1.20.2010

Been over a month since I last wrote on this thing.

Since then, I've gone from Kigali to Nairobi to Dubai to London to Paris to Munich to Vienna to Geneva to Paris to London to Los Angeles to Sacramento to Los Angeles to Sacramento to Los Angeles to Sacramento to Los Angeles to London to Dubai and that is where I am right now. And if all goes well I will be home in Nairobi this afternoon for the first time in over a month. And then I'll go right back to Kigali.

Let's see if I can semi-recap.

Europe was a lot of fun, other than the parts where EuroStar shut down the trains between London and Paris and I spent a nightmare day (after flying from NBO and DXB overnight) trying to find another way to Paris. I made it there late that night, but my bag didn't, and I wouldn't see it again for a full 11 days. Air France graciously provides a whopping 150 Euro should they have lost your bags for your entire vacation. And Caroline unfortunately spent a night in the airport when we weren't able to meet up there.

But Munich was nice and we stayed with some GCC pals there who gave us all the insider tips - had a great time at the Christmas markets, saw Dachau - the model for all of the other concentration camps, and then on our last night we went back to the Christmas markets and almost made it there before I slammed my hand in the car door and sent us to the emergency room for the evening instead.

Then on to Salzburg and then Vienna, which were both nice and relatively uneventful (comparatively speaking), then Geneva, which I really enjoyed but was also stupid expensive. Thankfully, though, Anna was gracious enough to have us stay at her stupidly awesome waterfront apartment on the lake. I managed to get a day of skiing Chamonix in, so now I can finally say I've lived that dream, albeit briefly.

Then on to Paris for New Years. It was nice to explore but next time I'd like to see it at a non-holiday time. Also relatively uneventful. I liked Paris enough that I think I could live there - and that's saying something.

Then on to London and Los Angeles for my meetings. And now it strikes me that the next part really deserves its own post with a little more thought put into it. How's that for a hook?