7/14/2016

NYC to DOHA

Today is the day that I leave USA for South Africa. Due to the fact that I invested money into the program, I wanted to make sure that I left with ample time and not be late. I did not want to encounter any long lines or delays that will cause me to miss my flight. Therefore I left my home by 5:00 A.M and took the train from New Jersey into New York Penn Station. From there, I boarded the train from New York Penn Station towards Jamaica Station in order to go on JFK airport.

My flight to South Africa was split into two flights, one flight from NYC to Doha and from Doha to Johannesburg, South Africa. Both flights were through Qatar Airways. Qatar Airways staff has nice uniforms. One area of improvement I would suggest QA is for some of the staff needs to work on their customer service. Their customer service did not open until 7:00 A.M. People had early and were waiting in line but they did not inform the customers.

One thing that I noticed is that the boarding process takes a while. I noticed that Americans are used to things starting on the time that's posted. Not this company, they boarded about 15 minutes after the time that was posted. However they would leave on time. One of the benefits of traveling with T-Mobile is that I can use my data and text messaging plan for free in Qatar and South Africa. However I cannot have no phone calls. I was not able to use my Chase debit card because in South Africa, there's a higher chance of identity theft. As a result, I had to withdraw money and use cash.

Even though it was my first time traveling through Qatar Airways, Qatar planes are really nice and I felt fancy even in economy class. However, the flight is for 12.5 hours . The flight consisted of a diverse crowd. I seen many Middle Eastern/ Indian women wearing their hijab. The flight had a strong Muslim community. In addition few Africans would board this flight to head to Africa or other countries. Their airport food was good and had vegetarian options. There was occasional technology issues; however that was not my main issue with the flight.

I was in front of a lady that was heading to Sudan that had 6 children, five boys and one girl. My goodness they were loud and kept kicking my seat . One cute moment though was when I let my hand rest on the top of my seat, one of the boys name Karim kept playing with my hand. I think he went underneath my seat too . Only reason I know his name is cause his mother kept telling him to hush . He was excited to have the window view and he made sure everyone heard. I give her credit in having 6 children on the plane. But that I'll wait to have children.

Flying over Amsterdam

Flying over Makkah.
It looks pretty sandy down there.
9:44 pm EST, 4:47am their time

Doha to South Africa

Doha airport was nice and emphasized the importance of being modern and providing technology. We had to get on the bus to go towards the airplane. Once I stepped outside I realized that Qatar was HOT and HUMID, it was was 95 degrees.


As we were flying to South Africa, the water and the sky is so blue as we were crossing the gulf of Aden. Their version of pancakes is our version of sweet corn bread. I started talking to a South African native lady about the history of South Africa and the impact of Nelson Mandela. During our conversation, she became emotional. I had a Nelson Mandela book to where whenever I was reading, she would provide background knowledge on the tribes and meaning of words. "Amandla" means "Power". "Ngawethu" means "we have it". She also explained to me that Johannesburg has provinces that contains many cities similar to how USA has states. I also discussed about how USA and SA histories are very similar.

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