left, we were told that we would probably see animals on our drive to Kasane. So, part of me was wanting to be on high alert for animal sightings, because IT’S AFRICA… I want to see an elephant.

Anyways, around 3AM all the bus passengers had to get out with our passports and show them to a police man. We didn’t know than, but it’s basically to stop any unwanted travellers to keep on going to Zambia or even the other direction. But since we didn’t know this at the time, we thought it was a border of some sort, but the police man only looked at half our passports and then we got back on the bus.

Sunrise:

Oh my goodness, this was honestly my favourite part of the entire travel days. I was waking up on and off, but the one time the bus honked the horn, and I say 3 wildebeests on the side of the road galloping towards the tall grass. Later, Amy (my teammate) woke me up to see ELEPHANTS walking casually on the side of the road. And finally, we got to our bus stop, which honestly felt like the middle of nowhere. We saw baboons, mothers and little ones clinging to them! Our ministry host (Pastor John) was waving us down, ready to give us big hugs when we got off the bus. And then we packed our big bags in one car and piled into another.

Here we are at Pastor John’s house, which is nice by the way. It has working water, toilet, a place to wash our clothes (by hand), and a bedroom for all of us! It’s honestly so exciting to be here. We already ventured to the grocery store and back, which was not wise to do in the hottest part of the day, but we did it! It’s only our first day here, but I can tell we’re going to have the most random, but most fun month!

Thank you all for continuing to read my blogs and for getting me here to experience the weird and uncomfortable things. But honestly, the most fun and spirit filled time I’ve had in my entire life.

Oh, and did I mention that we are the first team Pastor John has had from the world race? We’re the guinea pigs. But seriously I’m so excited for this month!