The Journey Begins

Greetings from some where over the Atlantic. Since I have nothing but time on this flight, I figure now is a great time to start my first blog. I will add to it a couple times before I post. The duty free shop carts have just started circulating so I guess that means I am now over international waters. It is an interesting flight path over to Ethiopia. We actually recently just flew just south of Fogo Island, my home in Newfoundland. I will update later on the route once we get over land again. 

 The trip has been good so far. Last night I flew into Toronto and spent the night there. My brother and sister in law picked me up and we visited for a couple hours. Unfortunately it was a quick visit as I had to be up early again this morning for this flight. There was a little mix up with my boarding pass, when the attendant printed off my new boarding pass, she some how had some one else’s name on it. I didn’t even notice until I was about to go through security and was stopped by the security guy. I had to go back a get it reprinted but once that was done, the security process went fine after that. Always keep a close eye on your travel documents. When it was time to board, it became a little chaotic and I was suddenly very aware that I was heading to a very foreign country. However it all worked out. Luckily I picked myself a seat in a decent spot and no one is seated in the middle seat next to me. That is always a win be it a short domestic flight or a long overseas flight. So far the flight has been good. The meal was actually quite good as well as a couple rounds of snacks and beverages already. I will pick this up again shortly. Going to try to catch a nap. 

 Well it’s a few hours later, had a nap, another round of snacks and a just finished watching Dead Poets Society. One of my favourite movies so it was nice to see it offered on the plane given it’s quite old. We are now just off the coast of Sicily, headed across the Mediterranean and down over Africa. Its a tiring flight to say the least. Will pick this up again shortly 

 Well I made it to Addis Ababa safe and sound. Stop 1, country 1 and continent 1.  Some daunting moments upon arrival as I was quickly reminded that I am in a third world country now. The airport (Bole International) was very chaotic. Since my online Visa  never did show up, I had to buy one here. I should have done that any way considering it was only a quarter of the price at the airport. That took a little time to get squared away and I kept thinking about my Backpack and hoping it would still be there when I finally got to it. Once I finally made it to the luggage carousel, there were only a few bags left on it and mine was not one of them. I waited for a bit, asked a couple people but never got any satisfaction. Just as I was about to panic, I noticed that the airport had a separate carousel for priority bags and I flashed back to Toronto when she put a priority tag on my bag. I went over and sure enough, there it was, going round and round all by itself. 

 Since my hotel offered transfers, there was a driver there holding my name so I headed off to my hotel. By the time I got to my room I was dead tired. I grabbed a nap for a couple hours before an afternoon tour I had booked. 

 Once my driver/guide (Deresse) picked me up, we set out for an afternoon  jaunt around Addis Ababa. Deresse turned out to be quite knowledgable and gave me an impressive run down of the history of Ethiopia as we drove around. The First stop was the National museum of Ethiopia. Home of Lucy, the famous Hominid. I checked out that museum for a little while and then headed off to Mt Entoto which overlooks the city and country side. There was some religious ceremonies happening atop there so we didn’t stop as it was packed from local worshippers. We just made the one stop on the way back down so I can grab a couple pics. I will be in the area again tomorrow so maybe more pics then. We then stopped at St Georges Church and did a tour. It was interesting but there were no pictures allowed inside so I can only offer a pic from outside. From there it was a drive through Merkato Market. The biggest reason I wanted to see Addis Ababa. This market is the largest open market in Africa. It went on in  many directions and continued for blocks. It was absolutely fascinating for me. A lot of the sites I’ve always associated with Ethiopia, or even Africa in general, I saw with my own eyes today. Tomorrow I would like to return to that market and maybe get more pics. There was just so much, in so many directions that it was just overwhelming. I spent a lot of the time taking it in instead of taking pics. Remember all those commercials we used to see in the 80s about life in Africa, well I witnessed the live show today. I very much stood out and was noticed by a lot of people. My guide told me that the locals see a white westerner and assume he is wealthy. That was definitely the case as  I was approached  a lot, both outside the van and in. Even as we navigated the insanity that is Addis Ababa traffic, people walked up to, and along with the van tapping on the window, waving to me and pointing to their mouths. A lot of them carrying kids to add to their plight. It was an eye opener and offered a moment of thankfulness. I pay a lot to travel to see and write about these situations but for them, its real life. It definitely humbles you. Although Ethiopia has come a long way, it is still very much like you imagine it would be. 

 It was a great afternoon, filled with history lessons, conversation, eye opening sites and an overall unforgettable experience. I have a longer tour booked for tomorrow so stay tuned!  By the time I got back to the hotel tonight, I was completely exhausted. That long…..loooonnnngg flight over from Toronto was very tiring. I grabbed a small snack at the lobby coffee shop and headed back too my room so I could post this. It isn’t overly detailed but I just wanted to get a post uploaded about the beginning of my journey. As long as wifi allows, I will keep posting.  As for now, its time to call it a night. Thank you for reading and remember, the whole purpose of travel is to get you out of your comfort zone. Start planning those trips! Cheers and good night!