I write this after five lattés, three flights and over 30 hours of travelling has rendered all deodorant mute. And yes…All this while on a bench outside of gate A113 on a plane is heading to Chengdu (I can only hope). I am broken. I know I should be excited and all look at me, I am going to China, how adventures and awesome am I but that is so three weeks ago! I am sure once I get there, shower for the first time in two days and have gotten some sleep and then shower some more, I will be much more capable of doing my victory dance! This airport is super clean, Guangzhou (in case you may be wondering) and besides the nut crumbs that surround where I am sitting (Thos aren’t my nuts promise!), I don’t see a piece of litter anywhere. This leaves me and my Starbucks cup (And okay my nuts) in a precarious situation as I don’t see a bin anywhere. So how do I find myself in China, in an airport that is far to organised for me to understand?

I suppose I could start my 6am arrival at CT international airport as I checked in to my first of four flights after spending and awesome 10 days falling back in love with the Mother city! Back when I was fresh with mug and bean coffee and excitement and nerves fought for my attention. Back before the three hour delay in the very exciting airport of Doha (for my American and slow friends, that is sarcasm) cleaned all the smiley butterflies out of me and replaced them with stomach aching emotional turmoil – although that could have been the 4th cup of coffee and the wheat I had for dinner. I will not lie, it was hard to leave Cape Town after such an awesome ten days with my friend Nicolene, and doing such touristy things like movies premiers, and walks up The Mountain (which needs a Capital if you in CT and a low voice with a blocked nose like the posh talk), trendy apartment parties with my trendy friends nick and Kirst and a very good dose of Friends – the Series I mean. I did shed a tear or two. And it is sad, but that is not where the story ends (if I did, I may not have gotten on that flight I was so drunk with Cape Town…dahrl!)

You could say it started when I joined ships and went through the first set of travelling and where I discovered Naples pizza with nutella (I know right – awesome) and the clear Caribbean waters. Or how I met my Asian friends on the Oasis, after one crap formal night and a plate of rice and viennas it was first suggested “You come to china!” When you worked a 15 hour day on ships, you may just agree to anything but that day, was the formulation of a dream that sparked way before then. Before trips and ships and Starbucks (gosh I love Starbucks), there was me, with a pen and a scrap piece of paper (probably an old window display paper from the Sotheby’s window) and the beginnings of a bucket list and light bulb moments…

So how do I find myself in China, in an airport that is far to organised for me to understand? And for that I thank Oprah!