Well, I can't say that I'm having fun yet. It's been more of a comedy of errors, without the comedy. I started off well enough in Baltimore. The security lines were short, and I was prepared - shoes, belt, and jacket off, laptop out of the bag. I was at the gate very early and kicked back to enjoy a coffee. That's when the enjoyment stopped. My first leg of the trip was to Atlanta, but before we even hit the runway, the captain came on the speaker saying that the tower had to evacuate because of a fire alarm. Now, it was a false alarm, but we were delayed a good 45 minutes. That meant I had to run to my gate to catch my 3:50pm flight... and wouldn't you know, the international terminal is on the other side of the airport. I think I need to exercise more, cause I was really out of breath. And I was worried that my bag wouldn't make it. The flight out of Atlanta was delayed just a bit as well. We sat on the plane for a good half hour or so, but I wasn't as concerned about this leg because I didn't have to switch planes at my next stop, which was Dakar, Senegal. By the way... The itinerary I printed out - I flew with Delta - did not list the stop in Dakar, so I was a bit surprised when my ticket was printed out in Baltimore that I had a stop. In Senegal, we weren't allowed to leave the plane, and a team of security personnel came and searched every seat, and identified every bag before we were allowed to move on. But that wasn't all. Once we were settled in for the next leg - which happened to be about eight hours long - we sat for about an hour. Why? The crew forgot to take anti-malaria spray on board. South Africa wouldn't have let the plane in the country without it. So we sat. and taxied, and sat. Finally we were on our way. Needless to say, these delays cost me precious time. I was already cutting it close with my flight. I was due at the Zurich Club chapter meeting at 6:00. I didn't even get into the city until 6:30. Busted. So I'm off to a rocky start. The one thing I can say is that the people I've talked to so far are very nice, and extremely excited about the World Cup 2010. In fact, a lot of folks are counting on this sporting event to really propel the country forward. Take my new friend Brian. He picked me up at the airport to take me to my hotel. Brian has a wife and three kids, and struggles a little to buy necessities. He doesn't have a car of his own, and he can't afford a house. The flat he was renting was just sold by the landlord, so he and his family were forced to find a different flat. He told me that 7,000 cars are repossessed here every month. He says he's lucky to have a job. The World Cup is expected to bring millions of visitors to the country for the month-long event. The country is building new roads, stadiums, subways, hotels... all at a rapid pace. This is creating jobs in the construction industry, which is helping to alleviate the loss of jobs in the mines from the collapse of commodity prices. I sincerely hope, particularly for my new friend Bryan, that the World Cup 2010 does mark a turn around for South Africa. Standing before the elevator in my hotel here in Johannesburg, I read a sign that told guests not to use the elevator in case of a power outage or shut down from the power company Eskom. Really. I asked the porter about it... "Does that happen often?" I asked. "No, not really. Not any more," he answered. "Since November, it's been pretty stable." I have a feeling it's going to be an interesting stay...