Africa

Saturday 16th April 2016 – A lovely, lazy day. After pancakes, toast with scrambled eggs and fruit for breakfast, the gorgeous resident cat who we had nicknamed Ginger Tom…(yes, you’ve guessed it, because he was ginger and a male cat) played in our room, sat on our laps and took a great liking to Aaron…becoming his cat shadow and lovingly staying with him for most of the day! I caught up on much needed sleep while Aaron went out to replenish our dollars, stock up on cosmetic supplies and bring me back chocolate! Yum! We got washing done and chatted to two young Canadian girls who had been volunteering at a children’s hospital in Entebbe. That night we feasted at a local Bistro restaurant where they had live singers entertaining…bellies full and totally relaxed we slept well that night.

Sunday 17th April 2016 – We were really enjoying our relaxing time at Fat Cat Backpackers…and enjoying the delicious food. We wandered to the Mall and treated ourselves to homemade tiramisu and velvety coffee at a very high end cafe…my tastebuds went crazy…so scrumptious. Later Aaron caught up with blogging, with of course Ginger Tom by his side for company and I confirmed and printed out our flight tickets for Sri Lanka…our African adventures would soon be coming to an end..and Asian adventures would begin!

Monday 18th April 2016 – Today our plan was to head out of the capital city of Kampala to Entebbe…about an hours journey…where we would catch our flight out of Africa. Entebbe is nestled next to Lake Victoria…a lake I have always wanted to dip my toes into. My one last wish in Africa was to do just that, so after booking into Entebbe Backpackers for the night we got back into a matatu and after just 10 minutes were dropped right by the lake. It was late afternoon by now and locals were bathing, swimming and washing clothes and their bikes in the lake. Various birds such as kingfishers, egrets and eagles glided over the lake…it was picture perfect. Aaron stripped off to underwear and immersed himself fully while I paddled as far as I could with shorts and t-shirt on…it was a wonderful and refreshing experience and just how I imagined it would be. Sad to leave the lake, we dried off and jumped back on a matatu to our backpackers…it was to be our last night in Africa…after four and a half months we would be flying the next day to a new continent!

Tuesday 19th April 2016 – What a stressful day! First, our taxi didn’t turn up to take us to the airport so instead we had to walk to the taxi rank to get a ride…arriving at the airport with plenty of time to spare…or so we thought, we were refused at check in because we didn’t have a flight out of Sri Lanka! Apparently it is a requirement and mandatory that in order to get into Sri Lanka you have to have proof of an onward flight!!! Oh dear! We didn’t have one! We tried to explain that we were travelling around the world and so didn’t know how long we would be in Sri Lanka…but it fell on deaf ears and a senior representative was sent for to talk to us! More than half an hour later…and after much anxiety and perspiration on our part the manager turned up. By now we were willing to book any flight in order to get on this one. The manager was very personable and helpful. He told us to check our baggage in and then took us back through security and to his office where we used his Internet to book a flight online…simple you would think…not so when you are relying on African wifi. After four attempts to book a flight out of Sri Lanka I still didn’t have email confirmation as the payment was pending due to security on our card…nightmare…so incredibly stressful when the minutes are ticking away and your flight is getting closer and closer! We took a photo of the pending reservation on Aaron’s phone and just hoped that would be good enough to get us through to our flight! Luckily it was…hearts beating, sweaty palms we rushed through immigration to a fully packed airport gate of people…and would you believe it…the flight was late…we really didn’t care by now, we were just so relieved to have a seat on an aeroplane. We soon boarded and had our fingers crossed that we wouldn’t be stopped at the last minute…we only relaxed a little when the flight took off knowing that at least we would get to Dubai, our first leg…once there we could always book a flight out of Sri Lanka if need be. The view was lovely as we circled over Lake Victoria and headed towards Asia, we were on our way, we sat back and leisurely enjoyed the five and a half hour flight to Dubai. On arrival…more than a little nervous we headed to our connecting flight…it was a breeze…no questions asked, what a relief. The rest went like clockwork and we finally arrived in Sri Lanka at the crack of dawn the next morning…phew!