pinkwik

Well, in one of my previous blogs I wrote that there was the possibility of travling to Tanzania this summer, and I’m here to tell you… it’s on! I leave for my big adventure on July 11th, and with an overnight in Amsterdam, I’ll be on my way to Tanzania for just a little over a week.

Google Earth is such a wonderful thing! I am a girl who does not travel hardly at all, and I’ve never been outside the US, so this will be an adventure for sure. But, as you all know you can get onto Google Earth and check out pictures other people have posted from places all over the world, so I’ve been ‘touring’ all over Amsterdam, which had been both helpful and sometimes humorous. On Google Earth I get to see the Anne Franke House, all the shops and squares, the sidewalk potties..OMG- have you seen the outdoor sidewalk potties? Crack me up! I’ve never seen anything like that before! But it’s so much better than having people pee on the sidewalks….

Oh, and they also have a Prostitution information Center.. always helpful I guess, if I ever lose my job here. I mean, do they have brochures and pamphlets on the subject.. sortof like what you would get at a job fare? is there someone there to answer all my questions… is there vacation pay? Again, this is just something we don’t have here and it’s funny. And don’t forget marijuana is legal in Amsterdam. A friend told me the other day I could have some hash with or for breakfast, and seriously… my mind went straight to hashbrowns… or that corn hash stuff…. I never even went to the marijuana! It wasn’t until I was telling my boyfriend about the conversation that he pointed out what she meant by ‘hash’. We got a good laugh out of that one.

I went the other day and got my shots, but will still need to go back for the best shot of all.. yellow fever. Now, I’m going off my Humira just so I can get this shot right before I leave in July. So we’ll have to wait and see how all of that goes as there are no studies o fhow things go once one goes back on Humira. Will i end up getting yellow fever or not? We’ll have to wait and find out.

I’ve got my tickets and my passport, I’ll be buying a few travel pieces of clothing to take with me.. and soon I’ll be all ready. I’m getting both excited and nervous about my trip. It’s just going to be a very long trip!!

So I will go visit some of the lodges in Tanzania where we have our clients stay. Check out the lodge grounds, amenities, etc. I’ll stay overnight at a few of the lodges and then there will be about 3 nights of tent camping in the National Parks, which should be fun. An experience of a lifetime!

I will also spend my last 2 days touring some non-profit orphanages and secondary schools between Arusha and Moshi. Now most of these places will have AIDS victims, children mostly, but adults too. I am sure this experience will impact my life greatly…. we just don’t have this kind of sadness here. We have our own poverty struggles, but not like in Africa and other parts of the world. I have never thought about how I would feel seeing and holding an infant or small child that I know is dying. To them it’s a way of life.. what they know. It’s very sad.

I will post my pictures when I get back, probably on the www.choroa.com website, as that is the Safari Company I work for and will be using for my trip. Although I don’t think I will put the orphanage pictures on that site, but I’ll keep everyone posted as to where the other photos will be.

I will also be going to a village that Simon Mtuy of Summit Expeditions & Nomadic Experience does alot of work in outside of Moshi.. I think it’s outside Moshi. He was just here in Bend, and he held a few speaking engagements. Very nice guy. i met him one morning and we spoke about where he grew up, his Kilimanjaro climbing and the company he owns that leads guided trips up Kilimanjaro. You can check Simon out at www.nomadicexperience.com

Anyway, as my trip gets closer, I’ll try and write, and then I’ll for sure write when I get back

Hey- check these out… I came across them while looking for travel stuff on Tanzania for my upcoming trip….

www.safariweek.com

www.expeditionreview.com

I found out last week that there is a chance that I may be send to Tanzania in July or August of this year, for business. The President of company I work for here locally, has a small photo Safari company that we’ve been slowly working on, and hoping to make larger and attract more business,  www.choroa.com

Over this past year, I think we’ve done pretty well for ourselves.. booking a few more safaris than normal. As of January we already had 2 safaris booked for 2008, and that’s pretty good if you look at where we were this time last year. We’ve recently appreared in Luxury Travel Advisor magazine, (http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/lta0208/index.php), we’re on page 65- and this is a beautiful magazine by the way!

We’ve appeared locally in ”The Source” newspaper, which was exciting,,,and we also have an article coming out in April in an Atlanta based Mens Magazine called ’Tuxedo Road’.

So, for a girl who has never traveled outside the US, and really only been to a few states here, I have to get my passport, and a bunch of shots.Whoo hoo! Can’t wait for those! Actually, giving myself Humira shots every two weeks I’m used to needles, but I’m still only ok with them- they still hurt no matter how many times you get them. At least I won’t be doing the yellow fever one. I can’t have live virus injections, so we’ll bypass that one, and as long as I don’t stop in a country that requires the yellow fever injection, I won’t need one to get into Tanzania. And I say a big ol’ AMENto that one, cause I hear that one REALLY hurts!

So, there I will be, little girl in big Africa. This a trip that could not happen at any point in time, so I don’t want to get too excited about it, but inside I’m squealing like a 14 year old girl! This is such a great opportunity that may never come around again. And to experience a place I’ve only read about or seen on National Geographic, and the Discovery Channel.

And since this is business, I will be traveling around Tanzania, where the Safari company is based. Visiting lodges, hotels, and staying in camp. Yes, I said camp. I’ll be staying some of my time in a tent in the middle of the wild. A lion could easily walk through camp, or I could be awaken by a heard of elephants. Can you imagine, while eating your breakfast beans and toast in the morning, seeing a lion walk around your tent? ok- I’d probably crap my pants right about then.. possibly even before, but OMG- can you imagine? This is going to be amazing!

I won’t be there totally alone. I’ll be traveling with some people from the travel industry, and one of Choroa’s partners Themmy, a very big guy in African standards will have to be my protector. Is it ok to say that being that far away from home is sort of  scary? I mean to be in a  foreign place, where i don’t know where anything is, and I only know 1 person…this will definitially be different…

Even with all the wild animals running around, and the bugs, this is still just an extrodinary opportunity that I cannot pass up. I mean- who gets a paid trip to Africa? Did I mention this is going to be amazing?

Anyway- I’ll keep everyone posted as the trip gets closer, and I’ll take lots of pictures that we’ll post on the Choroa website for sure.