Off the Beaten Track in eSwatini

Our trip to eSwatini started off quite eventfully. My passport was expired, so I had to order one a few weeks in advance. The day of departure arrived as promised, but my passport did not. Much to my utter chagrin.

My friend, who had never left the country before, was eager to set out. Her brand new passport, ordered after mine, was already in her hands and ready for its first stamp. She could not be contained, so I convinced her to start alone.

In case you aren't aware, eSwatini, formerly Swaziland, is inside South Africa, so she technically would be staying within the border while crossing into another country. Weird, I know. But based on this anomaly, I felt better about her going alone.

Anyway, the morning arrived, so we went to the car rental agency as normal. I rented the car in my name, added her as a driver, and off she went. We stopped at a McDees for some breakfast and then parted ways.

I felt like a mother bird watching its nestling experience flight for the first time. It took her several hours longer than it should have, but then she was there and going through border control for the first time ever.

From the comfort of my home, I booked her a two-night stay at a simple lodge immediately over the border. I wanted to take away the stress of her getting there and having to look for accommodation. I'm a pro now at Booking.com, by the way.

By the time my passport arrived, I had to get a ride to the border and then across with my luggage. The weirdest experience I've ever had. I stood on the border between two countries and hopped this way and that until the guards on the eSwatini side gestured at me to come over.

My friend picked me up on the other side, already a proud fan of the little landlocked country, and we began an adventure of a lifetime. If you've never been to Africa, you won't understand the sense of deep love one can have for the very ground and all its creatures.

We stayed in 5-star hotels deep in eSwatini or chalets on game reserves or guesthouses in small towns for the rest of our trip, but my friend insisted that her first 2-night stay outside South Africa was the best. Freedom slaps differently on a solo trip over the border.

At one place, we followed a lone warthog for several kilometers as it searched for its mates, and we could have sworn we saw them hiding from him on purpose. Of course, I stuck my head out of the car and told him exactly where they were. Those meanies had it coming.

But the little guy reminded us of ourselves somewhat, and we promptly hashtagged that trip #NotAllWhoWanderAreWarthog. The look of joy on his face when he found them, okay, I could be anthropomorphizing a bit [a lot!], was just the sweetest thing.

For her first excursion away from home, I think my friend probably spent way too much money on touristy stuff, but that's a typical noob mistake that I learned from a long time ago. I generally limit myself to pins, fridge magnets, and the occasional tiny piece of jewelry. She didn't complain.

No matter where we stayed, most of the places offered buffet breakfasts, and we took full advantage of them. Which brings us to the social aspect of the trip. Having meals in hotel dining rooms and coffee shops and on outdoor balconies, we met a lot of friendly people.

At no time did we feel excluded or othered by the people of eSwatini. They were joyful and embracing and were quick to befriend us, including a homeless man named Comfort, who we fed every night we stayed in his city and truly worried about when we moved on.

Whenever he saw us, he would yell from across the street. He couldn't remember my name, so he called me "The Exquisite." Comfort would also drag me around to meet his local "friends" who help him with meals and clothes daily just to introduce us to each other.

We had a scare one day when our car started smoking and we thought we broke it. It turned out we were just burning the brakes on a steep downhill. Another night, we left it too late to find our hotel and it was dark and foggy with limited visibility by the time we got into town.

That ride was one of the scariest I've ever been on. My friend was driving blind, trusting my instructions as I monitored our GPS location like a passenger in a racecar. Then she turned onto a dirt road I specifically refused to go on, and a bumpy, dark ride later, we were at the hotel.

One catch, though. She had brought us to the back of the hotel which was secured with a rickety gate and rusty old padlock. The mist and the trees and the damp air and the darkness was a lot. We went back the way we had come and continued following the GPS to the main entrance.

Another time, we got lost driving back from the airport and ended up at an army barrack looking for directions. We were also forced to cross a river and stood there for a long time in the dark waiting for another car to come along to show us the safest path.

Coming home was another long drive back and at one time, we ended up turned around. But what an adventure we had! And my friend went on to leave the country a couple more times since then, once even on a plane. Which proves that if you want to make an omelet, you gotta break some eggs. But that's another story for another time.