Out of Africa…for now

46 days, 7 flights, 7 airports plus 2 additional tarmac stops*, 2 embassies, 1 mini-safari, and 0 lost bags (!) later, I made it back to DC.

The flights home went just as smoothly as all the rest of the flights on this trip; the travel gods have truly smiled on me for the entirety of the last 6 weeks! The first leg began with what one might call a ‘puddle jumper’; a quick, 37 minute flight from Kigali to Entebbe, Uganda, where 90% of the plane got off while I and a handful of my fellow travelers stayed on board, watching as about 20 cleaning people whizzed through the plane, replacing blankets, pillows, and head rest covers in preparation for the new crop of travelers who joined us for the onward flight to Amsterdam. Here’s where the amazing part comes in: I SLEPT. For a couple of hours. While sitting in a middle seat. This is a true testament to how tired I was. I also watched “The DaVinci Code”.

Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport is fantastic. Super clean, super modern, and it has a Yotel. (Same concept as the Snoozecube, but far superior. More on that, plus pictures here). I slept for a few more hours, then began the final leg of my trip.

Taking off from Amsterdam

It was again, blissfully uneventful. My entertainment consisted of “JFK” (too long and sorta boring, but it’s fun to think about conspiracies), “The Devil Wears Prada” (one of my faves), and “Queen of Versailles” (actually a good documentary – more depth to it than I thought).

So that was that. I’m safely back in DC for a few weeks, so I can get over jet lag just in time to fly back to Africa!

*In case anyone’s interested, the 7 airports were: Washington Dulles, Paris’ Charles DeGaulle, Nouakchott International, Casablanca’s Mohammed V, Dubai International, Kigali International, and Amsterdam’s Schiphol. The 2 tarmacs were in Mombasa, Kenya and Entebbe, Uganda, en route to and from Kigali.