12 Days in South Africa

I’ve been in South Africa for 12 days now..

.
I haven’t even told you what happened trying to get here 😅

.
If I hadn’t hosted a virtual songwriting boot camp a year ago and met my very special South African musicman..

.
If I hadn’t changed my flight on Sunday to that night because they were closing the borders to South Africa Monday and my flight was scheduled for Tuesday..

.
If the receptionist at Walgreens hadn’t casually mentioned there was a rapid Covid PCR test I could take the day of my new flight..

.
If the nurse who took my Covid test hadn’t offered me another test on the drive to my flight after the other nurse threw away my first results…

.
If my nice new friends on my flight to Washington, DC hadn’t suggested I let the United receptionist know that I had 30 minutes to cross the entire Washington airport, and that I was HERE for my flight to Germany..

.
If the observant pilot hadn’t noticed I was frantically looking around the huge bustling airport in DC trying to figure out how the hell to cross this maze and use the train to get to the other side..

.
If I didn’t run up the escalators, down the stairs, to the train, and spoken to the strangers in the train with no attendant was there to help and then learned how to get to gate C..

.

If I hadn’t gotten to my flight which was taking off in 5 minutes….. (they were literally calling my name on the intercom at the Washington airport saying they were looking for Ginger Winn before takeoff to Germany)..

.
If I hadn’t believed I could take my first international trip alone, with only 1 other flight under my belt…

.
If I hadn’t opened my heart to people who love me, want to help me, and care about me…

.
The chances of me, Ginger, getting to South Africa seemed so slim..

.
But here I am..

.
Every day, I wake up and see the sun rise at 5:30am, with a constant breeze blowing the pink curtains, the sun shining over the mountains very close as we drive to the grocery store (garage as they call it here)…

.
Every moment feels like a fantasy..

.
And sometimes I wonder how I happened to stumble upon this life, with this person, in this country, as Ginger..

.
My return flight to go home to South Carolina, USA is January 17th..

.
But after a week and a half here, I know in my heart that I’m not getting on another plane and flying over the Atlantic Ocean to the USA.

.

I don’t plan on ever leaving..

.

It sounds crazy, but so did traveling to South Africa alone, on my first international trip..

.

But here I am.

.

Originally Published to instagram (@happpyVie) on 12.10.21.