Getting ready for Kuria

So I am digging through suitcases, boxes, and garbage bags thinking that after 10 plus years of traveling I would be better organized. Last fall I nearly hung up my traveling shoes, when I moved back home to Orange County, but, as it seems, I am well-suited, if not well organized for traveling.

Rifling through my belongings, I am going through a patchwork of other lives: sweaters from my days in the German Alps; loafers from my days in Rome; coats upon coats from my days in London, but I am not looking for any of this stuff; I am looking for Africa.

In less than a week I fly to Kenya. Being that the next six months will be spent in a village on the border of the Serengeti, I should probably pack something a bit more appropriate than a trench coat and white loafers. After a bit more searching, I have come to realize that I haven’t even unpacked my bags from London and I have been home for nearly six months. I guess, despite recent poor weather, I haven’t had much need for cold weather clothing. Dig dig dig… and -eureka! A pocketknife, a pair of cargos, and a headlamp; now I am on to something.

The last time that I moved to Africa, I over-packed. I came off the plane with 80 lbs of luggage looking like I came straight out of the REI catalog. I spent the next 18 months lugging around bags through the Sahel Desert. Not again. This time, I am traveling light- mainly due to the fact that I haven’t found any suitable clothes. By the looks of it, I am going to be traveling really light this trip.

It’s funny going through the suitcases, boxes, and garbage bags. They represent so many different lives that I have led and hats that I have worn. This trip to Kenya represents the culmination of a decade’s work. In a week’s time, I will be applying all that I have learned, so that I can learn one important lesson. That lesson is change.