United for 32 Hours

Many would consider me to be a seasoned traveler by now, but if you saw the excitement, anxiousness, and curiosity I have shown over the past 18 hours we have spent in airports you would think otherwise.  My emotions are just like those of a newcomer to the traveling world…but honestly I hope that never changes as I continue to travel.  The emotions are what make traveling such a joy.  I’m sure by now Andrew knows even more so, why airports are one of my favorite places.  We graduated only two short days ago and we are about to embark on a journey that will take us across 10 countries in Africa.  What started out as a 10 week internship offer in Malawi has turned into a 16 week journey of a lifetime.

As I write, we are on a Boeing 757 to Brussels, Belgium where we will connect with our flight to Kampala, Uganda.  The flight to Europe feels normal.  I have spent many months exploring the countries of the European continent, and I always talk about going back.  This time our stay will be short (1.5 hours to be exact) before we transfer planes and head to Eastern Africa.  Tomorrow of you ask me how I felt on the flight from Brussels to Kampala, I am sure my answer will be different.  Moments of aprehension and anticipation are always associated with the unknown.  For Andrew and I, Africa is the unknown and that makes it an adventure

This is the first time that I have not recorded a “how to” video on how to pack for a specific backpacking location.  I filmed a video before my trips to  Europe, India, Southeast Asia, and Central America, but the time constraints from graduation and packing put me on a tighter schedule this year.

For years I have been collecting patches from all the countries that I visit in hopes that one day I will actually put them on my own backpack and this past Christmas Andrew and I received our very own backpacks.  Andrew decided to join in on the fun, and to date he has collected over 20 country patches and I have collected over 30.  We quickly learned that collecting the patches is the easy part, sewing the patches on your backpack is the hard part.  I owe many thanks to my sweet husband who spent tens of hours during finals week and graduation to prepare our backpacks for Africa.  Every country patch is now sewn on, never to come off. 

I love airports.

   
From graduation to Africa in two days…

At the Salt Lake City Airport preparing to set off…

Andrew sewed everyone of our patches on our backpacks.