Viva Las Vegas

Well, we have our boarding passes and drink tickets in hand. I'm packed and Paula is snoozing - I guess she is planning on an early morning suitcase slam. We leave for Vegas around noon and will be home Wednesday night. We have tickets for two shows; Jersey Boys and Beatles Love. The rest of the time we plan to lay by the pool, read, and enjoy the casinos.

Wish us luck!

Paper Work and Decisions

Paula and I spent several hours filling in forms for the trip; insurance, health, emergency contacts, etc... We also had to decide on the details of the trip. We have choices or alternate destinations at some of the stops. In Papua New Guinea we have four choices; the Southern Highlands, Sepik River Basin, Tufi Dive Resort, or the Western Highlands. Tough choices, we want to do them all. We decided on the Tufi Dive Resort. It is in the Oro Province, a land of volcanic fjords covered with lush jungles and waterfalls. We'll spend two days snorkeling and exploring the fjords by outrigger canoe. We'll also have time to hike in the rain forest. The toughest decision for us were the four options in the Serengeti, Tanzania. We were able to eliminate two of the choices easily but almost had to flip a coin on the remaining two options. We quickly eliminated the Kempinski Bililia Lodge. The lodge is located within the Serengeti National Park but it is a new, modern facility. Plush and very nice but we wanted more of a safari experience. The next option we eliminated was the mobile tent camp. This sounded good but came in second to the other tent option, the Serengeti Migration Camp. We had it narrowed down to two, the Serengeti Migration camp or the Ngorongoro Crater. The Ngorongoro Crater offers a lodge on the rim of the crater (8,000' elevation). The crater is a World Heritage site and has a permanent population of over 30,000 animals including rhino. The Ngorongoro Crater also offers the opportunity to meet Meave or Louise Leakey. We went back and forth but finally decided on the Serengeti Migration Camp. It is located in a valley on the banks of the Grumeti River with views over the Serengeti hills and the plains of the Maasai Mara. We'll stay in raised tent with bathroom. The tents are furnished with local materials and fabrics. NG referred to it as "an intimate safari experience".

Our next decision is London. The trip ends in London. We originally planned on staying in London for several days to a week but now wonder if we'll be ready for home after 26 days away. Paula pointed out that London is an easy trip which we can take anytime. It may be more fun to plan stand alone trip to England. We still need to book air fair to Washington, DC and home from London so we need to decide soon.

Needles

Arrgh - we need shots. Lots of shots. Paula went to the CDC web site and was able to find all the places in Houston that offers the various vaccinations we need. We lucked out, there is a place nearby in Sugar Land. I need to find my old WHO shot card and see which shots I've had, which need renewing and, which ones I can avoid. Poor Paula, I think she needs them all.

Idea

A friend recommended writing a blog to document our upcoming trip. This will allow friends and family to follow along or not. It also saves us the hassle of inadvertently leaving someone off the email distribution. I'm hopeful that the blog will act as a journal and Paula and I can refer back to it in the years to come (to settle arguments about where we were when...).

My plan is to get the blog set-up and learn how to use it before we leave in October.

Paula and Mark enjoying Colorado