You didn't think it would take me this long, did you?

I've been quiet for a while, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been busy booking travel.

After my return from safari, I became a bit bitter, hostile even, about what transpired in the Mara portion of my safari.  For a while, I swore off Africa forever.  Between my safari planner, the safari operator who still, for reasons that remain unknown to me, won't tell me why he hijacked my safari with his own vehicle and driver, the he-said/she-said got a bit much.  In all of that, I got lost.  It became more about their saving face than what they can do to make me feel better.  Even an "I'm sorry" would have worked.  I got none of that.

So in early March, on a day fraught with typical New England Winter, I booked Cuba.  Yes, that's right.  A country that was on the bucket list, but pretty far down, got promoted.  Given that Obama managed to reestablish civilized relations with them fairly recently, I decided I wanted to get there before I could buy a Starbucks mug and Hard Rock Café t-shirt.  So I'm going in October.  Yes, that's the earliest I could get there on the itinerary I want.  I'm going with Overseas Adventure Travel and have a full docket of cultural activities booked with them, as going and hanging out while drinking mojitos still isn't allowed, no matter what Obama does or says.  I booked it all in a day, which is pretty easy to do when all you have to do is get yourself to Miami and hand over a credit card.

But then, Africa started to call again.  I woke many a night with the need to "do it over".  My last Mara experience felt like a highway robbery.  It started in April and got stronger as the month wore on.  At first I contemplated not returning to Kenya at all, and just ("just"???) going gorilla trekking in Uganda.  But then I played the "well, while I'm there" game, and now it's 5 days in Rwanda (including a city tour of Kigali, golden monkey trekking and two days of gorilla trekking) and then off to my beloved Mara back in Kenya.  We have enough time in Rwanda to see the city (including the original Hotel Rwanda and the genocide memorial) and then the gorilla monkey trekking to acclimate to the altitude and learn how to use the camera in rainforest conditions, then two days of gorilla trekking.  I'm beyond excited.  It is 264 days between booking and execution. My China/First Safari Friend Kim is going with me this time, which will be fun.  But now it's all booked and the waiting begins.

This time, instead of leaving it up to safari planner to totally botch up my vacation, I booked directly with the operators on the ground.  Access2Tanzania, with whom we went to Tanzania on Safari #1, now operates Treks2Rwanda, so I booked the Rwanda portion with them.  I booked our camp in the Mara directly with the camp itself, and they're handling our transfer, airfare from Nairobi to the Mara and back.  And we get 6 nights in the Mara.  Heaven.  I cannot wait.

I've already called the travel clinic to see what I need for vaccinations for both destinations.  Hopefully I can kill two birds with one stone and only go once.  If I remember correctly, they said my typhoid vaccination would expire in June of this year, so I'll likely need that again.  Who would have thought I'd have to re-up my typhoid???

Let the countdowns begin...