...but then again, I'm not right in the head. I was probably dropped as a child, or something similar, but something clearly isn't quite right up there.
You might remember the last two years where I spent New Years Eve...yes, Iraq and then Iran/Afghanistan. I was taught in High School that things always seem to happen in threes...some sort of natural law thing. If you wanted to catch up on those previous reports, they're here:
London to Iran and Afghanistan in a mix of C, F, and LCCs
Above the Arctic Circle with UA/CO/LH and SK in whY, C, and F
Around the World in 40 Days for 40 Years
But, that brings us to this year. I had a good friend working in Djibouti, and that got my head to spinning...what's perhaps the only place worse than Iraq and Afghanistan in the mind of most? Could I...I mean, Somalia
is only about 20km from the capital of Djibouti!
Of course, when planning, that wouldn't be enough. That would just be two new countries. I had to add more...and they couldn't be boring. So, the final trip came out looking like a place of 8 years that normal people don't spend new years:
1) Djibouti
2) Somalia
3) Ethiopia
4) Rwanda
5) Burundi
6) Kenya
7) Egypt
8) Yemen
Now, I admit normally a couple of these are a little tame. But Egypt's been more than a little exciting lately, and Kenya is all a-twitter about Al Shabaab reprisals. So that made things a little more exciting. Things got more exciting when Yemen pulled my transit visa...boo hiss! Must find another way from Addis to Cairo. A normal person would have booked the direct flight even though it
was at 3am. Nope, that wouldn't do.
So Yemen was replaced with the world's newest country: South Sudan!
Sit back, buckle up (well, unless you're on the one of my flights that
didn't have seat belts, and prepare for a very very wild ride!
Part I - Washington Dulles (IAD) to Kigali, Rwanda (KGL) on United and Brussels Airlines in First and Business Class
Part II - Two Days in Kigali, Rwanda
Part III - Kigali, Rwanda to Bujumbura, Burundi on Kenya Airlines and the mystery of the Visa on Arrival
Part IV - Day and New Years Eve in Bujumbura, Burundi
Part V - New Years Day from Bujumbura, Burundi to Nairobi, Kenya
Part VI - Day in Nairobi, Kenya
Part VII - Nairobi, Kenya to Hargeisa, Somalia on East African Safari Express Airlines
Part VII - Hargeisa, Somalia - Part I
Part VIII - Day Two in Hargeisa, Somalia
Part IX - Hargeisa, Somalia to Djibouti on Daallo Airlines
Part X - Two Days in Djibouti
Part XI - Djibouti to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and a day in Addis
Part XII - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Juba, South Sudan and a day in the World's Newest Country
Part XIII - Day Tour of Cairo, Egypt
Part XIV - Cairo to Washington, DC on EgyptAir and United - Final Chapter