my first circumnavigation around the Earth (by plane)

The last time I tried to something crazy with my annual US pilgrimage route, I chose to experience the Island Hopper route across the Pacific Ocean which was offered by United Airlines. That was two years ago. I was thinking of how to top that adventure for several months now and then I decided that I'd do something bigger: travel around the world (literally). I had to choose destinations (at the continent level) that I haven't been to before and flight deals that won't break the bank. That means that Europe was off my list because I was just in Denmark for UNLEASH. And that left me with the continent I have never been to in my entire life.

Africa.

The Dora the Explorer in me was excited!

So for this trip, I was doing this route via Cathay Pacific, Ethiopian Airlines, and United Airlines (Expedia made the search for the combinations convenient and the flight options on the affordable end):

Manila–Hong Kong–Addis Ababa–Lomé–Cotonou–Newark–San Francisco–Hong Kong–Manila

My first thought, after seeing Ethiopia from above, was that Africa is a beautiful place to visit. Throughout my short stay, the highlight was following the slave route, a topic I've been interested in since I saw the statues in San Jose State University that commemorate the African American struggle for equality in the USA. This interest was further fuelled by Hidden Figures, a movie which featured African American women who were empowered by their education, segregated based on their colour and gender, but recognised by NASA for their capabilities and their contributions to the manned space flight program. Also, my sister-in-law, Barbara, has African roots; her ancestors were some of those who survived the trip across the Atlantic. Maybe one day, we can go visit and try to trace where her ancestors originated.

Coastal road in Lomé, Togo

Moreover, I have been forever touched by the warm hospitality I have been given by the people I met while I was there. My limited French was not even a hindrance for communication; perhaps, they appreciated that I even tried. I just realised that I should have brought my French-English dictionary with me because I didn't have access to Google Translate or to Linguee.fr while I was there (No international roaming for Globe. Quelle horreur!).

After my brief but fulfilling stop in Africa, I then flew, for the first time, across the Atlantic to Newark. I was happy to have arrived when I did because a snowstorm made landfall a few days later, leaving the East Coast in below 0 temperatures, with flights being delayed and hundreds of stranded passengers disgruntled. My trip to San Francisco was largely uneventful, although I was quite surprised that my sunrise flight was full. 

Most of my stay in California was limited to being indoors for several weeks, thanks to bronchitis. I missed out on activities that I planned to do (hiking, snowboarding, etc). But on the other side of the coin, I was able to experience what Urgent Care means in the US. And I've visited more National Historical Sites. Aside from those, I took the downtime to watch a lot of Netflix movies and series while being introspective: mulling over the pros and cons of decisions I had to make when I got back in Manila. I guess that if I were busy sightseeing, I wouldn't have had time to reflect on what Life has thrown at me in 2017–2018. 2018 is a turning point for me, after all.

The layover in Hong Kong was one of the more worrisome for me because it was relatively short (I think my flight got delayed leaving San Francisco) and I didn't realise how long the queue at the security gate was when I joined in. By the time I arrived, panting, at the boarding gate, the ground crew was on its final call. 

The wall of heat that greeted me when I arrived in Manila was a welcome change to the cold weather! As I left the airport, I realised that I just finished circling the world. It wasn't as long or as dangerous as what the Magellan-Elcano expedition did by sea; but it was still a great experience for me.

I'm betting that my next trip to the US won't be as exciting as this. Maiba naman.