The Night Before

 It's 10pm and we're nessled into a hotel accross from the Buffalo airport.  Jenny's gotten her last dose of 'Grey's' for a while and we're packed up and ready to go!  
  We moved out of York yesterday - our last day was long and tough but warm with well-wishes and many visits - thanks to everyone for all their support!  We moved back to moma Bursaw's in Funnville and spent the day getting things in final order.  We're all set and ready to tuck in for our early departure.  We're pretty much ridiculously excited and though we need to get as much sleep as possible tonight, I think it'll be hard to do so =).
 
So what's next?  We thought we'd let you all know our plans, so here goes:
  Tomorrow our journey begins at 4am!  Our flight from Buffalo leaves at 6am to Washington. From Washington we fly 8 hours to ... ROME!  We're so sad we'll only be there for about 30 minutes but we're hoping we'll be able to see some sites from the plane! 
  Next up is Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (one of the highest capitals in the world), but again, all we'll see is the airport... and then... Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania!  We hear that the East Coast of Tanzania is traditionally Muslim, so our first bout of culture shock will involve having to wear clothes that cover our entire bodies in blistering heat!  Jimi's also very determined to use the flight to become fluent in Swahili... we'll keep you posted!
  Now, from all we've read and heard, flying between countries in Africa is often easier and cheaper to book when you get there, so the ast leg of the trip is a bit 'up in the air' - so to speak... hehe....  So, we'll organize a flight to Harare as soon as we can, and we're totally excited to meet up with Risina and Angie Mandivenga (Chi's brother and sister-in-law).  We'll be spending a week in Zimbabwe with the Mandivenga family =).
  A week later we'll be heading to Zambia toward our primary destination - Chishawasha School and Orphanage around Lusaka.  We'll be spending a month there contributing in any way we can - and we absolutely can't wait to be there!  We've brought some classic Canadian children's literature to share with the kids.  We figure the appeal of Robert Munsch is pretty universal.
  The rest of the trip is a bit 'uncharted' - we have hopes of touring Zambia and seeing some wildlife - we'd also like to do some rafting on the Zambezi - maybe a bit later when the rains start closer to December.  The last week we'll head back for Dar.  We'd like to take the train from Lusaka to Dar Es Salaam (2-4 days train accross the savannah) to see some of the countryside.  Then we'll take a boat to the island of Zanzibar for a few days before flying out of Dar mid-December.  Maybe Jenny should invest in a burquini?
  So there you have it - our plans - at least as they stand today!  But as we all know, life is an adventure and we'll see where the wild winds blow!

So that's it for tonight - next stop - fatigue and culture shock - we can't wait - no really, we're travel geeks like that =)

Okay, until next time,
Much Love - Jenny & Jimi