PHOTO-A-DAY CHALLENGE
It’s Time to Say Goodbye
Week 33 of the photographic documentary of my daily life
I still can't believe it. The last six months flew by like nothing. And all of a sudden our day of departure is right there. In front of our eyes. It’s time to say goodbye. Once again.
Despite traveling so much I’m telling you goodbyes never become easier. I hate goodbyes. I guess nobody likes them really. But I try to keep them as short as possible. To make them less painful.
We had such a great time this past half a year in my second home. Where friends are family and the dunes meet the ocean. Namibia. Of course, I will always come back. But for now, I have to say goodbye.
Thursday. Our big international skydiving event was still in full swing. Once every three days I would go up and do a jump. The rest of the time I was on the ground packing parachutes.
The Namib desert. A desert I haven’t heard of before I touched it and a place I can’t let go of after I felt it. As fascinating as in the movies. My second home. Because there’s nothing more interesting than calling a desert your home.
This is what I love seeing after pulling my parachute. A smiley. My fully inflated canopy looks like this. I know I should have a yellow parachute. But beggars can’t be choosers. One day when I can afford a new one I will buy myself a yellow parachute.
With a smiley in it.
Selfie 2.0
I was doing a coaching jump and after breaking off I looked back underneath my body to check if my student was doing a solid track. The camera mounted on my chest captured the selfie upside down.
It’s over. The boogie. How we call events like this in the skydiving terms. Our local skydiving community had a safety seminar this morning and then we all went home.
It’s time to recharge the batteries. Relax on the couch. And… well it’s time for us to think about packing! Not packing parachutes anymore but packing all our belongings for the next move across the continent.
Did someone say packing? That still has some time. I much rather spend the evening with the girls. Drinking margaritas and taking selfies with the good old Polaroid camera.
A legendary night. But more than this picture of the cocktails won’t come out to the public.
Yes. We couldn’t procrastinate anymore. We had to pack. Today. In the morning we pulled all kinds of stuff and clothes onto our bed. We had packed the car with the camping gear which will be stored together with the vehicle in a facility outside the airport for the next months.
The reason why we pull everything out of the bed is rather simple. When we come home after the family dinner we can’t just be lazy and go to sleep. We have to pack in order to go to bed.
At 5 a.m. is the departure tomorrow morning. It was 10 p.m. when I closed the last bag. Guess what. We don’t take that long anymore when traveling. Moving between countries and packing for the flight takes us as long as others take in the morning to shower and put make-up on.
It’s all about practice.
But now I need to sleep. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow. And who knows how long we will be on the road. By all experience. It’s still Africa. You never know what happens next…
This has been my week in photographs. 7 days. 7 photographs. Anyone can join. Once of. Or weekly. It doesn’t matter. We welcome anyone! Dennett was the one starting this photography challenge sometime last year and many have participated ever since.
Erika Burkhalter / Eileen Vorbach Collins / Dennett / Sasha Meyer / Tracy Aston/ Lisa Bolin / Juan O. Aguilera / David Wade Chambers / June Nguyen / Mia Verita
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Anne Bonfert is a traveler. Photographer. Writer. Teacher. Skydiving instructor. Adventure enthusiast. Nature lover. And fell in love with the African continent.
