Well, I've been home for a couple weeks now, and after getting over the initial exhaustion of the trip home, which honestly didn't take long at all, and after clearing up the case of ringworm which I contracted from McKenzie's cat, which took a bit longer, and was pretty uncomfortable, I officially have the travel bug. I'm ready to go again, but unfortunately my bank account doesn't agree. I'm going to be paying this one off for quite awhile, but it was so worth it, and I know I will never regret the decision to go. What I saw and experienced was truely lifechanging, and I consider myself extremely blessed to have had this amazing opportunity. Hopefully there will be many more like it to come!!

It's amazing how quickly time goes by!! It seems just a few days ago that I was beginning to plan my trip. Now, two and a half months have gone by, and in two more weeks, I'll be on my way to Africa!! I'm still a bit nervous about traveling alone, but my excitement for the adventure is winning out on this one. I'll fly into Windhoek, Namibia early in the morning on June 14...TWO DAYS after I depart!!! What a long trip! My friend will be meeting me, and I believe we'll be spending the day in Windoek at the markets, and a few other places she wants to take me, before departing the next morning on the seven hour journey by car to Rundu, where I will be spending the following two weeks. I think I'm pretty much set to go. I have my passport, my vaccinations, and a huge list of things I need to do before I leave, and another list of things that I must remember to take with me. All that's left is to try to wait patiently for my departure date to arrive.

So, as I'm preparing to go on my trip, the issue of vaccinations has come up in several conversations. I have done some asking around, and have checked with the travel clinic in my city. They basically told me that some people want every shot that they can possibly get, while others want none, or as few as possible. I fall into the latter cattegory, but I don't want to be stupid about it, either. There are one or two shots that I'll probably get just to be on the safe side. My parents, as well as a couple other people are really pushing me to get all of the ones that the travel clinic listed, but my friend who is living in Namibia has told me that since I'm only going to be there for a short time, I don't really need to worry...and honestly I'm really not worried about it. Any advice from some of you seasoned travelers out there??

My plane tickets just arrived in the mail. It was weird to have actual physical evidence that I'm going, rather than an email confirmation. I probably sound completely childish to a seasoned traveler, because, hello, it's just a plane ticket, but this is the biggest trip I've ever taken, and even though I'm so excited, I'm really nervous as well. I've never traveled alone before, and I've never traveled over seas, so I'm terrified that I'm going to get lost and not make one of my connections or something. And I have no assigned seats on my flights outside of the US, so that makes me nervous as well. I'm sure I'll make it there and back in one piece. Sometimes I just freak myself out a little. =)

I have been keeping my eye on some airfare prices the last several weeks, and yesterday they dropped to the lowest I've seen yet, which prompted the visit with my boss yesterday morning. After my success with that, I raced home and looked online at the site, and my heart sank. The price had skyrocketed to about 5 times as much as the same ticket had cost yesterday. I hate that about travel sites!!! But I did some fine tuning on the dates of the trip, and if I booked my return flight a day later than I originally planned, the price dropped back down. It's amazing what one day will do! So, I made the purchase, and I think I'm sort of in shock. I've never dropped that much money in one day in my life....except when I bought my car. So I'm kind of freaking out, and I know that I'm going to get a ton of grief from my family, because there are way more logical things that I could be spending my money on, but at this point, I'm too excited to care! =)

I went in to work today and visited with my boss about the possibility of me taking time off from work this summer to visit my friend in Namibia. I was kind of dreading the experience, because I have not been working there for a year yet, and normally we are not allowed to use our vacation time until a year is up. So, even though he is a really great boss, I was expecting him to say no...not because he didn't want to give me the time, but because I work for a corporation, and sometimes there are rules, and regulations that prohibit you from bending those rules. I just told myself that I at least had to ask. Even if the answer was no, at least then, I wouldn't spend my life wondering if I would have been able to go if I had just asked. So I did, and I didn't even have to do any convincing. I just told him what I wanted to do and asked if there was any possibility of me taking two weeks off to go. He said yes and didn't even bat an eye!!!

I have a really good friend who went to Namibia in February through an organization called AIM. She and her husband are there working in Rundu at an orphanage-type project. Before they left, she and I talked about the possibility of me visiting for a couple of weeks during their stay. It has always been a dream of mine to go to Africa and participate in something like that, however, at this point in my life, there is no possible way that I could commit to the type of time frame that these organizations are looking for. I think the minimum for AIM is like 4  months. So anyways, I've been in contact with my friend through email over the last couple weeks, and we have discussed some tentative times for me to visit in June, and I think her brother might accompany me as well. He's graduating from high school this year, and wants to do a little traveling without his parents, and all that good stuff. =)

So I've pretty much decided that I'm going. I can't really afford it...money will be tight for a LONG time afterward, but I'm afraid that if I don't go, I'll always regret it, and I believe in living your life so that you have no regrets.

Really the only thing that would hold me back at this point is work. I have been at my current job for 6 months, and while I am accruing vacation time, I'm not allowed to actually use any of it until I've been there for a year. So unless there is some way around it, I'm going to have to take 2 weeks off without pay...if my boss even agrees to the leave of absence.

So if you think of it, send some good thoughts and positive energy my way!! =)

I ate in the Red Roof Cafe (yes it actually does have a red roof) this afternoon, and I must say that I'm sorry that I've overlooked it all these years. I remember going there once as a small child to meet a family friend, but I don't remember eating anything. It doesn't look like much on the outside, which is probably why I've avoided it, but when you walk through the door, you're instantly transported back in time to about the 50's, and you forget that right outside the door is one of the busiest streets in Helena. It's just a simple little cafe with very few tables, but the staff is very personable, the food is great, and at an affordable price.

The Staggering Ox is a sandwich shop in Helena. (I believe there is also one in Missoula) They call their sandwiches "The Clubfoot." The bread is baked in coffee cans and then the top is cut off, and the bread is hollowed out to put in the meat, veggies, etc, so the sandwich stands upright on one end. The interior of the bread is also sold as "bread guts" that you dip in the shop's homemade ranch dressing (the best I've ever tasted), or another sauce of your choice. You can get pretty much any sandwich you want, all cleverly named, or they serve salad, quesadillas, and now pizza as well. The dining room is filled with the works of local artists, and live music is featured every Wednesday night. A great place to go for good food, and a laid back atmosphere. The sandwiches run between $5-$8...a little pricey for a sandwich, but well worth it.

We just briefly stopped in Helena at a family member's house for lunch.  We just ended up driving right through town despite my requets to stop and go shopping :)  We were going to hopefully travel some on Sunday as to hopefully cut back on the long drive we had for Monday to get home.