"It's a small world" is not just a cliche!

Some people probably ask why I like to travel, or more importantly, why I choose to move to the other side of the world for extended periods of time? Well, there are many reasons, but mainly it’s because I get to meet so many people of such varying backgrounds who end up becoming good friends. When you have friends all over the world, that world sometimes becomes a remarkably small place, as was the case in Lynn and my most recent travels.

This story begins way back when I lived in China in 2000; one of my best friends was a Rwandan guy named Virgile who was dating this great girl, Alyssa. I always talked about how great it would be to visit him in his homeland of Rwanda, but had no idea if or when that would happen. Fast forward eight years, Virgile and Alyssa are still living in Beijing, but are recently married and planning a honeymoon trip down to Africa including a visit to his family in Kigali, Rwanda, which just happens to be a five hour bus ride from where we are living in Uganda.

Meanwhile, my brother Corry decides to go visit my dad in Australia, but take a 4-day detour in Dubai to compete in a surfski race. I figure Dubai is as close as he is going to get to us for a year so I decided to go meet him. Not only did I get to visit Corry in Dubai, but I was also able to hang out with two fun friends that Lynn and I met while climbing Kilimanjaro in June who happen to be currently living in Dubai. Corry paddled a great race considering that he competed against, probably the 50 best paddlers in the world (minus one or two who didn’t show), including 6-7 Beijing Olympic medalists and numerous other national and world title holders and he would have won if not for the 68 guys who just edged him out. I certainly miss racing when I have to witness a race of that magnitude as a spectator, but I did get to take 5 spectacular showers in 3 days at the hotel: sometimes one must enjoy the small things in life. Pictures will be coming later as, unfortunately, my camera (the old one not my good one) was stolen in Nairobi airport by the good folks at Kenya Airways.

I flew round trip out of Rwanda so as to avoid an 11hr bus ride from Kampala and Lynn showed up in Kigali the next day on a bus from Mbarara, so after eight years of dreaming about this, we spent two great days in the beautifully clean city of Kigali with Virgile and Alyssa. Virgile works for the Rwandan Embassy in Beijing, which, it turns out, means he knows a lot of important people in Rwanda. In one day, I met the Minister of Sports who invited us to attend a hugely popular concert that night at the football stadium as VIP guests, and, at the concert, was introduced to the President of Rwanda’s bodyguard. Getting in to the concert was quite a spectacle because the show was one big promotional campaign for a new cell phone company in town. The tickets were dirt cheap so every kid in the city tried to get into this show, headlined by “Sean Paul” who apparently is very popular in the US if you’re not old like me. We showed up at the gate and the police were standing there with fire hoses keeping kids from rushing the entrance as the show was completely sold out. Our group consisted of five locals and five muzungus with Virgile at the head working his magic to get us in while we tried not to get separated. It was quite a wild experience just getting to the front door of the stadium and we decided it was worth it just to get there even if we did not make it all the way in to the concert, but Virgile got us in and we enjoyed a great show with local singers from Rwanda, Congo, and Uganda belting out tunes as hundreds of bats raced around overhead chasing grasshoppers. It was very cool.


My story of a small world ends with the imminent arrival, in Uganda, of my old roommate Kathi who I have not seen in about 4-5 years. She is spending a year teaching in Cairo and decided to come down to spend Christmas with us. Lynn and I will also be spending a week with her in January when we head off on our big trip to Egypt and Ethiopia…and this is why I love to travel.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!