Well, not even a week after I left New York, Marie is on a plane too. It’s her turn to fly, she’s bridging the gap between North America and her South African roots.

The week in New York, as always, was a bliss. She’s blogged so well about it that I won’t even try to compete. Brooklyn has now definitely creeped its way into my heart and I left a small part of me there, in each restaurant we went to, on each sidewalk we followed, with every person we met.

In a month exactly, I’ll be stepping foot on African soil and a new barrier will be thrown down. The closest I’ve ever been to Africa was Tangier, from the cocoon of a ship. This time, it will be different. Abe will be present and ready, so will my glider, and I will be meeting with a angel. Wonderful things will come from that trip. Everlasting things.

For now, thanks to Flight Tracker, I am following Marie’s trip live, from the lonely warmth of my West End apartment, Vancouver BC. Right this minute, British Airways flight 174, a 747-400, the king of airplanes, is about to leave Canada and the continent behind and throw itself over the Atlantic, long dark night navigation during which, for only company, the flight deck crew will have that of other planes, far above or below in the North Atlantic skies, over white noise on the radio…

Then it will be London Heathrow, a long stop over, and the final flight to South Africa, overflying the African immensity by night, sadly. A lot is happening down there and my thoughts are divided between home and Cape Town these days.

There will be Christmas, pointless over oceans, and then peace. On the 15th of January I will be airborne too, landing two days later below the equator in the land of Nelson Mandela and Tolkien (Yes, didn’t you know, J.R.R Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. So was Marie.)

Many more posts about this nearing day might follow. For now, all I can say is this: 16,000 km (in a straight line) is nothing. Vancouver and Cape Town have never been so close. There is Skype, there’s hope, there’s faith and there’s undying love – of saucisson. Amen.