Let's get this show on the road...

We are going to Africa.  Let me re-phrase that:  We are embarking on a 47 day adventure spanning 2 continents, 3 countries, with 7 significant destinations, and countless stops and side trips on the way. We will take airplanes (10 of them, actually), trains, taxis, boats, buses, and we'll even drive ourselves on both sides of the road, on dirt roads shared with elephants, on frenetic city streets.  We will dip our toes in two oceans plus the Mediterranean sea.  We will see animals on safari, likely even touch a few; we will swim with sharks, see many important sites, and do a lot of shopping (it seems that every attraction, large and small, in South Africa, has a curio shop attached to it; and then of course there is Italy).  From mountains to cities to highveld to sea, we will have an epic family adventure.

But that's not even the best part.  We will immerse ourselves in a new culture, with new customs and languages and expectations, new sights and smells and tastes and sounds. Matt gets to share his skills with researchers halfway around the globe trying to solve the same puzzles as he.  We get to live among the real people of South Africa, and not just as tourists.  The good people of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits, for short, pronounced "Vitz") have gone to great lengths to ensure our comfort, happiness, richness of experience, and above all our safety.  And we haven't even met them yet!

Sixteen years ago Matt and I spent a summer in Kikuyu, Kenya.  That 3 months changed our lives forever.  It seems like such an insignificant amount of time, in the big picture, but time does funny things when you are out of your comfort zone.  I remember details of that summer like no other summer I've had.  I experienced profound culture shock and homesickness at times, and complete spiritual awakening and soulful joy at others.  This was a result of spending our time in the culture, not just as tourists observing it. We were volunteering at a Presbyterian charity hospital, and there are visions (and smells, and sounds) from that hospital that will stay with me forever.  That summer in Kenya made me want to live my life traveling, experiencing, being open to newness, sharing with others.  We made lifelong friends in Kenya, many of them American (hello Kikuyu crew!).  Only 16 years later, we are finally going back to Africa.

This experience will be different- in many ways more mellow, and "civilized", and yes, touristy- we do have a 5 and 7 year old along for this ride, after all- we need to break them in gently so they will want to do it again.  I have no doubt that this trip will light a lifelong travel fire in our children.  But even if it doesn't, these experiences will shape their view of the world and themselves in it, and that experience can not be taken away.

So, after months and months of preparation, the itineraries are set, the bags are packed, every reasonable precaution has been taken, the home front is settled, and we are off.  I do hope you enjoy seeing some sites and hearing some stories from our little adventure, as you dream of and plan your own!

Mary