Onwards safari

I suppose it would be sort of pretentious to say that the whole going to Kenya thing is getting pretty routine.  Except it is.  I don't really have any trip angst about this this time.  Taking the whole traveling-in-February thing out of it which is always fraught with potential weather concerns takes a great deal of stress out of the anticipation window.  But now, here I am 5 weeks out and I'm pretty chill.  I'm not in dire need of a vacation, though I'd like one.  I'm just now starting to feel like the weeks are slowing down as they do when I'm usually getting closer. 

I almost forget now how excited I was to nail this safari down, which is a necessary evil when you book so far ahead.  I just recently re-read the itinerary for the first time in months and realized that I will actually have Ping, the rock star guide, the "one of the greatest guides in Kenya" guides when I'm in the Mara Reserve.  Ok, now that's something to get excited about.

Now that I'm in the 30-something countdown, it was time to get my eVisa done.  You can still get it on arrival, but I just like to have it done.  Fortunately, the scans of my passport and my photo are still on my desktop, so I just attached those, paid the fee, and off to the races.  Check.

I lined up the cat sitter.  Check.

I've bought all the toiletries.  Check.

I've called the Travel Clinic for my anti-malarial and Cipro prescriptions.  Check.

I feel like maybe it's time to start staging the packing area, but maybe that's too soon.  Yeah.  I'll be tripping over that stuff for the next month.  Maybe not.

I put in a bid to upgrade my seats on Kenya Airways' flights from JFK to Nairobi.  Hey, if I don't do it now, I may never.  Why not?  So there's an element of surprise/anxiety over that and whether I'll get that upgrade or not.  I'm not sure I'm prepared for 15 hours in coach.  But I signed on to it.  Means to an end, as they say.

I still need to line up long term parking at the airport and call my credit cards.  But overall, I'm basically ready to roll.

Onwards safari!