FLYING to JOHANNESBURG and CAPE TOWN, South Africa, September 23, 2005 — Getting there is half the fun. Or so they say.

I land in Johannesburg. I am tired. Immigration goes OK. I find my bag and get through the customs area. I can't find the recheck for my bag. When I do it's unmanned. Porters with special jackets and credentials identifying them as licensed workers vie to carry bags. I don't need help with my rollerboard with the hand luggage atop it and my backpack. But one guy is

convincing and I let him help me. He does, too, finding the exact place in the other terminal where I need to go to check in. I give him the smallest bill I have which is worth about four dollars. Apparently this is way more than they normally expect to receive.

I go through security and make my way to the gate area to wait for my flight. I wish I could have flown directly to Cape Town, but I'll be there soon enough.

When I emerge from the secured area at Cape Town, I search the crowd for my friend Mags' face. I'm confident she'll be there but I don't see her. Then I see her off to the side, waiting.

We find her car and make our way out of the airport and through Cape Flats and I am once again snapped into the beautiful scenery of the Cape. At Mags' apartment, I shower and change. We walk the neighborhood, see some people I met before and do a little shopping.

I struggle to stay awake long enough to 'get into the time zone.' I sort of manage to do it by drinking coffee, reading a stupid book I bought in Atlanta and watching a penguin video. No, not that one. This one is about the African or Jackass Penguins.

Yes, I'm really here again on the Cape Peninsula.