I have a passion in life.It’s deep -seated and long-lasting.I LOVE TRAVELLING! And I have done a lot of it in my days.I thought having kids would make it impossible to travel, but fortunately I was wrong.True, it’s not always possible to take one of those spur-of -the-moment trips, but that’s ok.As long as I can travel, I’ll not complain!
My first trip far away from home on my own was a language course in England when I was 13.I stayed with an English family, to learn about other cultures, and in the mornings I attended language-classes.I loved it!During my three weeks’ stay, I made friends, ate strange food and enjoyed myself.Talking about food, once kidney pie was served in the house where I was staying.This was the worst thing I’d ever tasted!Not wanting to be rude, I waited until they had finished and left the table, then I quickly stuck the food in my pocket, wrapped in a napkin.Once outside I threw it away! But at least I had tried something new!
After that I didn’t do much travelling for a few years, busy finishing school and getting a job.Then I married a man who loved travelling as much as me.YES!!Our honey- moon went to Italy. We visited many places, ate good food, and thourogly enjoyed ourselves.For the first time in my life, I saw lemon-trees!
But the most fantastic trip was when we went to Africa, I think.Africa has always fascinated me,so we decided to go for two months, “doing” East Africa.
We stayed two weeks in Nairobi, but it was a little bit boring, actually.A very developed city, but I didn’t really get the pulse of it.Maybe we stayed too short time.Or maybe because we stayed with other foreigners.At first I was scared because of the bars on the windows.What if there is a fire? I asked.The reply was that thieves were a more realistic possibility than fire, so it was better to have the bars.Our hostess even had a special gate to her bed-room, which she locked every time she went out.What a way to live, I remember thinking.They were just going to move away from Kenya, and she was very happy about this. Maybe her negative view of Nairobi rubbed off on me, who knows.
In the middle of our stay in Kenya, we decided to take a bus over to Uganda.The country was being rebuilt after years of internal strife.But thankfully for us, they had started with the roads!We could actually feel the difference when we crossed over the border, because the roads in Kenya were appallingly bad.Suddenly the kidneys returned to their place!
Uganda is a truly beautiful country.Very green and fertile.It was also very poor.And hot! Hot and humid, it was difficult to breath almost.We made sure we drank a lot of water, and we made sure we drank bottled water.All the shots we’d taken beforehand wouldn’t protect us against little dangerous beasts in the water!
Since we were doing low-budget travelling, we found a small hotel on a side-street.There I had another first- cockroaches! I learned to put on the light with my umbrella.Then the roaches would scurry off before I put my feet on the floor! This city was poorer, but more vibrating.(Probably I have to go to the poorer parts of Nairobi next time I visit!) We had lunch with friends who live in a little house, overlooking Lake Victoria. It was so breath-takingly beautiful I could have stayed a whole month.The following day we continued our tour, taking a normal minibus/taxi to Entebbe.Also wonderful scenery.
The only problem, if I may call it that, was that there was a distinct lack of white people.Even in Kampala, the capital.During the reign of Idi Amin, all foreigners were expelled.So now, all of a sudden, I was a rare sensation!People were staring at me, telling their friends to look.Everybody were turning their heads to see me! I never felt threatened, but I did feel like an animal in the zoo.At the same time, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for this people who had suffered so much.
In the evening we were invited to a Ugandan friend, who had prepared typical local food.I really enjoyed it.It’s so interesting to try different food, this is something that comes back in all my travelling.I guess food is such an integral part of life, that it stands out when we go to new places.In Uganda they have lots of different kinds of bananas.They use it for everything, even cooking!Some are big, some are small. Very tasty.With it they served papaya- juice, really good for quenching your thirst.I drank a lot, not knowing it was mixed with tap-water…Later in the evening we took the night-bus back to Nairobi. That’s when I realized I had got dysentery!Never before had I been so sick, but the doctor knew exactly how to treat it.
Despite of this, I continued my travelling, and I STILL LOVE IT! I could write a whole book about my travels, and this would be the first chapter..Another time I’ll tell you about my bus-trip in Ethiopia!