Going Home.

Hi all
Well its our last day in the US. We are packed and waiting to go, and can't wait to land in London. The trip has been great fun and well worth it.
And we will see you all tommorow.
Dan.

New York, New York

Hi All.
We have now arrived in New York. The last week in Boston was fun, as we got to see the Aquarium, The Boston Science Museum and Harvard (or Hahvad) as the locals spell it. We also got to go shopping in an "outlet village". Heaven for wannabe Paris Hiltons, depressing for me. Freya loved it however and Chris shrugged his shoulders and got on with it.

Although the Aquarium was smaller than the one in Atlanta, it was far better designed and included a massive tank holding a miniature coral reef. The original intention as far as the Aquarium went was to go whale watching, however we arrived to late to catch the boat, so we went to the Aquarium instead.

The Boston Science Museum however was massive, think INTECH and then quadruple it, and then make it grow up, and you have the science museum. I could happily have spent a couple of days exploring it and going to the various lectures they held. Unfortunately we only had a few hours and only saw a fraction of the exhibits.

Harvard was interesting. The campus was beautiful, and there where some very nice museums, however due to poor planning we failed to find the constiution and Bunker Hill, which we where told where in the area.

Our journey to New York was uneventful, despite the promises of some Bostonians that the Fung Wah bus would either crash, or be attacked by gangsters, and now hear we are in the Big Apple deciding what to do for the next few days before we get home.
See you all soon. Dan

sorry in Boston now

Sorry everyone who has been following us for the lack of posting it's been completely my fault, either been to tired or forgetful to do it.

Well Boston, its a beautiful city that is for sure wv're been wondering aimlessly round it for the past few days just getting a feel for the city but I feel its been worth it. we did a walking tour of the city today, was about two and a half hours but the tour guide was really good and we got to know loads about the history of the city.

We have been staying with the Waldinger's for the past six days but we are being forced to move on, but we shall not go far, we are going to stay with James and Frayer until the 30th, at least
dan thiniks that is when he booked the hostel in NY but he keeps forgeting to check so I may have to beat him until he does it tonight, but dont worry, I wont do it hard.

You will all be pleased to know, well we are anyway, tat we are done with Greyhound buses. We are going to take a bus called the Fung Wah buss to NY. Its the longest running bus in the USA started by a Korean family to transport the oriental families to NY so they could work. They just take anybody now but it only cost $10 so we dont care and its only a four hour trip. Greyhound however gave us a good send off, a perfect 12 hour trip from Niagara. They got us there dead on time and we were never waiting arround, just getting off one bus and on to the next on the 2 transfers we had to make. unfortionatly that gave us no time to eat for that time and as we hadnt had breakfast either...well you can imagine.

Well must go my stomach is telling my food is ready and Jenifer's cooking is not to be missed.

See you all soon, 13 days beth tells me, and just over 1million seconds, well it was about 10 hours ago, i'll let you wrk out how many left now.

Chris and Dan

Leaving Springreen.

Hi All.
Well we're leaving Springreen today, and are heading out to the Canadian Niagara Falls.

The stay in Springreen has proved to be a much needed rest, as well as chance to catch up on family and watch four very different, but very high quality plays. I believe Chris has already covered Much Ado, and The Merchant of Venice. However we have also been to see Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams and a much cut version of Timon of Athens. Both of these where incredibly powerful productions, and very well performed.

We also played with some of the local football, sorry soccer, players. Chris and I found ourselves playing comfortably within our ability range, but we certainly didn't outclass the others. Aside from this the last couple of weeks has been largely uneventful, but that is pretty much what we needed at this point. Niagara, Boston and New York should prove to be far more eventful.

Dan.

Hello all, still typing from here in Spring Green, we're here 'till Monday as they say. Spring Green is great, if a little small and quiet. We cant say that there hast been lots to do though, lots of walking around exploring the shops and the town. David (who we're staying with) is the Producing Artistic Director of the American Players Theater. This means that we have been given free tickets to as many shows as we want to see. So far we've seen Much Ado About Nothing and Merchant of Venice, its a Shakespearian theater by the way. Much Ado was amazing , very funny and generally great, we both loved it. Merchant was still just as good, cant be the easyest of plays to act in but they seemed to to a generally good job. First have was good but a bit lackluster but the second half was great. May still go see Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams apparently he is the American answer to Shakespeare.

going to show the Americans some real sport tomorrow, theres two English guys who come over here once a year to teach football to the kids, or something similar so we shall go watch the game and possibly play. other than that its just lots more walking around planned I believe.

Weather here has turned humid again but its bearable so far I here the weather has quietened down back home, but only to be replaced with the new foot and mouth problem hope that it doesn't spread.

Hope all is well with everyone, we're both good here.

Chris and Dan

hello all, as promised to my adoring fans i'm back for another update. well Chicago was great, I only wish that we had at least two more days there but could have spent well over a week there. As it was we only did the Field Museum, a natural history museum that took over 5 hours and even then we could have spent another hour or so if we did everything. We also went up to the Hancock Observatory, which is a 94th floor open air viewing platform. we also went to see a totally random play that has been running for over 30 years. 30 plays in 60 mins it's called. it changes every week so you can go see it every time an it will be different each time.

Well after an uneventful 3 hour Greyhound journey we arrived in Madison. We were met by a random guy who was holing up a name tag. turns out hes a friend of Gwen's (the person were staying with for the next few days.) called Tim, he was ok and took us to a coffee shop to await our ride from Tora who looked after us this afternoon. I've fallen in love with Madison already and im going to buy a house here, its really cheap to buy here as well.

We're looking forward to this part of the trip, we are with Gwen for the next few days. then we shall no doubt turn up at David's somehow.

well we have to go out going to a park that overlooks the lake next to the town and it has a bar that severs it so it should be beautiful but I shall let you know.

Hope all is well back home, I've heard the rain has stopped at last so that is all good.

look forward to yous comments and e-mails.
Chris

Amtrak

Hi all.
Dan again, I'll get Chris to do the next update.
We have finally arrived in Chicago after spending over 30 hours on various trains. I have to admit that Amtrak failed to live up to the horror stories we had heard, arriving only half an hour late for both of the trains we caught.

We were also delighted to discover that we were giving copious leg room. I.e. enough for Chris to stretch. In fact the only bad point was the guy playing horror films on his laptop next to us. (I may be a spoil sport, but there's something about having to listen to screams of pain and nasty gristly sounds that fails to appeal to me.) However even he turned out to be a decent lad, and changed the films to Family Guy and X-Men 3 both of which where far more bearable.

The hostel we are staying at looks to be the most professional one yet. But as yet it is a bit early for first impressions.

Hope everyone is enjoying themselves back in England.
Dan.

Goodbye Asheville, Hello Chicago (eventually)

Hi All. Dan hear again.
Sorry about the late update, it completely slipped my mind to update the blog until today. Our stay with Charlotte and Micheal has been great, but we have decided it is time to move on, and are heading up to the windy city. Due to the long nature of this trip, we have decided to risk the trains. (not a prospect I'm to thrilled about, having heard horror tales from other travelers.)

We have had great fun in Asheville, aided by Sam and his friends, including a gorge walk, tubing down a river, (sitting in an inflatable ring, and just drifting down), getting thrashed at basketball (no surprise there) and general laziness. I should also complement, Charlotte on her cooking, which has been uniformly fantastic, especially bearing in mind the irritation of having a vegetarian suddenly dropped on her.

I hope all is going well back in the UK.
Dan.

Noth Carolina Luxury

Chris
Ahh a real bed to sleep in again, and for the first time on this trip, my own room. Greyhound for once excelled itself for the first time to get us here on time despite being an hour late leaving due to a lost driver.

here in the middle of the Smoky mountains with beautiful scenery and quiet roads we find ourselves in a picturesque town/city of Asheville, and in the house of Dan's dear friends Caroline and Mike with their son Sm (who, for those that knew him has grown a beard.)

its really beautiful here and Sam who is 18 has looked after us magnificently showing us around and taking us to all the nice spots, or at least he will when he gets back.
Going tubing again this afternoon but down a river without a motorboat, not sure how this will work but i shall let you know. going on an all day hike with the Dog tomorrow so that should be good.

oh well must be off, my stomach tells me its time for lunch.

hope every one is well
Dan and Chris

Leaving For Asheville tommorrow.

Hi All.

Well, our somewhat prolonged stay in Atlanta is nearly over, and whilst we had a great time, I think that both of us are pleased to be moving on, and are looking forward to getting into Asheville.



The Hostel we where staying at proved a great place for meeting people, and we are leaving with at least 9 email addresses, possibly a few more. The people we have to email so far are 1 Brit, 1 Chinese German, 1 German, 1 Dane, 3 Norwegians, 1 Frenchman and an Aussie. (Chris will correct me if I'm wrong about this) As you can probably guess from the above list there weren't too many Americans there. That's not to say there weren't any, but they where a definite minority.



I think we have now covered pretty much all the sights of Atlanta, from the Aquarium and Stone Mountain (impressive) to Coke World, (pure propaganda.) For me the highlights where Stone Mountain and the Martin Luther King memorial. (I'll get Chris to give his highlights when he next updates, but I suspect they will be the same as mine)

That's all for now.
Dan.
p.s. Thanks to Mum and Dad for their advice, unfortunately we didn't have time to do many of the things you suggested, but I appreciate the thought.

Atlanta (my birthplace)

Hi All
As promised its Dan here. We have now arrived in Atlanta, and found a far nicer hostel than the one we found in Savannah. (it actually is hostel, and has a stove and a kettle!).

Atlanta itself is pretty much your typical big city. Hopefully there will be enough to do to keep us entertained, but there isn't much I can say about it.

We visited the Georgia Aquarium today, which was pretty spectacular, featuring Beluga Whales and Whale Sharks, as well as several other species. Oh and apparently Beth will be pleased to know we saw penguins there. Unfortunately, Chris lost the soft toy penguin he brought.

And well that's about it really. Oh, we keep getting phone calls on our mobile, and we aren't to sure who it is as we cannot answer the calls due to lack of airtime. So if its anyone reading this email us the info as we cannot receive it via our phone.

Dan.

Greyhound and Savannah

Hey all viewers, Chris again, don't worry it Dan's turn tomorrow so you can all have good typing and spelling again.

I hate Greyhound. It sucks, there it is in cold hard print. we've had nothing but trouble with them since the beginning with inconvinent times late buses leading to missed transfers ad yesterday we got pulled off the bus sent to another one that never showed, put on the next one wich we couldnt get on because it was full and hen we had to wait two hours for the next one while our luggage gt sent to heaven knows where. Thankfully it was in Savannah waiting or us in the end, but was there an apology; was there hell.

well moaning over, we only have to make one more journey on them then were going my train everywhere as its too far to go by bus, that thought has cheered us up. Savannah is nice though lacking in things to do, we have a tour booked or 1pm of the city so that should be fun. the holstel which is no longer a hostel is nice though not the cleanest its clean enough depite the majour minus point of not having a kettle so no coffee, thankfully we found some cans of espresso so were making do with those. bloke who runs it is really friendl and helpful though and is little grl is quite cute. thats cute as in awwwww by the way.

lots of love
Chris and Dan

P.s. sorry if i havnt replied to any emails, hotmail is a resticted site here. il reply asap

Last Day In Tampa

well here I am as promised by Dan yesterday. This is gona be the last daily blog we post as were leaving tomorrow and from now till the 18th were in hostols so I don't know how often we'll be able to post.

Had a great time today, me, Dan and the other boys of the family here went off and did something called "tubing", I had no idea what it was but it turns out that you lay on this solid roundfloating circle and let the boat pull you along as fast as it can while the pilot tries his hardest to get you off. It's so much fun but so hard physicaly. Dan fell off three times, i never did.

waether here has been brilliant, shame were gonna have to leave it but hey, it's still nice in Savannah. me and Dan are both burnt despite the sun cream we put on so were both a bit tender on the back and shoulders tonight- its 2219 here now- so were gonna be sleeping on our front tonight hehe.

were leaving here tomorrow like i said so going to be really hectic and an early start, so guess what our reward is; a 10 hour coach journey. Oh well at least it's direct so we wont have to worry about missing our transfer again. See above if you don't remeber-Mother.

Well folks until we post again then. It will be me next time as well as i missed a turn. Sorry if i dissapoint anyone.

Lots of love from us both
Chris.

P.S. I suppose from Dan as well

Independence Day.

Hi all.
Sorry for the late update but the last two days have been really busy. As yet there is no way to update photos but hopefully we will get some up by the end of July.
Independence day was a blast. We started of to a boat trip to a club that Carol and Micheal, plus their assorted realtives are members of. Needless to say it was just a little crowded, but we where still able to swim, play volleyball, and partake of what (according to Chris) was a pretty good bbq, with the exception of the bratwurst. (I had to make do with a somewhat undistinguished veggi burger.)

Then in the evening where taken out to a meal in the local golfing club. Very expensive, and yet annother bbq, but with some of the best ice cream i've ever had. We finsished of the evening by heading out to a condo owned by Micheal's sister (who was away at the time) where we watched several spectatular fireworks displays, from various points around Tampa bay. All of which where outdone by a thunderstorm just out at sea. In the morning we discoveded that two people had been quite seriously injured during the displays, by fireworks falling back down to earth, in the wrong places.

Today was also great fun, featuring as it did boating and a trip to a mall. As well as sushi for dinner. I've also finally manged to set up a mobile (727 348 1408) which should make meeting up with people somewhat easier. Thats it for now as i'm really tired. I'll make Chris update tomorrow.

Dan.

Recovery

Title says it all really. Chilled out, swam, and got swamped with Carol and Micheal's relatives. Independence day celebrations tommorow so we are going to find out if we can put some photos up for that.

Dan.

Tampa and a bed!

Hi all.
After the ordeal at the airport, we had missed the closing time for our hostel, so we decided to head straight to Tampa, and my Dad's cousin's house. This meant spending the night at the Greyhound bus station, waiting for a 7:55 bus. This was not quite the ordeal you might imagine as we met Tom, an Indian (from India) with whom we spent the small hours chatting.

We where relived obviously relived to get to Tampa, where Micheal (our host) came to pick us up. Whilst waiting for him we chatted to the various taxi drivers around the terminal and received a list of beers to avoid.

Having arrived at Carola and Micheal's house we had a shower, allowing us to shed our somewhat smelly traveling clothes and to feel somewhat sober. We then went to Carol's granddaughter's 10th birthday party and met some of the family. A somewhat overbearing experience as we had only napped for the previous 36 hours but still good fun. And finally we got to got sleep in our beds, and slept like logs.

Dan.

Hey all my turn now dan has finally let me get on it. in regards to all your posts....I DO NOT LOOK SHIFTY!!!!! and i hope james getts stopped just as much on his way to boston. all is good here now recovered though dan is still feeling the jet lag. coupple were staying with are great and Carrol is such a good cook we have jus spent the past hr talking about food and beth's Cecileism. (spelling corrections for that would be good) hope your all ok...if anyone wants postcards or letters then tough really hehe just send me adresses by email and il try and write at least once depending on time. hope you all ok here weather is great.....30 degrees here...a bit humid but better than what i left hehhe so boo sucks to you all hehehe. well must go...i gotta help cook and make sure theres enough garlic in the marinade. bye

USA here we come (Eventually)

Hi all.
Chris and I have started up the blog again to detail our adventures in the USA. However our plans have not quite worked as planned, and we've barely even started. it all started when we hit the traffic good strart tohe day. then chris being searched 3 times at Gatwick didnt help either. fine, didnt miss our flight... not a problm. The flight was fine, no trouble and a seismologist to chat to.

Then welcome to Dallas. We are welcomed, by a thunderstorm, not an issue we think, but remeber it for earlier. First comes immigration. I have no trouble, but they take one look at chris and haul him off for questioning. For 20 mins. At the same time I discover that because of the thunderstorm the baggage can't be unloaded and we have to wait for it to pass. That took around an hour. Then they tell us that they can't open the cargo doors due to mechanical problems. Another hour passes. Finally the baggage arrives, on the wrong conveyer belt.

Having got our luggage, guess what. Chris gets searched again! this time by customs. This only took10 mins,but by this time we had missed the flight to Miami, leaving me typing his out on ancient public comp. Hoping against hope that we might just get into Miami tonight. Ah well,this bad a start must mean the rest of the trip will go well, right?

Back Home

Hi, everyone.
I'm now back home after a pretty boring flight. It is slightly strange being back, and to be honest I wish I had another month in Uganda. The last weekend has been a flurry of goodbyes, and amazing generous gifts from the Hospice and the friends I made out there. I particulary look forward to showing everyone my brand new clock.

The white water rafting was one of the highlights of the trip, however we nearly didn't go at all. Having originally booked with the cheapest company available, we were informed at 6am that they had canceled the Saturday trip, and where instead going on Sunday. We then tried another company which said no problem, only to phone back half an hour later to cancel. This was at 6:30 am. We finally tried Adrift, the most professional company. They agreed to let us go with them, saying to meet them at the Sheriton at 7:30. This was at 6:45. Suffice to say we made it, and had a fantastic experience, even if my knees are still sunburnt.

Sorry for the wait.

Hi all, sorry for not updating for the past couple of weeks, but I'm afraid that's just Kampala for you. (That and the volunteer work is 9-5 on weekdays so I can only update on Saturdays). I suppose I'd better fill you in on whats been happening.

Most days I'm working in the hospice in the education department under a women called Mwazi. The job largely consists of typing up reports and letting everyone else get on with more important stuff, so I won't bore you with the details.

Far more interesting has been the traveling I have been doing. Last Saturday me, Emily(see last blog). Caroline (a nurse) and Dr. Ita (one of the doctors at Hospice) went up to Lake Bunyoni, a volcanic lake on the Rwandan border. This lake is possibly the most beautiful place I have ever been. Surrounded by mountains and with an assortment of islands sporting different habitats, it has to be seen to be believed. Unfortunately being me I left my camera in Kampala, but I should be getting some photos emailed to me by the others.

We stayed on two islands which I'm not even going to attempt to spell and will instead call 1 and 2. Island 1 which we stayed on for two nights was largely owned by farmers, with an American run resort on one end. Whilst we were there we met about 20 people from VSO, nearly all medical, but still really nice people, some of whom turned out to be heading to island 2 with us. This meant that we had a couple of good nights of eating and drinking with various NGO workers, and learning fascinating stories which I had forgotten by the morning.

The weekend bore last we headed out to visit Catherine Nwangi, a nurse at Hospice whom my parents are helping to pay for her relatives' school fees. In particular we are helping her niece Bridget through nursing school. Bridget is doing really well with her course, and the nursing college is surprisingly up to date, so Dad will be pleased to hear that the money is well spent. We also visited Catherine's mother and older sister at their home in a nearby village. The mother is a pretty amazing women of an age between 70 and 90, who nonetheless is running a small subsistence farm with only her eldest daughter, who is probably around 60 and what help the family can send them.

Back in Kampala, my aunt and uncle have left for Australia, but where soon replaced by Dr. Anne's cousin, Micheal, his daughter Margret and her husband Karl and their little boy, also called Daniel. This has meant the house has had 5 Liverpudlians, (Anne and family) and 1 Manchurian (Emily) leaving me the only Southerner. However they where all really lovely but the relatives left this morning, leaving me, Emily and Anne. There is also Mary, the 6 year old daughter of Little Anne, the head house girl. Who, once she overcame her initial shyness has turned into a real nuisance.

As final note please don't panic about the protests in Kampala http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6548107.stm as things have calmed down pretty quickly round here, and never came near Hospice or Dr. Anne's house. However it was weird going into central Kampala this morning and walking through places which I'd seen on the T.V. the night before covered in tear gas, with people running and shouting, but like I say things seem to have calmed down. This might be my last post before I get back to England, as Emily and I are planning to go to Jinja to go white water rafting on the nile next Saturday and I leave on the Monday.

Arrival.

I arrived in Kampala yesterday after meeting up with my aunt an uncle in Dubai. Dubai airport (that's all I saw) was something of disappointment. Although there where plenty of people wondering around in white robes, all the stores where the usual western brands of Starbucks, Costa and MacDonald's. The airport itself is like a smaller version of Heathrow or Gatwick, but far better organised (not that hard really).

Uganda itself is far more exotic and interesting. There is a strong contrast between the poor and the wealthy here, with poor living in tin roofed shacks, and the new middle class living in brand new villas. The house of Dr. Anne, (my host for the next few weeks) is along the lines of these villas, though less sinister than most. (She hasn't actually put up razor wire or broken glass on the top of the surrounding walls).

We were met by her servants and another gap year student called Emily. The three servants are called Little Anne, Margret and Haiti. There is also a night watchman I have yet to meet. The idea of having servants is something that's going to take some getting used to but, they are all friendly. That's all for now, hopefully for my next post I'll have some photos I can put up.

Leaving Today

Well today's the day. I'm leaving the house at 13:00 to reach Heathrow at 14:30. I then catch a plane to Dubai where I meet my Uncle and Aunt and catch up on a few hours sleep. We then fly to Enttebbe International airport, arriving tomorrow afternoon.

I'm currently have that kind of buzzy, slightly nauseous feeling that means its to late to turn back. I'm also imaging various scenarios for the plane trip, ranging from the attractive intelligent girl sitting next to me (unlikely) to being cramped next to obese 40 year old with sweat patches (hopefully just as unlikely). As yet I still can't imagine what Uganda will be like but I can't wait to have the plane trip behind me.

Gifts

This is just a note to say if anyone wants me to get anything for them while i'm away, feel free to email me. I can't promise i'll get it but I'll try to.

Packing.

It may be four days till I leave, but I started packing today. Largely to see what I still needed to buy. The golden rule for packing is supposed to be, list everything you think you will need and then cut the list by half. However I found that even with everything packed apart from my mosi-net, my suitcase is still only half full. This has left me with a feeling that I'm missing something, but cannot think what it is.

One of the oddities I've been told include is a cycling helmet, The options are between walking 10 km each way everytime I want to go into Kampala, taking the motorbike taxis or cycling. Much as I enjoy walking, 20 k is a bit much in the African heat, especially as it would be every day. On the other hand I'm really not willing to trust my life to the motorbike taxis without a motorcyle helmet and I'm not carrying one of those arround. So that leaves cycling, hopefully I'll be able to by one (or possibly several) cheaply in central Kampala, but it still worries me slightly, still it should improve my fitness no end.

First Post.

Hi, all.
I'm setting up this blog to provide an account of my trips to Uganda and The US, but if I get in the habit I'll put up posts on other subjects as well.