Uganda — Two weeks and counting

We have just over two weeks to get everything crossed off my to-do list and be ready to be gone for two weeks. Many people are asking if I’m getting excited. Yes, I am getting excited but along with the excitement is a slight feeling of panic. I’m pretty sure I’m going to forget to do something vital before I leave. Two weeks is a long time to be gone and if I forget something necessary, there won’t be a Walmart nearby.

I’m also feeling just a little uneasy about the communication or lack thereof between Uganda and the US. I went online to check about making telephone calls from Uganda to the US–not so easy and kind of expensive. It was certainly not easy to call home in 2005 when we last made this trip. Since our kids are grown, we will just depend on email this time around.

We do have some team members who have young children who they’ll leave under the care of others for those two weeks. Their commitment to this trip requires more faith than the rest of us. In 2005 our kids were in high school and my mom came up and stayed with them so that was great. This time around, I just have to arrange for care for our animals and hope our horses don’t do something stupid while we are gone.

Anyway, here are my lists as of today:

Done:

• passports & vaccination cards located
• vaccinations
• purchased travel insurance
• spending money (newer $50 bills) from the bank (I may need to get more)
• malaria prevention medications picked up from the drug store
• debit card company contacted to informed them of our travel plans

To do:

• finalize arrangements for someone to do our chores while we are gone
• start packing
• get an emergency telephone number that our family members can use to contact us, if needed
• finalize arrangements for getting to & from airport
• try to figure out what I’m forgetting

Here’s my packing list so far:

roll(s) of toilet paper — US version is much preferred to Ugandan

jar of peanut butter for lunches

sun screen & hat

work clothes & gloves

hand sanitizer

power converters

power cords for cell phone, Kindle, nano–is that too much electronics? I may leave my cell phone at home.

church clothes

shorts for lounging around

shoes — this may be my hardest decision to make. They take up too much room in your suitcase and it’s hard to decide now which ones I’ll want later.

what to wear on the airplane — 36 hours travel time?

pillow?

underwear

swim suit

p.j.’s

bandana’s (2)

I’m going to have to dig out my summer clothes because the average temperature in Uganda is 71°F (21.5 C). January through March are the warmest months with highs averaging 81°F (27 C). Of course they measure temperature in Celsius not Fahrenheit so I’ll be forever asking Steve, my husband, what the F temp would be. He’s good with that kind of stuff. I just can’t seem to get the formula memorized — C° times 9, divided by 5, add 32.

A friend asked me if I was going to a tanning booth before we go. I should but I’m not. I’ll just blind everyone for the first few days and make sure I slather on the sun screen and wear a hat when we are working. Oh, that reminds me, I need to make sure I take sunglasses. I need to get that on my list as well as the money/document pouch that I wear under my clothing when traveling.

What else am I forgetting to put on the list?