After 4.5 months of traveling around Africa, including the past six weeks in South Africa, the time has come to return back to the States.

It turns out to be a super relaxing day — my flight isn’t until the evening so I have the whole day to do whatever I want. I’m staying out near the airport but I take the MetroRail to nearby Rosebank on the advice of the hostel owner. Sure enough, it’s a great tip — there’s both an indoor and outdoor mall here (The Zone and Rosebank Mall), and they are located right next to the MetroRail station. I even find Motherland Coffee, a Starbucks-esque chain that I last visited in Cape Town. I settle in to edit photos and write blog posts for an hour or two.

Then I grab lunch at nearby Tashas — and for that hour, I’d swear it’s the best restaurant I’ve ever eaten at. Every dish of food that passes by me is mouthwatering. I want to order eight things off the menu. The decor is incredibly charming, with book pages hanging from the ceiling and colorful fruit bowls splayed out across the main counter.

I can’t resist the milkshake menu — after agonizing over the flavors, I order a pecan bar shake that is garnished with an actual pecan bar.

To balance out my sugary appetizer, I order a spinach salad for my main meal — it’s topped with succulent chicken, dijon dressing, avocado, red onions, and quinoa. I eat every bite.

I tear myself away from Tashas because while walking around earlier I noticed a movie theater inside the mall. I haven’t seen a movie in four months, not since catching The Fault in our Stars in Ethiopia (it’s worth checking out that post if you haven’t read it). A star-studded film adaptation of This is Where I Leave You (based on the Jonathan Tropper novel I enjoyed reading years ago) was recently released in the States and is now playing in South Africa. I’m sold! I can’t think of a better way to cap off the afternoon… aside from eating everything on the menu at Tashas. It feels downright luxurious to catch a mid-day movie, knowing that my bags are packed and in a few hours I’ll be heading home to the States.

(image via)

I’m also reading two of the plays I picked up at the used bookstore in Durban a few weeks earlier — Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing and Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechwan. Love them both.

Eventually I return back to the hostel and the owner drops me off at the airport (five minutes away). It’s October 22nd but they already have a Christmas tree up. Dare I admit I like it?

I’m on a red-eye flight to Doha, the capital of Qatar. Then in the morning I will fly to JFK and arrive in New York in the evening. The first flight is 8.5 hours and the second is nearly 14 hours! I’m ready to sleep, eat, watch TV shows, edit photos, and write blog posts. Provided my seat is comfy, long flights are total bliss for me — hours out of time with little pressure to do anything.

The plane from Joburg to Doha is the newest I’ve ever flown on. Get this — it doesn’t even have window shades, but rather buttons that change the opacity of the glass so you can adjust to your preferred level of light / darkness at any moment during the flight. But when I wake up from a nap, the view out the window is sapphire and turquoise blue. I’ve never see the sky and ocean like that!, I think to myself. And then I realize that since the window’s got this opacity filter, it’s interfering with how my eyes see color.

The airport in Doha reminds me of the elaborately designed public spaces in nearby Dubai — both Qatar and U.A.E. have the money for such decor. Here is a giant yellow teddy bear under a lampshade? Or a beauty chair bonnet? Or maybe it’s a rugged hat?

I’m not positive what this next piece is, but it reminds me of a hookah. Or a figure in a dress standing on top of a space-related object? Gosh, the Doha airport art installations are like 3-D rorschach tests.

This airport is so fancy that they even have a station of new Mac desktops for travelers to use free of charge.

Once in the air, I spy views over a blue-green sea (this time without the interference of an electronic window shade):

I sleep for several hours and when I wake up, the landscape is 100% different. Instead of Persian Gulf coastal views, there are mountain glaciers stretching as far as the eye can see. Any guess where we are?

It’s Greenland. We are flying over the southernmost part of this expansive and snowy country:

I settle in and watch a few hours of TV comedies, including the final few episodes of How I Met Your Mother. Remember when I saw this show on my flight to Africa 4.5 months ago? And I photographed Tamar’s name in the credits back then too, because HOW COOL to see your friend’s name on a screen 35,000 feet in the air? (Answer: very cool.)

Shout out to Qatar Airways for serving two full and delicious meals (with free wine!) during this 14 hour flight.

The clouds begin to part as we fly over Long Island, approaching New York City:

And just like that, I’m back on U.S. soil and my Africa trip is officially behind me. Well, after a 45 minute wait at immigration, at least.

It has taken me nearly 14 months to recap my time in Africa — that is how full and significant this journey was. I remember that before this trip I thought I couldn’t call myself a *real* traveller (as if there’s an official checklist of criteria!) because I hadn’t yet set foot in Africa. And now I’ve spent time in 14 of its countries. I am filled with gratitude for all I’ve gotten to see, do, and experience these past few months. I humbly bow down to the travel gods in thanks for a safe and successful trip. Memories from this time will stay with me all the days of my life.

I still owe you loyal readers a budget breakdown of all the money I spent in South Africa. Plus, next week I’ll properly cap off ALL my Africa coverage with a short series of special posts. Stay tuned.