9825 Miles in 21 hours

By Zander Fritz

It all comes very quickly, one day you’re in your home town with your friends, the next day you are on American soil, breathing the air of the magical state of Florida.

I’ll admit it I was scared, I did not want to leave my friends and family. I like to be in control, I like knowing what is going to happen when and how. But I learnt very quickly that I can trust the Workaway International team to ensure my experience was as smooth as possible. I had never flown before or experienced the rush as the aircraft take off and land, but what an experience. I now realise I love flying, so much so that I never slept at all during my 21 hours over three different flights. I was the only one that found it incredible that we were 40 000 feet up in the air flying at 900kmh. But by far the best is seeing the sunrise while flying in the clouds.

So now I’m all settled into my apartment with my flatmates. I’ve begun to get used to living with five other people and honestly it has been a good experience, we all do our part and help each other when it’s necessary. So far I have made good friends with the other South Africans in my complex, and had endless conversations with the Americans and learnt how to live like an American from simple things like shopping at Walmart to how to dispose of garbage to avoid racoons from digging through the trash.

When it comes to my position at Boca West, I’ve realised how important each little job is, when it comes to keeping the members and guests impressed 100% of the time. My whole day is blessed with the smiles of members as they realise the effort we go through to make their experience absolutely magical.