I leave today! For Africa! I don't think everything is going to fit in my suitcase and I'm mildly freaking out and oh gosh, I will miss my cats.
I haven't started planning Egypt at all, but I have some fairly grand plans for Africa! I am thinking a 6 day / 5 night safari in Tanzania, which will let me hit up the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater which I desperately want to do (and the Serengeti is a day's drive away from Arusha, where these tours start, so you need a long time for a Tanzanian safari). Afterwards, I'll get back to Nairobi and then no reason not to push back my travel to Egypt by a few days and go on a 3 or 4 day safari in the Masai Mara. WILDEBEEST MIGRATION, here I come. I found some safaris that are super reasonably priced and have good reputations. Now if only the Kenya place would get back to me.
Egypt I am thinking pyramids and a boat ride down the Nile. And then maybe some more pyramids. And possibly a night of camping in the Sahara? I heard that was good.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Preparing
The last few days have been crazy crazy, trying to buy everything I need (ffff, that reminds me, brb to take a doxycycline (my anti-malarial), which I've been about to take for the last four hours). Sadly, my traveling companion isn't going to be able to come anymore, so I've been madly contacting safaris to see who will let a solo traveler join onto a group. This is shockingly more difficult than you would expect, as it turns out most safaris book private tours of 2-6 people and being a solo traveler tacks on an additional $1000-3000, which is quite a bit more than the total safari cost for a person in a group. Needless to say, that's not happening.
A small kink in my packing plans: I just discovered that the towel I was going to bring to Africa is no longer with us. It appears I left it in a dryer at Stanford. Clever of me.
On the bright side, the mini swiss army knife I got at REI has both an orange peeler (and scraper?) and a cuticle pusher (along with the normal nail file, which I've never understood being included in swiss army knives). So at least I will be able to peel oranges without ruining my fabulous fingernails in Africa. This is important.
p.s. I am pretty sure the doxycycline is stuck in my throat. I can feel it every time I swallow.
A small kink in my packing plans: I just discovered that the towel I was going to bring to Africa is no longer with us. It appears I left it in a dryer at Stanford. Clever of me.
On the bright side, the mini swiss army knife I got at REI has both an orange peeler (and scraper?) and a cuticle pusher (along with the normal nail file, which I've never understood being included in swiss army knives). So at least I will be able to peel oranges without ruining my fabulous fingernails in Africa. This is important.
p.s. I am pretty sure the doxycycline is stuck in my throat. I can feel it every time I swallow.
Friday, June 17, 2011
one week away
There's no real point to this post other than to have a post in my blog. I have no idea if I'll be able to update this blog while I'm in Africa, but I hope that I will be able to.
For those of you who know nothing about this, I will be doing research through Stanford's bio department in Tanzania (June 25 - July 13) and Kenya (July 15 - August 15). Afterwards I plan to travel around East Africa (August 16 - 23) and Egypt (August 23 - September 4) with my Laurel. I'll write up a blurb on the research before I leave, :)
Here is my tentative travel schedule (I bought tickets, but they are subject to change depending on whether my roommiesister can come to Africa too):
Traveling there, starting June 23:
From: WAS/DULLES
Departs: 05:55 PM
To: AMSTERDAM
Arrives: 07:40 AM on Jun 24 2011
From: AMSTERDAM
Departs: 11:15 AM
To: NAIROBI
Arrives: 08:15 PM
From Nairobi to Cairo, on August 23:
From: NAIROBI
Departs: 05:20 PM
To: CAIRO
Arrives: 10:35 PM
Cairo to home, on September 4:
Flight Number: 554
From: CAIRO
Departs: 03:05 PM
To: AMSTERDAM
Arrives: 08:05 PM
From: AMSTERDAM
Departs: 12:30 PM
To: WAS/DULLES
Arrives: 03:00 PM
Lots and lots of flying, for sure!
For those of you who know nothing about this, I will be doing research through Stanford's bio department in Tanzania (June 25 - July 13) and Kenya (July 15 - August 15). Afterwards I plan to travel around East Africa (August 16 - 23) and Egypt (August 23 - September 4) with my Laurel. I'll write up a blurb on the research before I leave, :)
Here is my tentative travel schedule (I bought tickets, but they are subject to change depending on whether my roommiesister can come to Africa too):
Traveling there, starting June 23:
From: WAS/DULLES
Departs: 05:55 PM
To: AMSTERDAM
Arrives: 07:40 AM on Jun 24 2011
From: AMSTERDAM
Departs: 11:15 AM
To: NAIROBI
Arrives: 08:15 PM
From Nairobi to Cairo, on August 23:
From: NAIROBI
Departs: 05:20 PM
To: CAIRO
Arrives: 10:35 PM
Cairo to home, on September 4:
Flight Number: 554
From: CAIRO
Departs: 03:05 PM
To: AMSTERDAM
Arrives: 08:05 PM
From: AMSTERDAM
Departs: 12:30 PM
To: WAS/DULLES
Arrives: 03:00 PM
Lots and lots of flying, for sure!
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