Leeds - Amsterdam
So at 3.30am on Thursday 3rd of September I was dragging myself out of bed, still full of goodbye apple pie, in order to catch the first of my flights to reach Uganda. Was I Nervous? Definitely, but unsure as to whether that was due to my fear of flying or the fact I was about to enter the great unknown. You see I have moved to Uganda with very little knowledge of what my friend Sacha and I will be doing on our arrival, and much less of where we will be staying; we were never given an address. In fact all that we knew was that we would be undertaking an internship with the University of Mbarara, a city in the South of Uganda, and that the university driver would know where to take us. So, pushing all stereotypes of a massively disorganised Africa to the back of my mind, I got up, straightened my hair for one final time, and said farewell to my little life of luxury in England.

Sitting in Leeds Bradford airport a few hours later, still sleep deprived, but somewhat more conscious I began to take assessment of how I must look. Honestly, if it weren’t for the red lipstick I really wouldn’t have recognised myself. It was the first time I had worn walking boots for at least five years, and the first time I had actually wanted to wear them in even longer. Slowly I started to understand why so many were sceptical when I first told them about my trip to East Africa, it is admittedly a far cry from the more glamorous lifestyle I prefer to lead. But never mind that, so many people also doubted that I’d cope moving to Amsterdam and I did that just fine, a few months in Uganda is just the next step up right? Okay maybe not quite, but after chatting with Sarah (who has just survived 6 months in Bolivia) I feel reassured that I have all the knowledge required to survive any potential illness that may overcome me, and really what else will I need?

Schipol
Home sweet home, sort of. It had only been a few months since I was last in Schipol and somehow everything has changed already. It took me a grand total of five minutes to get lost in the maze of construction, but luckily only another fifteen to stumble across everything I needed: a quiet corner with a plug to charge my phone, a bench where I could nap, and 80s music on repeat. Okay so maybe I could have done without the music, but when I woke up an hour or so later I definitely felt more prepared to tackle the next flight, and with the news that Sacha’s flight had landed I re-entered the maze to find her.

Amsterdam-Entebbe
Having met up around half an hour before our flight was called Sacha and I had managed to work ourselves up giddy with excitement by the time we boarded the flight to Entebbe. Having already taken the obligatory ‘travel selfie’ in the waiting area we were free to assess our fellow travellers. You see, as it happens, not that many people go to Uganda, which must be why it is basically impossible to get their local currency anywhere other than within Uganda itself. Personally I was very pleased to see a number of priests and nuns settling into their seats, taking this to mean that if there were some higher force in charge of the success of our flight, the odds would definitely be in our favour. Make of that what you will but as a nervous flyer any little thing can be reassuring! For the rest we were mostly travelling with Ugandan families, business folk, and a couple of other young explorers like ourselves, and so we bedded down and prepared for the long flight ahead.

Now, when you book onto a flight you know the food is going to be a bit shit yet it still remains one of the most exciting parts of the whole journey, especially if you get your food first. So, in a bid to make my experience a little less shit, and a little more exciting I decided to pre-order a low-sodium ‘special meal’, figuring that in-flight meals are generally so salty that a little less salt definitely couldn’t hurt. How wrong I was. Who knew that airplane food could taste even more like cardboard? And who also knew that if you go low sodium you also lose out on the cake? Never has a poorer choice been made so, regrettably, I abandoned my low-sodium lifestyle in favour of the little salt packet that had dutifully been provided alongside my second meal (thanks for that KLM). Maybe I'll try Halal for the flight home...

Entebbe
Eight and a half hours after boarding we land in Entebbe fully prepared to stand in line for hours in order to get a visa. However, we were nicely surprised by how easy the whole process was and were through in just over an hour, East African travel visas in hand, and full of ideas for Instagram hashtags thanks to the suggestions provided at immigration #lovinglifeinthepearlofAfrica #Gorrilasarecool. After collecting our bags we were picked up by the lovely John of the ‘J. Residence Motel’ where we were to stay the night. It’s safe to say we were not expecting very much of our one night in Entebbe, but once again Uganda surprised us and we had a lovely stay. The glee of finding that you have an actual toilet rather than a hole in the floor is second to none. Furthermore we were made to feel very at home by John and the rest of the J. Residence staff, who were more than happy to take care of our every need. Luckily for them after over twelve hours of travelling all we needed on arrival were a warm shower and a comfy bed, which is exactly what the J. Residence Motel provided. So with tired eyes and heavy limbs we collapsed into our beds, minds whirring as to what would greet us the next day in Mbarara.