"plans"

I think it was just yesterday that I blogged, though with the days feeling as long as weeks, it could have been last year. It's funny how time slows down while one is traveling and yet still things can manage to change so fast - like our travel plans.

We looked into going south and discovered it expensive and not that appealing. After much indecisiveness and a trip out of town to a decent bookstore (where we sold a fellow traveler our Tanzania guide - turns out there aren't any to be found in Tanzania), and some wandering in and out of travel agents, and some reading and at least one sleepless night we actually have a plan -- one that involves a plane ticket. Yep, it's a real plan this time! On Saturday, we're flying to Kampala, Uganda (seemed worth the extra $$$ to avoid a 25 hour bus ride, the day-time part of which crosses country we've already seen - twice). Aftr Ugand we intend to make our way overland across Kenya to Nairobi where we'll hop on a flight to Addis Abbaba (Ethiopia). Perhaps we'll even be in Lalibela (home of immense rock-hewn churches and the ancient Christian Coptic sect) for Christmas. The thought of onward movement has me feeling fresh. I found that the lack of plan - then lack of concrete plan, made me a little crazy.

My dear friend Kelly sent me some wonderful advice about the stage of travel which goes something like:

Stage 1. Wheee! Everything's new and exciting and wonderful. Oh my god! Did you see that lion???
Stage 2. Huh? Why did we leave our comfortable bed with the clean sheets and the shower with the water in it and the car and the paved roads and the recognizable food to come to some hot, mosquito-ridden place and take Larium???
Stage 3. In the groove - enjoying travel. Things going as smoothly as can be expected. Able to laugh when confronted with absurdly frustrating circumstances.
Stage 4. Winding the trip down and preparing to come home.

I can say that after spending a certain amount of time in stage 1 and what seemed like a long time in stage 2, I think I'm working my way into stage 3. I'm quicker to laugh at the things that go wrong (exhibit A: the computer system that issues AMEX traveler's checks in Tanzania and Kenya is down. For a month!) and I think I've figured out how to cross the street. Here we are in Tanzania's main city and there are no stop signs, no yield signs and a snarl of honking cars going every which way at each corner. The few traffic lights I've seen have been red but that hasn't appeared to dissuade the cars from driving on anyway. Needless to say, crossing the street is an art - and I'm certainly getting better at it. Signs are looking good that things are getting smoother.

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Americans! Perhaps we'll have (more) Indian food???