So, I travel for a living. And it's not enough. I want to do something good. Something that benefits someone other than myself. Being that I can't be active with charity and philanthropical organizations due to working every single day for 6-8 months at a time, when I found this website, I was thrilled. After asking numerous friends from all over South Africa, I was told to do Living with Lions. So I booked it.

Now, I'm trying to figure out which of my friends will be home. And how many days I'm going to stay after. I want to see Kruger (where I have a friend working in the park) and I want to do the Great White cage dive off of False Bay, outside of Cape Town.

Working every day is preventing me from actually doing more research...

I know time will fly until I sign off of my contract on March 28. Then it's a whirlwind to spend time with my mom (and best friend) outside Charleston, SC, visit my friends and father in (Stow and Brunswick,) Ohio, and some how manage to get everything done before heading off to my next contract on another ship.

At least packing will be easy for South Africa. I was told by my South African friends to only pack 1 suitcase and leave the other empty as I will fill it when I get there. Easy to do since I have been used to having dollars with no value over in Europe. The Rand should be amazing even though it's not as high as in the past.

I cannot wait. It's what is getting me thru the end of this contract. 8 months is way too long to be on a ship working every day.... especially in a management position.

• Living with Lions