I looooooooooooooove window seats and right now I am looking at the seat map of the first leg of my flights in complete denial that I have to sit in the middle section middle seat unless I fork over an extra 40 bucks. I've been looking at it for the past week praying that it's not true or that somehow somewhere someone will cancel and a window, so to speak, will open up. No one likes the middle seat. NO ONE. I am one of those freaks that falls asleep as soon as the plane levels out and unfortunately this may also mean me using your shoulder as a pillow which wouldn't be so bad if I didn't also dribble saliva out of my mouth while unconscious. I marvel at people who can strike the Weekend at Bernie's pose...straight up with head bent to the left or right on their neck pillows. I, however, need to lean right or left as long as I'm slightly diagonal which is why I love the window. I'm not even in it for the view since I only get maybe a minute or two of it before I'm out cold.
In other news, the safari planning is going along ok. I got my yellow fever shot last week finally. From what I've read, it's unnecessary when coming from a non-endemic country like the U.S. or European countries. I read a lot of travel forums and sometimes it seemed it was a luck of the draw with health officials at the major airports in Tanzania no matter where you're from. Although, recent traveler's reports with this has gotten much better, I didn't want to take any chances. There's no way I'm getting a shot in an airport. The crap news is that my county travel clinic closed down so I had to go to the next county over. I called multiple private travel clinics and it seemed the prices for the shot itself were anywhere from 150 - 180 USD plus the 70 to 90 dollar consult fee and you're looking at a good bit of money to lay down. This vac isn't covered by my insurance, by the way. So I got it done at the county health clinic which saved me at least 50 bucks. I also re-upped my hepatitis a/b and got tetanus shot earlier this summer. The yellow fever vaccine was not pleasant. It burns! As much as it hurt going in, it felt like nothing after it was done which is more than I could say from some shots I've had.
I am also going to have a call with my travel tour operator soon for a final rundown of the itinerary and to address any outstanding issues or questions I may have. The problem is that I really don't have any questions, well none that she can answer anyway. Like, am I going to get bitten by a snake? How does it feel to be a black American in Africa? I gotta think of something! Also at some point I'm going to need to go thrift shopping for some neutral colored/pastel shirts and hiking pants. I looked in my closet and I'm a HUGE fan of black, blue, red, and white. None of which you want to be wearing on a safari with tsetse flies (attracted to dark colors) or hungry mammals mistaking you for a zebra. I refuse to buy new clothing for this safari because I've already dropped enough coin for this trip and I'm going to be a dusty,dirty mess by the time the safari part is over. So might as well wear stuff that's super cheap and kind of throwaway. Kind of like the middle seat in the middle section of an airplane. :D
