Air

Twenty hours of air-travel- what a strange concept. But it got me here, in Beira, Mozambique. I met fun traveling companions along the way- I got a hand-drawn map for Central London and instructions for the Tube, someone who might help me get a window seat on my next flight from Jo-burg, someone to help hunt down information for our flight that disappeared and to commiserate on the long wait.

The air smelled differently in London, Nairobi, Jo-burg, and here in Beira. It's cooler and drier than I expected.

The view of this globe from the air is something I relish- to see mountain ranges slipping past and a single cooking fire sending smoke that I can see at 37,000 feet above, to see (by moonlight) the Nile water meet the Mediterranean Sea.