Cathy Schrull
TZ 2016 – and HERE (5/2)
Where did Sunday and Monday go? Well, most of Sunday was spent on a plane (after ALL of Saturday was spent on a plane). We arrived in Dar Es Salaam on schedule and were met by our taxi driver, Moshambo, who we had met last year, after some fun and games with getting the tablets through customs. (Prayer and Bill’s stubbornness got us through without paying tax, and we have since learned how to get the proper paper work in advance for future years.). Showers and dinner at our hotel. Lights out by 8:00 pm. We were exhausted!
TZ 2016 ….GO
I always stay up too late the night before I leave on a big trip. It was the same last night. There is always one more thing to find and pack, books to buy for my kindle while I still have good wi-fi service, a dish to wash, or even a blog post to write and post. The alarm went off after achieving about 4 and half hours sleep. I didn’t register it at first. It was still dark out, and recently it has been quite light when it is time to get up.
The car arrived right on schedule, and after a final pat to each of the cats, who I am sure will take excellent care of the house while we’re gone (no they won’t, but Chris will) we got all four bags plus backpacks loaded into the car and headed south to JFK airport. Bill had made some coffee with freshly roasted beans and found some disposable “go” cups, so we sat like royalty in the back of the car, sipping our morning Java.
Bill was offered a deal for an upgrade when he went online to check us in, so dropping off luggage and going through security was a breeze. And we’ll get to sit upstairs with oodles of leg room in the Air Bus between NYC and Dubai.
We are now relaxing in a lounge, enjoying a little breakfast and catching up on the communications we didn’t have time for in the rush of the last few days.
I ask your prayers for our safe travel and also for myself and our family as we deal with some not-unexpected news that came as we drove to the airport. In the mean time, God is good. Munga ni mwema wakati wote!
TZ 2016 ….Ready To…..
The traveler’s collary to Parkenson’s Law (Work expands to fill the time allocated for its completion) is that the contents of your luggage will expand to overfill either the volume of said luggage or your weight allowance… Or maybe both. Last year we had so much technology to bring that we ended up buying a fourth LL Bean rolling duffle and extra paying to ship a fifth piece of luggage to Dar Es Salaam. (Our fifth piece of luggage was, as always Bill’s large guitar “coffin” – everyone we visit overseas always expects him to bring it.). It got really exciting when we added five flat screen monitors and a box of cat-5 cable when we got to Dar Es Salaam. Through a minor miricle we were able to ship most of it to Kigoma at freight prices, but that is not an option for this year.
This year, between the weight of the tablets we are bringing and the domestic items I am bringing for the guest hostel, we thought that we would again need to bring the fourth duffle. We don’t…just. The duffles have room to spare, but each weighs almost exactly 50 lbs. The guitar case weighs less than that (around 37 lbs) despite bulging with most of Bill’s clothes, in addition to the guitar. This is a neat trick that removes extra weight from the other bags and provides extra padding for the guitar. It’s also a a bit of a gamble as TSA almost ALWAYS decides that they need to open and inspect the guitar case, and they are not usually very good about re-packing the clothes neatly enough for the case to be able to close with out gaps….at least the trip home should be a lot lighter: we’ll be down at least 75 pounds in technology and domestic articles. We’ll also be down one bag: the smallest duffle will travel home inside on of the other two duffles.
Work did indeed expand to fill the time allocated for it, but tasks have been handed off to the capable hands of co-workers for the next two weeks and the work laptop has been shut down. Bills have been paid, itineraries sent out, data and cell plans purchased and we’ve had our traditional night before we leave dinner and check-in with our nephew/cat/house sitter. Time to get some rest. The car will be here to pick us up very early in the morning…..