...and it is Awesome

I've just emerged from my safari, and it was amazing beyond even my grandest expectations. I have a novella to write about the experience, but need to surrender the computer that I'm currently on. I'm hoping to write more this evening, particularly since I leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow for Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

But, in short, it was so freakin' awesome. I kind of want to move here and be on permanent safari.

I'm Here....

I made it to Jo-burg yesterday, as did my luggage. (I had my doubts about the luggage, but it arrived.) And, as soon as I arrived, I'm off again. I leave in about 20 minutes to fly up to safari land, where I'll be on safari for the next five days. Yay, giraffes and zebras!

On the Road Again

I'm leaving for the airport in about a half hour. I'm so thrilled, that I almost fainted several times this morning. Woo hoo!

It's a little bit funny...this feeling inside

I'm leaving on Friday, and this week should be a flurry of last minute errands and packing. But, thanks to the internet, I ordered a new camera on-line, so I there's no need to leave the comfort of my home today. It's rainy and cold out, and I have to say, this is precisely the kind of day that would always make me want to stay home from work and lounge in pajama pants -- particularly since I spent all day yesterday traipsing around in the rain in Philadelphia, city of Brotherly thugs, trying to get additional pages added to my passport. So today, due to the joyous fact that I'm not working, I can spend the day playing Excite Truck on the wii. (I love my life.)

The one other thing I might muster the energy to do today is to find some new music for my trip. I've got an iTunes gift card to burn, but am really out of the music loop. When I was in high school and college, I really liked music and was hip to whatever new music was coming out. These days, though, I have no idea what's new and awesome. I blame it partly on the dirth of even nominally decent radio stations in New York, but largely on my ever-advancing march to middle-age.

In any case, whatever the cause, I'm tired of every song I own, and I have a fifteen hour flight. (Someone please tell me why I decided to load so much Elton John onto my iPod. Seriously? Of course, now that I took the time to load it I don't feel like removing it.)

I'd really love any recommendations for songs/cds to download...or any good books for that matter.

I Bless the Rains Down in Africa

The trip is booked. Well, almost booked. I still need to send payment tomorrow, and there is one side-trip I'm still trying to work out. But, ostensibly, the deal is done. After much ado, I'm leaving next Friday for Southern Africa, including stops in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and in all likelihood, Namibia.

I'm so freakin' excited. I plan to spend the next week alternatively singing Todo's Africa, and/or doing the african dance from Can't Buy Me Love in celebration of my trip.

Weather's Great...Wish You Were Here

I'm still in Maryland right now, trying earnestly to finalize plans to head to Africa later this month. It's taken much longer than I ever thought to plan something, partly because Africa is so big and I had no idea specifically where I wanted to go -- other than the fact that I wanted to see elephants and giraffes.

Now that I finally have my act together and have an idea of budget and locales, I can't get the travel agents to plan something fast enough. I'm ready to leave as soon as possible. But, it takes forever to work out even the most basic details, because I email the travel agent, and they have to talk to their people in Africa, and so on. And, I'm driving the travel agent crazy with my frequent comments on their proposed itineraries. (Things have changed a lot.) The current plan, which I suspect will ultimately work out in the end, but not before I end up pulling my hair out, is to leave for South Africa in the next two or three weeks.

In the meantime, I'm planning to cool my heels over a long weekend at the beach with my family...and possibly another sojourn to the beach next week with a friend.

It does amuse me somewhat, though, that I'm completely stressed out right now about trying to plan this trip. I'm worrying out about planning all the details of the trip with the same fervor previously reserved only for worrying about old cases or crushes. It's kind of ridiculous, though, when your largest concern is whether you can get a reservation at the "nice" game park in South Africa, or whether the trip to the passport agency for extra passport pages will infringe upon a night out with old friends. These are the kind of worries I should always have.