And we're off...almost

I was hoping to have grand thoughts on the beginning of my Horizon Grant journey. Here I am, about to depart on a trans-Atlantic, multi-continent adventure so I must have BIG thoughts. But alas, my mind is on the mundane details. It's the morning of our trip and we're surrounded by luggage, piles of wires, camera batteries, books, and shoes. What will actually fit into our luggage? Will we get it all in there before Scot comes to take us to the airport? And HOW will we get the ENORMOUS tent that the students painted and want to donate to a family in Sudan onto the airplane? This part of the trip is NOT the fun part of traveling.

But I bought a new journal, packed up some pens and fancy colored pencils, and am ready to explore. No, I can't draw as any past student will attest after having seen a "Jenn Map" drawn on my white board, but heck, I can try.

Our trip today is Boston to Ottawa to London. We'll spend three days in London, visiting friends and hoping to see a castle and the famed British Museum. Then Tuesday night we fly over night to Nairobi, spend a day in Nairobi, then fly that night to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the start of a nine day historic tour. Then we head to Kenya for five days in Amboseli National Park and then Brad heads back to London on July 4th. Henry and I will spend time in Nairobi with friends and then will head to Chole - an island off of the coast of Tanzania. We'll stay in a tree house built in a baobab tree and snorkel with whale sharks. Although there is no electricity on the island, I may actually able to post a blog via solar-powered satellite-telephone technology. We'll see.

In the meantime, it's off to see if I can get everything I need to get done in the next two hours done. Next posting - another country. Until then, cheers!