Day of Departure

I leave tonight at 9:00 pm from Newark. From there I'll head to London, where I have a 12 hour layover. By a crazy coincidence, Caroline left for a European vacation yesterday and will be in London tomorrow, so I am planning to go into the city to meet up with her, see some of the British Museum and perhaps get my picture taken in front of Big Ben before heading back to Heathrow. Then it's another 8 hour flight to Nairobi and a four hour taxi ride to Mpala. I'll spend the night at Mpala, collect my car and some field equipment and head to Ol Pejeta, which will be my home base for the next three months. Sounds easy enough; we'll see.

I am usually a very light traveler. My two previous trips to Africa (1 and 2 months in duration) were conducted out of one medium-sized red suitcase. My crowning light-packing achievement was the week-long spring break trip two years ago to visit Paige in Ireland, when I packed entirely in a large carry-on. That was fine despite my mother's attempt to sabotage me by pouring leek & potato soup down one of my two pairs of pants. However, this trip is not a light trip. Three months is a long time and I've opted to bring along extra items that I hope will make my stay a bit more comfortable. I'd like to feel settled there, not like I am traveling for three months. On top of that, I have a fair amount of necessary and bulky field equipment. So for this trip I am taking the normal red suitcase, plus a duffel bag that meets the Virgin Atlantic size requirements (just barely) and a carry-on backpack that carries my computer & camera equipment. Both checked bags are packed right to the weight limit. My carry-on is a problem. Virgin Atlantic puts a 13 lb limit on carry-on bags. With only my computer & camera equipment, the bag weighs 17 pounds (I do not have *that* much camera equipment; Virgin's carry-on expectations are just ludicrous). I cannot check these items for fear that they will be damaged or stolen out of my bag. I have put everything else I would normally have in a carry-on into my very large purse, which I hope I will be allowed to bring on board despite its size. I just have to hope that they don't actually weigh my carry-on, but since Corinne was made to check her carry-on a couple months ago, I am not expecting such a free pass.

So we'll see! Hopefully I come out of this with all of my belongings and don't have to spend the whole journey worrying about the fate of the backpack.