Canada, London, Johannesburg, Kigali. It was a route full of zig, zags, and pit stops in two countries: lunch in London with a large chunk of Rich’s family, and, due to circumstances far beyond our control, a pointless stopover in Jozi that resulted in a great guesthouse find – Moira and Lawrence at Sleep Eezy Cottages were awesome – and delicious pizza and wine in a strip mall, of all places. Today at lunch time, we arrived in Kigali, our first “official” destination, almost 60 hours after leaving Montreal.
This trip has already resulted in a couple of “What was I thinking!” moments, which have served to remind me not to be so complacent about packing my bags. Got to London without one of my lenses (albeit it’s been unreliable as of late, so probably for the best) and got to Heathrow with only the two memory cards that were in my camera (cue purchase of card reader, since Rich has his hard rive with him).
This trip didn’t really start feeling like a “trip” until we hit Joburg and started researching paces to stay in Kigali. I’m crediting this to the fact that there was so much travel to do before reaching Kigali that getting excited upon departure from Cornwall would’ve made the next three days almost unbearable. I have, however, loved the fact that the concept of being on the road again has very slowly crept into my consciousness. Conversations about differences and similarities in UK vs Canadian spelling in London; waking from a snooze on the plane, convinced that we must only have a couple of hours left before landing in Jozi, only to find out that there were still EIGHT hours to go (shoot me now); feeling that warm glow that the African sun imbues in my skin; flying over a few dozen of the thousands of hills that Rwanda is known for – that’s when it started to sink in that we are really doing this.
And for those of you who are reading and aren’t sure what “this” is, here’s what’s in store for us:
Stage 1: six days in Rwanda, two days in the DRC, 13 days in Uganda, 3 nights in South Africa. This will allow us to explore Nyungwe Forest National Park, which is the home of 13 primate species; delve into the history of the Rwandan genocide and learn how the country has changed its outlook in the 20 years since; spend one all-too-short day trekking to see mountain gorillas; scratch the surface of what Uganda has to offer these two hapless (and, sometimes, hopeless) backpackers; and spend a couple of nights catching up with some very dear friends in Cape Town for a photo session and several bottles of wine.
Stage 2: Christmas and New Year’s with friends and family in Wales.
Stage 3: Australasia adventures via hawker stalls in Hong Kong, where I plan to try one of just about everything; adventures by land and sea to the Visayas in the Philippines (where Mom will be happy to hear we plant to avoid the pirates in the south); a week in Melbourne and along the Great Ocean Road (a first for me, despite several trips Down Under); and then the big finale: 9 days in New Zealand, and Mike and Megan’s wedding in Whitianga, along one of my favourite beaches in the world.
If you try to reach me by phone any time between now and Feb 11, you’ll hear my voice politely asking you to email me, and for very good reason: I won’t have access to voicemail before we get home, so PLEASE email me at ang@momentusstudio.com if you want to get info from me or set up a time to chat via Skype/FaceTime – I can show you a little bit of what wherever-we-are is like!
Grateful for: melatonin – my internal clock is completely upside-down!
