I'm in Africa?!

I made it! After a very long day of waiting and flying, and waiting and flying, I have finally arrived in Kampala. If this post devolves into nonsensical babble, it's because I am very tired and more than a little dazed. It's 7:30 here and my plan for the night is to write this, shower, then sleep.

It was a long day of travelling, but to be honest it wasn't too bad. I was extremely fortunate to be gifted points for business class seats, so that obviously made a huge difference. I got to use the lounge at Pearson, though the lady at the desk was convinced (wrongly) that I wasn't allowed in. Should have used the one at Addis Ababa too, but they ushered us through security straight off the plane, after which a glass wall separated me from all the shops, food, and comfortable seating. Oh, and they had no wifi. I think the lounge might have, but c'est la vie.

The first leg (to Addis) was 13 hours, but it went by relatively quickly. I failed as a travel blogger and didn't take any pictures of the seat I was in. It wasn't an Air Canada pod, but it was still spectacular for such a long flight. Lots of room (and nobody beside me!), and the ability to lie (almost) flat...not to mention the service. The food was better than Air Canada, but that's hardly an accomplishment. They didn't have a ton of movies available...I originally tried to watch Deadpool, but the first thing it said was that it had been modified, which I can only assume means they got rid of all the very R-rated stuff. I haven't seen Deadpool, but I feel like that would only leave about 10 minutes of the film. Anyway, I put on The Revenant instead. The only censorship was blurring out some dead guy's bum for half a second. It did have Chinese subtitles throughout the entire movie though, and no way to turn them off. But I still enjoyed it...most of it is just Leo grunting anyway, which doesn't generally need a translation.

The second leg was much less interesting. Less than two hours long, and on a very old plane. No screens, not even in business. Not that it mattered, since we were hardly flying for any time at all.

And the best part? BOTH of my checked bags made it to Kampala. I had a bit of a scare—stood waiting for a long time with no sign of them, only to realize that someone had lifted them off and parked them on the other side already. Not sure I've ever felt that relieved. I also managed to get my phone sorted, for the moment at least. I have no wifi where I'm staying, so ALL of my internet for three months will be through hotspotting my phone. Not ideal, but better than nothing. Data's not outrageously expensive or anything, but I can already tell it's going to add up fast. I guess I need to cut back on my YouTube.

Anyway, I got my bags and my SIM card and finally met the person through whom I'd arranged the apartment and who was driving me to it. Long story short, I was radically unsure who this person would be and less than certain they'd even show up. Thankfully, she did, and everything worked out fine. She drove me to the apartment and then even drove me to a store to pick up some essentials.

The apartment is alright. I say "apartment" but it's basically a detached hut-like thing on a larger property. I was going to take pictures and post them here and such, but that's a lot of effort right now...I think I'll do another post soon about the place, with pictures.

In the meantime, what's next? I need to get some stuff sorted out tomorrow with the owner of the property (getting a key, etc.). At some point I need to go out and buy a few more of the basics. I also need to explore the area a bit, try to find some food places. I don't really know how to cook (who let me out into the world on my own?) so I need to figure out what the heck I'll be eating for dinner every night. Tonight I made what I can only describe as pasta, but I use the term loosely. Store-bought sauce is bad at the best of times. But it's easy and I saw the ingredients in the store so I bought it, because I had to eat something tonight, and the alternative was the KFC nearby. Yes, KFC. Or as I sometimes call it, a last resort.

I think that's enough for now. I desperately need a shower and sleep. Good night from Uganda!