God willing, I am scheduled to depart for Busia, Kenya August 13, 2010. This is of course if I can get my hands on a visa and passport, and or don't spontaneously combust in the process. For all of you travelers out there, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT send your passport away for a a visa in the mail because FED EX is undeniably incompetent and will lose it en route to your home just weeks before your departure. "What can brown do for you?" A whole hell of a lot more than Fed Ex, that's for certain!
And this is how my trip to no-mans-land, Africa begins. . . an omen, perhaps? Will it stop me? Absolutely not!
After the Fed Ex fiasco, I decided it was no longer a good idea to trust sending legal documents through the mail. What I didn't know was that hand-delivering things wouldn't be any easier. 5 and a half hours of waiting in line and an additional $200, I thought I finally had my new expedited passport from the US Customs House in Philadelphia. Nope. Their passport making machine was down, and they were going to have to mail it to me by the end of the week. Okay, whatever. Fast forward 12 hours when I get a call from Lois saying the passport photos AAA had taken had a huge line through the center of my face, not visible to the naked eye, and they could not be used for my passport. Really!?!?! So back to AAA for new photos and let's throw in the post office too in case yet another "line" is found on my face!!! Tomorrow it's back to Philly to wait in line again for 5 hours to drop off two sets of pictures with no lines and definitely no smiles! Monday, it's back to get another lethal injection of rabies vaccine and off to NYC to find the Kenyan consulate for a visa. Rat race part II begins!
Good move getting the rabies vaccine! I'm just sayin!
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