The Last Time?

We leave for Africa soon. (Laaaaaaaaaa!)

Even though we've had the trip planned, officially, for about a year, I haven't been able to think about it much lately, other than the "To Do List". Get Visa paperwork. Get shots. Pack meds. Buy packs. Schedule boarding for Roo. Schedule house + plant sitter. Etc.

But now, the logistics are in place and, well, WE'RE GOING TO AFRICA.

And we're going to the Netherlands!

I have mixed feelings about this trip. For as long as I can remember I've wanted to go to Africa. When I was young, I would flip through my Papa's National Geographic magazines in awe of the landscape, animals, and people. In high school and college, I read literary classics and sociological/anthropological studies about various African countries and just could not fathom what it would be like to be there, feet on the ground.

The first few years that G and I were married, we would talk about travel during our hikes. About 10 years ago, we made a goal. At age 40 we would seriously plan to go to Africa, and we would seriously start looking at options to move out west (in America, haha, not Africa).

We achieved both goals five years ago, as fate would have it. So now, we will be making our second trip just in time for our upcoming 40th birthdays.

I sort of can't believe it. Hence, the mixed feelings.

If I had unlimited time and money (well, mostly the money) I would go to a different part of Africa every year, until I got to the point where I was revisiting places I'd already seen. It's just amazing. But, alas, I don't have unlimited time or money, and there's no rich benefactor in sight. So, as we make plans to scrimp and save for the next vacation, we consider other places that are on the list, and other things we'd like to experience while we're "young".

And so I don't know if we'll ever go back again after this trip.

I hope so, but I can't say.

So. For this trip we're going to be completely unplugged. No cell phones. No laptops. No suit cases. Just packs with the bare minimum and a ton of cameras and memory sticks. And a small journal, and one pen.

I'm going to fully take in the sights and sounds and smells and accents and adventures and dust and sun and crazy-looking trees and food and I'm going to be in the moment.

And then I'm gonna come back and blog like crazy so I can share everything with you!