I flew out of Houston on June the 11. The flight took off at 3:45 p.m., and London was the next stop 8 hours away. The flight was good for the most part. I was able to watch movies on demand, which was nice, but I should have been sleeping. I only managed two hours of sleep, which would come back to bite me. We landed in London at 7 a.m., their time. We had a 12 hour layover there, so we decided to get a day pass for the Underground and the Red Buses. We set off to see all the major sites that the town had to offer. It being London, the city rained on us all day. I guess I would call it more of a drizzle, as it was not enough to keep us from touring the city. We mainly rode the Underground and walked everywhere else. The first stop we made was Piccadilly Circus. We had no idea where anything was, so we just started walking. Within ten minutes, we had made it to the palace, but we didn't know it was the palace. It just so happened that we were walking by the stables and some gates opened beside us. We did not know what was going on, so we just waited. Next, this black car comes cruising out, and it had the QUEEN in it. I was not prepared with my camera, but I did get a shot of her vehicle as it was driving away.
We both got a kick out of the fact that we had been in London less than an hour and had already found the queen. We decided we were really good at being tourist. That’s about as exciting as it gets though. We stopped at all the major sites, and eventually made it back to the airport. All of the photos have been uploaded on my Facebook if you wish to take a look. I was so tired because of the lack of sleep, but our flight was taking off at 7 p.m., so I was able to catch up on some sleep. The flight from Jo'berg was 11 hours, and luckily i managed to sleep about seven hours. This really helped lessen the jet-lag later. We landed at Jo'berg around 7 a.m. the next morning. We again had a six hour layover, so we decided to get out and see the town. Since we were crunched on time, we just took a free shuttle to the Emperor's Palace. This was a hotel/casino that was modeled very closely to Las Vegas. There was a little mall attached to the palace, so we just hung out there. The drivers in Jo'berg are terrible, and the fact that they drive on the left side did not help my nerves. We made it back to Tambo, and our flight left at 12:30 p.m. We landed in George, South Africa around 2 p.m., and our professor was there to pick us up. He drove us to Knysna, which was about an hour away. We mainly just rested once we got there, and we got going the next day. Our first real day in Knysna was on Tuesday. We met everyone in the office that I am going to be working with, and then we made it into town. I was able to get a cell phone and get some currency. We explored the town, which is very nice. The landscape here is amazing. It was strange because Jo'berg reminded me of the South Texas plains, gently rolling grasslands. Once we arrived in Knysna though, it turned to vegetative covered mountains. The mountains follow the coast line, and they are great to look at. I have not taken any pictures of the town yet or where I’m staying, but hopefully though will come soon. I will comment that the seafood here is amazing!
Today we all went to the Crossways Farm Village. This is the project that i will be working on while I’m here. The development will focus on green engineering. The estate will be built around a working dairy operation, and as people move into the development, they can invest money, cows, or crops into the development, and earn money in return. It’s a great idea, and i will be back with more specific details. Here are a couple of pictures that show the landscape of this new development. Also, on the way home we stopped in at Jeffrey's Bay, a surfing mecca. The beaches and waves are amazing there, and hopefully i can make a return visit. All of my pictures can be found Facebook.
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