Life Abroad

So, um, I kind of, just... booked my ticket to KENYA!!! (que happy dances, hand-clapping, cheering and all the rest of it, I know... I'm excited too). I got so sick of the indecisiveness, to hell with it, CLICK, done. So simple. The thing is, the season ends at the end of October, I'd like to be home for Christmas and see friends and family, and I've got my friend's wedding on the 14th of January, and (from experience), sitting at home twiddling my thumbs is SUCH a bad idea, so... I'm going to TRAVEL, because it makes me happy, and it's my duty to make myself happy and fill my life with fun. I've seen a fair bit of Europe and the UK, had a taste of Asia, spent some time in Australia, worked in Tasmania, saw a bit of the States, and, all that means, not only that I LOVE to travel, but that, well... clearly, Africa's next. I live there and I've only ever done really short trips to Botswana and Zambia, and Mozambique when I was younger. So, I'm flying into Nairobi. Is this like that moment when people are like "oh yes, we're going on holiday to South Africa next month, we're going to JOHANNESBURG!!!" and all I can think to say is "no whhhhhy?!". I donno, is it like that? I probably won't spend too long in Nairobi anyway, my €370 flight just happened to land there (deal right?!). There's an awesome beach camp near Malindi I'd like to see, and a few thousand kikois I'd like to purchase in Mombasa, and a dhow I'd like to sail in, I donno, SOMEwhere, and a few other nifty places. Whilst I'd like to consider myself fairly street wise, pretty travel savvy, I've been warned by so many people NOT to travel down Africa by myself, that it's not safe for a girl, blabla. So, I've decided that after my week in Kenya, I'm joining an overland tour that travels from Kenya right down to South Africa, visiting Tanzania (HELLO Zanzibar), Malawi, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and a a couple of game parks in South Africa where I'll arrive just in time for Christmas. I know what some of you are thinking... hmm organized tours, they're always so rushed and cheesy, blablabla, I've always shared those exact sentiments and preferred to take time to explore a place by myself, BUT... it's a really good way for me to see a bit more of Africa, it fits so well into the time frame I have, it's really reasonably priced, it's camping (which I love), and my chances of being kidnapped and chopped up into a million pieces and served as an accompaniment to stewed goat on a tin plate and washed down with some kind of fermenting liquidy substance are a lot slimmer (that's APPARENTLY what happens to girls who travel across Africa by themselves!!) I'm pretty excited about it, I say "pretty excited", but REALLY, that's just me trying to be casual, I'M flipping bouncing of the WALLS about it. Stay tuned for a painstakingly detailed itinerary... kaaaay is it October yet?!