Saturday, January 31, 2009

Travel Accounts

In the last 24 hours, which seems like 32 hours because of the time changes, I've been through 3 airports, flew over hundreds of miles of ocean, hundreds of miles of desert, and hundreds of miles of who knows what else (well, I could be a bio geek and say some of what else: temperate deciduous forest, chapparel, savannah, desert riparian zone, tropical grassland).

I saw probably tens of thousands of people (and one cat), and overheard 3 identifiable languages that are not English (German, French, Swahili. There was also a Scottish stewardess on the plane who had a very heavy brogue and was mocked constantly by the other stewardess). I was chatted up (briefly, thankfully) by 1 drunk air passenger with 0 hairs on his head but 2 very thick muttonchops, who was going to Tanzania but had gotten 0 shots. Also, I accidentally took candy from 1 stranger (the guy who sat in front of me offered pieces of gum to everyone around, and I took it before I realized that what I just did was a cardinal sin).

I checked 46 kg of luggage, saw 5 in-flight movies, lost 0 items, and only freaked out because I thought I had lost my passport once.

Tomorrow, I'll be on a 3-hour drive up to the research center, and then we actually start learning stuff!

I put up new photos- they were taken from my (business class! I lucked out!) window seat on the plane ride from London to Nairobi. I tended to favor shots of coasts because it was easier to tell where we were (I was also helped by the cool little journey tracker screen BA has on the backs of all the chairs.
The first is off the coast of France, the second might be Paris, the third is the Alps, the fourth some island off the coast of Italy, the fifth is the first sight of Africa, and the last four are all just shots over the Sahara. The polka-dots are circles of irrigated land. It got dark before I could get any shots of non-Saharan Africa, but I did include a picture of the sunset.

Now, I'm going to sleep.

3 comments:

  1. SARAH your pictures are gorgeous. I had no idea the Sahara was polka-dotted.
    I am so jealous I am still at home. YOU ARE IN AFRICA. Do you realize this?

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  2. OMG YOU MADE IT CONGRATS. im glad to hear that you got in safely and with all of your bags (i think) in tow! woooo let the epic adventure begin! say hello to sam and jojo and all of the animals for me.

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  3. Mrs Upton:
    Wow Sawasawa (LOL),
    This is totally awesome how you can keep us posted of your adventure! Thanks so much for doing this. God is good isn't He? Keeping His watchful eye over you so you can have a good trip!
    I will be anxious to hear and see about what you are doing and experiencing. I'll make sure I pass this website blog on to Michelle. She's thick into another theater production, but I'm sure she'll love seeing your journey also.

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