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Sometimes people ask us "why?" and there is no logical reason because "we want to" is not really a logical answer is it? Most people think we are either nuts or brave (likely both) and when they ask us "so how many of you are going?" or "is it a large group of people you going with?" I can already see their thoughts when we tell them we are doing it alone. And financially, it is crazy. But deep down most people wished they could do the same, get away and not care about the day-to-day hassles, see new places and experience different cultures. So I guess that's why we are doing it. Some people call it a once in a lifetime trip, but we don't look at it that way: we are in our mid-thirties so what are we supposed to do in the next thirty years? It was inevitable that we would do this trip: we have often spoken about "one day" but normally settled on a week or two somewhere in Southern Africa. We did not plan on doing it now, it just worked out like that. In January 2003 we saw an IMAX documentary on Kilimanjaro and afterwards thought to ourselves: looks good enough to try. So a thought of climbing Kilimanjaro and visiting the Serengeti was hatched, a 5 or maybe 6 weeks trip. But you know how it goes... while you are there you might as well go to Kenya and it became a 2 month trip. Then Ethiopia's historical circuit is just around the corner, and so it went. By April we decided to take the later part of 2003 off and we still were not sure about how far we were going to go. Then the unsafe situation in Algeria put paid to any thoughts of travelling through North Africa so our trip was settled: north until we get through 3/4 of our money no matter where that may be, and then return home via a different route. We put our city lives and my business on hold and left on 21 September 2003 and will probably return in early 2004. We do not have a planned route, just a few ideas of places to see and a bunch of travel guides and maps, and we want to enjoy ourselves while experiencing the journey. Of course we will end up at the usual destinations like Ngorongoro, but we will try and get to some of the out of the way places too. You will be able to read up on our exploits in the diary section, which we will keep up to date whenever possible from an internet cafe. I will probably do the diary, with Isla's input from time to time. You are welcome to contact us at renzo@thorntreeweb.co.za. Ciao Renzo |