Insect repellent, check; sunscreen, check, malaria tablets, check; pharmacy for all known and unknown ills, check; all material possessions required, check; heart palpatations, check; butterflies in tummy, check. Yep, I think that's everything.
The day after the day after tomorrow it all begins, the trip of a lifetime, the adventure I've been wanting to go on for an age. I think I have a basic idea of what I'm heading to, very basic mind you, more like a feeling or an inkling, in actual fact I have no clue! I've done a bit of reading, talked to a few people and learned some Swahili phrases ('I'm sorry' and 'where is the toilet' are committed to memory!) and those things may prepare me slightly but of course I won't know until I get there and experience it.
Truth be told I'm a little nervous about the culture shock. I know, theoretically, that the poverty is confronting and all around and that Africa's rhythm is unlike anything I have encountered before but is that enough to prepare me for what I'll see and feel when I actually land and look around? It still seems so out of the realms of possibility that I am about to fly to Kenya on the East Coast of Africa. Africa. AFRICA! Good lord! How did this happen?
