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When I saw the crab sorcerer of Rhumsiki in northern Cameroon in December last year the two things he predicted were that in 2008 I would get married, and go back to Africa, I really didn't think either of those things would be happening, but now less than a year later that's exactly what I'm about to do….
I'll start from where I left off….my last entry for this West Africa blog has been WELL overdue!!I have been pretty useless at putting up photos as well but the website just took too long to download them so I gave up in the end!!The reason I'm doing this now is because I'm about to start a new blog (along with Greg) and I wanted to give everyone the address, only if you're interested in reading it of course!!!Greg and I are about to leave London and travel through Southern Africa (and get married there), the USA and the Middle East, and I'm sure we'll have lots of stories to write about!Our new blog address is:
www.offexploring.com/gregandalyssa
Please send me an email to let me know if you want to receive updates, if I don't hear from you I'll take your name off the mailing list.
Since I'm writing this I thought I may as well pick up where I left off on my last night in Douala, Cameroon!I can get this blog printed into a book so wanted to have my final entry in here even if it has taken me 8 months!!!
After an uneventful evening, I was up early and excited to be heading back to the UK!I got to the airport really early and was second in line for check in.The check in desk opened a bit late but after that things ran pretty smoothly until I got to the departure gate.Our plane was arriving in Douala from the Congolese city of Brazzaville and then carrying on to Casablanca, there was some sort of delay in Brazzaville so we waited for 4 hours for the plane to arrive!There wasn't anything to do in the departure lounge either, there was no activity out on the runway, only one other plane arrived while we were waiting, and definitely no duty free shops to browse in!Eventually our plane arrived and after a scramble for seats we were finally on our way!As we were severely delayed I missed my connection to Paris in Casablanca.There were no more flights to Paris that night so a lot of us got put up in a hotel, it was pouring with rain and the coach driver took an hour to find our hotel for the night because he got lost!Just as we arrived at our brightly lit hotel, there was a power cut!We had to sit in reception for ages before it got turned back on again, eventually got checked into our rooms but had no baggage so didn't really get a proper shower!That night I called Greg from the hotels reception desk to ask him to call up the hotel I'd booked for that night in Paris and cancel my reservation and see if I could get my money back, and also to call the Eurostar and try and push my ticket to London out to a later time, both of which he couldn't do.We talked for 14 minutes and I later found out that call between two landlines cost NZ$85!!!
The next morning we were all up early to take the coach back to the airport for the flight to Paris, there was a lot of confusion at the airport over which gate to go to, eventually we found the gate and discovered that flight was also delayed!!There were a small group of us that had got to know each other while trying to figure out where to go to try and catch a connecting flight to Paris, where to go to get accommodation for the night, where to go again the following morning to check in and so on, so at least I wasn't alone in trying to do all of that, everyone from the original flight that was going on to Paris kind of stuck together.I finally made it to Paris but had missed my Eurostar train back to London that had been booked for that morning.I took a train straight from the airport to Gare du Nord and asked if I could get on the next train, luckily they let me and that night I arrived back in London and finally got to see Greg again!!
I have to say that arriving back in London was quite a shock, the journey back was so long and exhausting and then when I actually got here it felt like the journey hadn't happened at all and I was only in Cameroon a couple of hours ago!!I must have blanked it from my memory since it was such an ordeal..!Also the desperate poverty of West Africa didn't really hit me until I got back to London and I remembered how we all live.It's interesting how sometimes you notice things more when you get back home than when you first arrive somewhere really different.Greg and I went straight up to the Scottish Highlands for a couple of weeks over Christmas and New Years which was great, but such a contrast to the heat and chaos of West Africa, in Scotland we went to Ullapool and the Isle of Lewis and it was so deserted, we hardly saw anyone (apart from in the pubs) and of course it was freezing cold!!
Back in London and after much discussion we made a decision that I would stay in London with Greg even though I didn't have a work permit.So I took up volunteer work to fill in my time, and we've been here ever since apart from the month of April when I went back to NZ!In that time I have become heavily involved with the Refugee Council in Brixton which helps Refugee's and Asylum seekers in the UK get support, and the South London Refugee Association which is a drop in centre that I go to every Thursday and help out, we provide lunch and advice and help with filling out forms and calling energy providers and that kind of thing.I have learnt so much about Refugee Law and the Asylum Process in Britain since I've been here, it has been so interesting!I hope to continue with it when we go back to Australia next year!
We've done a bit of travel since January as well, we went to Istanbul for the weekend of both our birthdays in February, we went back to Australia at Easter and I got to meet all of Greg's family and friends in Sydney.I went back to NZ after that but was only there for a few weeks before returning to London.The biggest news though (in case you haven't heard already) is that Greg proposed and we're getting married later in the year!We also visited Italy in July but on coming back into the UK I got into a bit of trouble at Passport Control as I'd been in the country for too long on just a visitors visa.So that changed our plans a bit as we were about to apply for a marriage visa so I could stay here with Greg after we were married.Now we have decided that after we're married we'll head back to Australia and live there free of any visa issues!!So the plan now is on 4th October 08 we leave London and fly out to Southern Africa for our Wedding/Honeymoon, we have a couple of days in Botswana in the Chobe Game Reserve, then we spend 4 days in Zambia and get married on Livingstone island which is an island right on the edge of Victoria Falls. After that we head to Mozambique for a week of relaxing at the beach before flying back to NZ and Australia to catch up with family and friends there.Then we are going to the US, and doing a bit of a road trip from Chicago to Denver, via Kansas City to see Coldplay at Greg's request!In Denver I finally get to see Monica and her new husband Brian again, it's been years now since we saw each other so I'm very excited about that!!!Then after the US we are going to spend a couple of months in the Middle East travelling through Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Oman and the UAE, before heading back to NZ in late February 2009 for our Wedding reception with family and everyone there, and THEN we move to Sydney permanently!!!!So there is a lot happening in the next few months, and let me tell you there has been a LOT to organise!!We have only been engaged for 4 months and I've basically planned 2 weddings - one in Africa and one in NZ!!!We are all organised now though and ready to go, and I am looking forward to the fact I get to wear my beautiful dress twice!!!
Well I hope everyone enjoyed the West Africa blog, even with the lack of photos!It is funny reading it again now 9 months since arriving back in London, it brings back all the memories of the trip, it really was such an amazing experience that I will never forget!
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