Uganda: Chapter One - The Theory Holds True

Because Wooderson is a super star, he picks me up at 3:45am to head to the airport. This would probably be more bad ass if it weren't for the fact that that's actually the time of day when he and angel do their grocery shopping anyway, but nonetheless let's holler a thanks.

Let us be reminded of the flight times here, before we begin.
Vegas to JFK is 5 hours
At JFK, I have a two hour layover
JFK to Amsterdam is about 7 hours
I have the required three hours of ground time between international flights in Amsterdam
Amsterdam to Entebbe is 9 hours

That's 26 hours to get to where I'm going, folks.

During this time, I was forced to wonder why switching planes in JFK was more challenging than going through a random customs check, switching airlines and dealing with people who don't like to speak English in Amsterdam, but let's remain positive.

Anyway, you may recall that I have a theory that it's a good omen that the trip will be spectacular if you meet somebody endlessly interesting on the plane on the way there. The woman sitting next to me on the plane on the way from JFK to Amsterdam was named Angelica. She was seventy-five years old but looked sixty-five and acted twenty-five and was on a world-trip with her husband of forty-three years. I want to be her when I grow up (except obviously for the forty-three years of marriage part).

Her story was killer. She had grown up in London during the Blitz of World War Two. She tells me stories of watching bombs sail into London or having to take refuge in a basement (which she, being British, refers to as a cellar) during a bomb raid or being evacuated to the country during the worst of it. And then she says, "You can tell that nobody in America today has been on the receiving end of a proper war, or they wouldn't be so anxious to get into another one."

She also talks a lot about how Brits and Americans are so different because Americans are "Soooooo Patriotic, what with their constant waving of the American flag." We have a long conversation about how my impression is that Brits are just as patriotic, if not moreso, and that all of the "visible" patriotism in America may just be because Americans search for a way to feel unified and connected across a huge physical space.

Then Angelica tells me the story of how she met her husband. She worked as a secretary for the BBC (in the music division). Then she moved to the States and lived in Virginia for a number of years. Virginia, while very Brit friendly, was too confining for her. So she moved again to New York City with a plan that she would work until she had saved up enough money to travel to see San Francisco and New Zealand.

But in New York, she met her husband, and, as she put it, "We did live in San Francisco for a couple of years, but I still haven't seen New Zealand."

Now they live in Palm Springs, and I'm going to stop in for tea the next time I'm in the area. They were headed to Norway to cruise the fjords.

I want to be them when I grow up.

I sleep the entire way from Amsterdam to Entebbe.When I wake up, I'm in Africa...