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| My, what long forearms you have Belinda...wait is that even Mal? Thanks chatGPT! |
The BIG one.
It’s officially our birthday month. The Festival of Fifty has entered its Africa chapter and we’re ticking off one of the bucket list items for both of us: seeing the gorillas. We’re hoping the reality is every bit as awesome as we’ve imagined. We haven’t exactly held back on this trip, so we’re embracing the bougie without apology.
Naturally, as one does, we’re also swinging by Nepal on the way home. Mainly because Singapore Airlines services Kathmandu and so that was our way home sorted. Also, we are nothing if not opportunistic with airline routes. After successfully accomplishing the Olympic-level task of finding points flights between Kigali and Kathmandu (flying Qatar Airways just in case anyone was interested..) the rest fell into place surprisingly smoothly.
In Rwanda, we tracked down the local operator used by most international tour companies and basically said, “You’re the experts. Please design our adventure.” In Nepal, we found a zen wellness resort who calmly took over all Nepalese logistics (there were many!) while we nodded enthusiastically and pretended we are relaxed travellers.
All that’s left now is to cross our fingers that nothing derails us. No mystery illnesses. No post-election unrest. No unexpected plot twists. Just us, the gorillas, and a slightly smug sense of logistical accomplishment.
Minor detail: I thought I’d be hitting 75 countries by 50 DURING this trip. Turns out… I miscounted. I’ve already hit 75. So I don’t need to rely on counting that transit in Doha like a desperate overachiever. Rwanda will be 76. Nepal 77.
We are, if nothing else, masters of flying the long way around. We are flying to Rwanda via Singapore via Johannesburg with long, character-building airport layovers in between, mainly because we were too stingy to pay Qantas prices.
Milestone birthdays are for perspective.
And apparently, for routing possible chaos.
Let's go!
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| Cheers! Still looking fresh. Flight #1 to Singapore |
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| Seafood vermicelli for breakfast. Not bad! |
